WTF accent do you have?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I'm a great fan of accents and dialect, particularly regional English accents. But why is it that so many of us are so bad at placing accents?

For example, my brother is from Carlisle and has a Cumbrian accent. When he lived at Bolton in Lancashire many of the locals said he sounded like a Geordie. However, when I visited Newcastle with him the locals said he sounded most like Peter Kay, who is famous for coming from where? Oh yeah Bolton! So which one is it? :p

And this is northern Englanders mixing up other northern accents. It does get worse though. My work colleague is originally from Walsall so to us up here in't north he sounds like a Brummie. But he insists the Birmingham accents is much stronger than his and when he goes to visit is family back home they all say he sounds northern and like a farmer. For some reason though when they try to torment him about it they do a Somerset style farmer accent. That's southern, not northern!

On a more global scale the Americans usually expect the English to talk either like the Queen or Dick Van Dyke, so I know many fellow northerners who have been told by Americans that they sound Australian.

However, us British usually can't tell the difference between Americans and Canadians, and many of us have no idea about the regional accents of Ireland.

So what accent do you have? (probably best to give an example of a celebrity with a similar accent to help us place it :p )

[donKey jote]

when I lived in the UK, the closest anybody could place my Donkey accent was "northern", in fact it seemed to annoy quite a few that they couldn't narrow it down to within the nearest 3 miles :p

The Borrico accent is a pretty neutral Madrid-Castilian (including the typical "la dije" instead of "le dije" :eek: ), and my Esel is a pretty neutral Hannoverian Hochdeutsch, albeit with the odd grammatical error :andrea:

[Gregor-y]

I'm told a few words from my upbringing in Pittsburgh slip in when I'm not paying attention. I've been in Chicago just as long but haven't picked up a thing. A lot of American accents (particularly in cities) are vanishing as people move about much more than they used to.

When I was working in Dublin my coworkers were from Belfast, Sligo and Bristol. That Bristol kid got a lot of stick around the office in general but gave as good as he got. It may not have been the best employer but the office sure was fun.

[gadjo_dilo]

Never talked to a british/american/canadian/australian person to know if I have a possible accent but I'm sure I'm a lost case of mispronunciation.
As for Romanian I was proud to speak the ''literary'' version until last year when I started to speak with the annoying Transylvanian accent and regional words. It started as a joke, I was trying to mock our manager who's an impossible person and speaks like a peasant but soon it became a habit and now I can't drop it.

[anfield5]

I'm a bit of a mongrel. I was born in Liverpool and do have a scouse accent, but this is not a true scouse accent because I have lived in NZ fo much of my life. Luckily I don't really have a kiwi accent where most vowels are pronounced differently.
i.e. in Kiwi English 'e' and 'a' are often pronounced 'i', 'i' is somewhere between an 'i' and a 'u', for example our awesome world shot-put champion Val Adamas is pronounced as Vil Idims. etc. As accents go though our kiwi one isn't too bad, it is easy to understand (unlike geordie and strong scouse) and unlike Brummie, kiwi speakers don't sound like we are apologising all the time :D

[J4MIE]

I don't have an accent :s But I love listening to other accents, one if the many advantages of living in the North East :D

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I don't have an accent :s But I love listening to other accents, one if the many advantages of living in the North East :D

How can you not have an accent?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Best thing ever: (Warning: contains expletives)

SGxKhUuZ0Rc

[donKey jote]

:laugh:

[Mintexmemory]

And of course all Scots sound like Billy Connoly, Groundsman Willie or Shrek to Americans!!
God knows what they'd make of Rab C Nesbitt!
Me - solid London. Real central London and not what the rest of the country thinks of as 'cockney', which is really east end and not cockney at all!
However I can tell the difference between Bratford, Leeds and 'ull (lived there for 11 years). Similarly smoggy, mackem and geordie. I know my Norfolk from my Somerset but my attempts at a welsh accent morph into sub-continent asian/ geordie!! As a matter of interest Anfield have you avoided the Antipodean Interogative inflection?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

And of course all Scots sound like Billy Connoly, Groundsman Willie or Shrek to Americans!!
God knows what they'd make of Rab C Nesbitt!
Me - solid London. Real central London and not what the rest of the country thinks of as 'cockney', which is really east end and not cockney at all!
However I can tell the difference between Bratford, Leeds and 'ull (lived there for 11 years). Similarly smoggy, mackem and geordie. I know my Norfolk from my Somerset but my attempts at a welsh accent morph into sub-continent asian/ geordie!!

