To think that many Mumsnetters despise regional accents and dialects?

[binnibonnieboo]

I'm Irish, and I've been on Mumsnet for years. I've seen so many threads fulminating about pronunciation, spelling and grammar. These so often ignore the diverse accents and dialects across the UK and Ireland. There seems to be a view that anything not RP or standard southern English is common, ill educated, Americanised (wrong), and just Not Right. Sometimes (not always) I sense a thinly veiled contempt for how I and others (Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh, northern English) talk. AIBU to feel this?

No you should always hear the -er, when someone says it, so if you don't, they are saying it wrong!
But this an accent thing and isn't as awful as "You was" or "I seen" or similar.

They might to you but don't to me with my Scottish accent.

I would say draw as in Dr-aww.
I would sat drawer as in Dr-orrrr.

I know though that many English accents do not pronounce the R at the end of drawer so say both the same way. Probably why you don't see "Chester Draws" on Scottish Fb pages as the two words don't sound the same.

You’re 😜

Also, just because I might internally notice the incorrect grammar, I obviously don’t point it out to people in real life. Except for my own teenagers when they try to use the non existent word ‘yous’ when they mean the plural of ‘you.’

Would that river be the Ribble, perchance? 🤣 I’m also in the North West and I love how accents and dialects can change even between neighbouring towns.

When I lived Down South I found that my lovely Northern tones were often sneered at, and even found myself saying “Barth” instead of “Bath” when out in public just to avoid the contemptuous looks ☹️ I wouldn’t do that now I’m older and dgaf - I’d probably lay it on thicker 🤣

Everyone knows it’s ye not yous

Agree OP. There are regular threads about how people hate the word 'mom' and 'santa' and how it's crept in from America when lots of places in the UK use those words.

Also any poster who uses any kind of regional phrase, that whilst other posters might not use but can clearly see what it means in the context of the opening thread, there are always a load of comments along the lines of 'I couldn't possibly answer as I have no idea what you mean because of this one sentence out of 20' and the OP ends up explaining themselves / getting into a debate / apologising for their (common usage regionally) phrasing. Its really annoying.

It's a bit like the posters that seem to have no inkling that if someone is posting in the middle of the night about having a bbq, they are likely not in the uk, and the replies are all along the lines of 'a bbq in this weather / at this time of night, are you mad!' rather than the actual issue at hand (kangaroo ate all the bbq food).

AIBU? To think that many Mumsnetters despise regional accents and dialects?
Yes.

The threads on pronunciation tend to attract MNers who take offence if their local pronunciation of a word or name is criticised.

@DrinkFeckArseBrick

"kangaroo ate all the bbq food"

Barbecue the roo. Problem solved.

Mersey, actually. And don't get me started on that baahth and graahss nonsense! If it hasn't got an "r" or a "h" after the "a", then it rhymes with "cat" or "bat". End of! 😄

For those people saying they’ve never seen criticism of a southern English accent, here’s a case in point!

YANBU
I am English but north-Midlander (vomit emoji /sarcasm) and was brought up in another country within UK (aarrgghhh).

A lot of people assume anyone with a regional accent is thick or pretentious. Scousers and Brummies get a lot of stick here.

My own DH often makes claims about pronunciation and accents that just aren't true and no amount of pointing out will correct his prejudices!
(Things like 'No one says Mom in UK, it's an awful Americanisation' - no it's not, both my parents say that as they're northern/midlanders)

For those who can't take a joke, the 😄 represents humour, and that the post is not to be taken too seriously.

(It's still true, though.)

Right.

The hate of ‘American’ words 🙄. Where do they think they got the pronunciations from in the first place? The indigenous population sure weren’t speaking English before the co..settlers came.

All the British and Irish pronunciations I’ve heard mentioned in MN, I have heard the same pronunciations in the States depending on the region just like in the UK.

Everyone has a regional accent.

@hyggetyggedotorg , draw is drɔː, drawer is drɔːr.

People with rhotic accents (Somerset, Norfolk, Americans) would pronounce the R.

Yes two distinct syllables for me in drawer

True. Although it's always good for a laugh when they claim they "don't have an accent". Or don't understand the difference between accent and dialect.

Ahhhh, today’s ‘I’m Irish and here’s another way of saying just how awful English people are while pretending it’s just a casual observation’

Yawn

I am Scottish but live in London. I think gentle teasing of the way I/they say things is just part of our family banter. Btw my London relatives can't pronounce the "wh" sound. They can only say "w", so "whisper" is "wisper". It's not just me who speaks strangely!! And of course the standing joke in our house is that Alexa doesn't understand a word I say!

That comes from the fact that we get a lot of American TV and online content and when I was a kid 50+ years ago no one went trick or treating... now it's bloody mandatory to have sweets on hand. But November 5th Bonfire night had withered in the same time frame...so there has been a genuine concern about the Americanisation of "holidays". Which in itself is an American phrase.

Halloween is Celtic not American and we go guising not trick or treating and have always done so.

I get this sometimes because my prefix is Dr and that has certain connotations- high intellect so must be high middle class, RP accent etc. When I open my mouth and there’s a thick Yorkshire accent people sometimes seem a bit taken aback. It’s worse still if it’s summer and my tattoos are exposed. Hey ho. People have their biases, I think it’s structural and unlikely to alter any time soon.

I'm from the west country and our accent is dying, despite the rise of Steven Merchant and Josie.... before them you never heard our accent even on local TV or radio.

I love the way I speak. In fact I've consciously gone more west country as I've got older using I instead of me, only wearing daps and not trainers and including cassent, dursent and hassent on regular basis.

But if I wrote the way I speaks den de wouldn't proper understand I.

It's just as tedious to hear Scottish people "teasing" Londoners for their accent as the opposite.

It's not "strange" for a Londoner not to vocalise the h in whisper, and it's not strange for a Scottish to do so.