My girlfriends sister is married to a fella from County Durham but to us he just sounds like a Geordie. :p

[Mintexmemory]

My girlfriends sister is married to a fella from County Durham but to us he just sounds like a Geordie. :p

Well that's a fine line and undestandable, especially as all the bairns from Drum head for Toon ana Sarrahdi (My daughter was born in Hull and moved when she was 5 to Cambrige - home of the Hooman Beans, then 2 years later we moved to Grimsby! She did her degree in Durham and now lives in Gateshead. Safe to say we don't have the same accent!)

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Well that's a fine line and undestandable, especially as all the bairns from Drum head for Toon ana Sarrahdi

:laugh: That is beautiful! Fair canny like!

I do prefer the general northeast accent over the Lancashire accents I'm surrounded with. Particularly the east Lancs accent which sounds very grimy with words like 'pie' pronounced as 'par', and silly words like 'barm' instead of 'sandwich'.

[Mintexmemory]

:laugh: That is beautiful! Fair canny like!

I do prefer the general northeast accent over the Lancashire accents I'm surrounded with. Particularly the east Lancs accent which sounds very grimy with words like 'pie' pronounced as 'par', and silly words like 'barm' instead of 'sandwich'.

East Lancs or the dreaded Manc - I gorra Lickle Keckle
Preston, Blackburn, Burrrrnlah triangle with the excessive rolled 'r' is quite amusing - do you not find, do you not?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

East Lancs or the dreaded Manc - I gorra Lickle Keckle
Preston, Blackburn, Burrrrnlah triangle with the excessive rolled 'r' is quite amusing - do you not find, do you not?

I know exactly what you mean! It is charming in it's own way. (or should that be cha-urming?) The particular area where I live though has more of a standard received pronunciation, but with a northern flavour. So grass is still grass and not 'grarss'.

[Mintexmemory]

Sorry grass as spelled is (if you look at the OED) pronounced with a long not a flat 'a'. As brass, bath (as the inhabitants of the place pronounce it) castle. ;)

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Brass not brarss
Bath not Barth

:p

I'm sure Mark will support me on this one and delete your post! :devil:

[Mintexmemory]

Brass not brarss
Bath not Barth

:p

I'm sure Mark will support me on this one and delete your post! :devil:
Norven Munkies!!!

[donKey jote]

definitely grass, and garage rhymes with porridge :andrea:

[Storm]

Jamie you don't have an accent? :eek: no way!

I guess I speak a fairly neutral kind of English, not the typical Indian accent either..I can sometimes slip into the odd accent (of the speaker!) when I am speaking with some native speaker...this usually happened when I lived in NC (USA) for a few months.

Once in Jaipur, I spoke Spanish with a Venezualan couple, and for some reason they were surprised that I was an Indian. They had me down as an Argentine :crazy:

[Big Ben]

Never talked to a british/american/canadian/australian person to know if I have a possible accent but I'm sure I'm a lost case of mispronunciation.
As for Romanian I was proud to speak the ''literary'' version until last year when I started to speak with the annoying Transylvanian accent and regional words. It started as a joke, I was trying to mock our manager who's an impossible person and speaks like a peasant but soon it became a habit and now I can't drop it.

Above you have one of the reason I hate this country so much :)

[555-04Q2]

I have a Seth Efrican accent, but whenever I am overseas people mistake me for an Australian or New Zealander. Honestly, do I sound that stupid :p :

[Mintexmemory]

I have a Seth Efrican accent, but whenever I am overseas people mistake me for an Australian or New Zealander. Honestly, do I sound that stupid :p :

Apparently more Sarfers living in East London England than East London SA!!
Wait for the barrage from Cobbers and Kiwis - hope you've got a tin hat.

[gadjo_dilo]

Above you have one of the reason I hate this country so much :)
No.....(this is not the English negation but a very popular transylvanian interjection) :devil:
Come on BB......I count on you to support this country tonight. :p

[Rudy Tamasz]

No.....(this is not the English negation but a very popular transylvanian interjection) :devil:
Come on BB......I count on you to support this country tonight. :p

Transylvanian Romanian or Transylvanian Hungarian (Szekler)?

[555-04Q2]

Apparently more Sarfers living in East London England than East London SA!!
Wait for the barrage from Cobbers and Kiwis - hope you've got a tin hat.

Yeah we are taking over Englandlandland :p :

Don't worry, us Safas are tough b@st@rds, a few limp wristed Australasian's don't scare us :p : :D

[MrJan]

I don't have an accent :s

Are you sure? :p :

I have a good Devon twang that sort of developed by accident. When I went to uni I made the mistake of hamming it up quite a lot and then it stuck and I ended up speaking like a farmer. It's not a thick accent by any means, but it makes me squirm when I hear my own voice on recordings.

The funny thing is that, when in Canada or meeting people from the US they almost always think that I'm Australian and don't sound English at all.

[gadjo_dilo]

Transylvanian Romanian or Transylvanian Hungarian (Szekler)?

I have no clue about how Hungarians talk. You know they're not very communicative with us. :p

I can't understand why the transylvanians on this forum who are supposed to be natural born natioonalists hate this country and me, an aromanian whose parents were colonists here, love it to bits.... :confused:

[Big Ben]

I have no clue about how Hungarians talk. You know they're not very communicative with us. :p

I can't understand why the transylvanians on this forum who are supposed to be natural born natioonalists hate this country and me, an aromanian whose parents were colonists here, love it to bits.... :confused:

what? there are more of us?

what's a natural born nationalist? i for one despise nationalists... of whatever nation. The dumbest nationalists are people coming from places like Bucharest. How can nationalism be inspired upon someone coming from the dumpster city :confused: ? Unless it's some who thrives in filth... then I guess I can understand it.

I don't like your condescending attitude... so typical. Do you know people, what the main topic of discussion is in Romania these days? There are tens of thousands (at least) abandoned dogs in Bucharest and a few days ago a pack of these dogs killed a 4 year old. And this is not a new problem. A Japanese guy was killed in 2006 and they've done nothing about it since. And here we have dear gadjo, who's in love with that awesome place, calling the most civilized part of this savage country peasants because she doesn't like the way we talk. And the whole country is run from there. big wonder why we are the losers of Europe.

[gadjo_dilo]

No......Easy boy! My dear hometown is under the assault of Hungarian fans and I'm locked in my house and you're talking about stray dogs. :laugh:

PS. It's not nice to forget Ioan.

[gadjo_dilo]

And here we have dear gadjo, who's in love with that awesome place, calling the most civilized part of this savage country peasants because she doesn't like the way we talk. And the whole country is run from there. big wonder why we are the losers of Europe.
Dear Benny, I hope you calmed down. I love the way you talk and what more proof you want than the fact that now I'm talking like you?
I agree with you that the country is run from here but if you look carefully you'd see that our leaders aren't exactly from Bucharest. And the worst and most corrupted came from.........?
I know you're one of those who prefer Budapest to Bucharest but if you look on TV right now you may see what your civilised Hungarian friends are doing in my city. So please stop hating us, you simply have no reason why....

[schmenke]

Why is it necessary to include "WTF" in the thread title? :mark:

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I have a Seth Efrican accent, but whenever I am overseas people mistake me for an Australian or New Zealander. Honestly, do I sound that stupid :p :

Say ice cream for us in Seth Efrican so we can all have a chuckle?


Why is it necessary to include "WTF" in the thread title? :mark:

Maybe the thread title is trying to be scouse?

[Gregor-y]

Wow, I didn't realize the lands of the Crown of St. Stephen were still in such dispute!

[janneppi]

I don't have an accent :s
Yeah you do, Few days with you and Puddlejumper in the Finnish woods few years ago and my English turned into what it sounds if Tommi Mäkinen was living in Scotland, or what ever the hell it is where you live. ;)

[D-Type]

I grew up in (colonial) Kenya so my accent is basically 'posh' or 'received pronunciation'. I think I have lost my 'Kenya settler' accent (a mild South African accent) but it comes back if I'm talking about Kenya or on the odd occasion I meet up with a Kenyan school friend or a South African. Having been taught at school by Irishmen, I also find myself adopting an Irish turn of phrase (I'm just after.... sort of thing) if talking to an Irishman.
My vowels are south of England - castle like 'car' not like 'cash', 'wun' not woon', 'foot' rhyming with 'put' not 'boot' etc.
I think I pronounce my 'h's

[Mintexmemory]

I grew up in (colonial) Kenya so my accent is basically 'posh' or 'received pronunciation'. I think I have lost my 'Kenya settler' accent (a mild South African accent) but it comes back if I'm talking about Kenya or on the odd occasion I meet up with a Kenyan school friend or a South African. Having been taught at school by Irishmen, I also find myself adopting an Irish turn of phrase (I'm just after.... sort of thing) if talking to an Irishman.
My vowels are south of England - castle like 'car' not like 'cash', 'wun' not woon', 'foot' rhyming with 'put' not 'boot' etc.
I think I pronounce my 'h's

Bravo sir. In my very humble opinion Hadrian's big mistake was building the wall 175 miles too far north!
In infant's school in the late 50s I was a master aitch dropper. I also did the cockney thing of pronouncing th as v. Fortunately I had an old school scots headmistress who shook it out of me (often literally!) as she felt it would limit my horizons. No one had told her that regional accents were going to be the big social change of the 60s. Currently there is no celeb I think sounds like me -possibly Johnny Rotten in his intellectual moments

[pino]

A genuine Italian accent me :p :

[Mintexmemory]

A genuine Italian accent me :p :
Genuine Piedmont or genuine Calabrian?
sorry just realised it's almost a French accent given your location ;)

[Corvettian]

I don't have an accent :s
Where are you from? I'm from Glasgow, but two people have told me recently that I sound like I'm from Edinburgh (or thereabouts). I think my accent must have "softened" over years of working abroad.
(for those not familiar with Scottish geography, Glasgow and Edinburgh are about 85km apart)

[Corvettian]

I think it's interesting how accents can be so different from one region to another, even those a short distance apart. I work with Danes a lot (the company I work for is Danish) and people from Copenhagen tell me that they have a hard time understanding people from the north end of the mainland.

[D-Type]

Where are you from? I'm from Glasgow, but two people have told me recently that I sound like I'm from Edinburgh (or thereabouts). I think my accent must have "softened" over years of working abroad.
(for those not familiar with Scottish geography, Glasgow and Edinburgh are about 85km apart)
And culturally a lot further! For example they say that if you knock on the door, in one city they will say "Come on in and have some tea" while in the other they'll say "Come on in - you've had your tea haven't you. The national Rugby ground, Murrayfield, is in Edinburgh while the national football ground, Hampden Park, is in Glagow. Nearly all Scotland's beer is brewed in Edinburgh while nearly all the whisky is bottled in Glasgow (even if it has been distilled and matured elsewhere).

On a different tack, how does the Italian/French border thing work? You can't switch off "French" and switch on "Italian" because you cross an artificial border. Presumably in San Remo you speak italian and watch Italian TV while in Nice they speak french and watch French TV. But if two of you meet you can communicate without having to switch to a third language like English or German. Do you each speak your own language? Or do you each speak the other's language (or try to)? Or do you speak in a mixture of the two?

[tfp]

My girlfriends sister is married to a fella from County Durham but to us he just sounds like a Geordie. :p

That is my back yard :)
to be fair it is the most recognisable accent of the north east (most people from the south couldn't tell the difference between a Geordie and Mackem accent) and its usually fine to say someone from Durham has a Geordie accent.

But for gods sake, what ever you do, make sure you get the football team right :D

[pino]

Genuine Piedmont or genuine Calabrian?
sorry just realised it's almost a French accent given your location ;)

Just pure Italian accent, French accent only when I speak French 😜

[pino]

D-Type, 75% of people living in Nice have Italian roots, still due to French arrogance influence, they only speak French, even when they travel to Italy to buy cheap foods, clothes, shoes, etc...

[pino]

That's why people from my area do almost speak perfect French.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

That is my back yard :)
to be fair it is the most recognisable accent of the north east (most people from the south couldn't tell the difference between a Geordie and Mackem accent) and its usually fine to say someone from Durham has a Geordie accent.

But for gods sake, what ever you do, make sure you get the football team right :D

Doesn't have to be people from the south. The rest of us in the north have no idea what you lot are on about too! :p

[steveaki13]

I think it's interesting how accents can be so different from one region to another, even those a short distance apart. I work with Danes a lot (the company I work for is Danish) and people from Copenhagen tell me that they have a hard time understanding people from the north end of the mainland.Thats an interesting point. (This may only mean anything to Brits) Take where I live, the county of Essex is not very large and yet the accent can change massively north to south. I am from mid Essex and along with the South. We speak the standard Essex almost east london sounding. Alright mate, haw ya doin. But go to North Essex and people speak with a Norfolk and Suffolk twang. So in a short space the accent completely changes.

[steveaki13]

Strange thing really. I like most I suspect cant believe how common and horrid I sound on any recording of my voice.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Thats an interesting point. (This may only mean anything to Brits) Take where I live, the county of Essex is not very large and yet the accent can change massively north to south. I am from mid Essex and along with the South. We speak the standard Essex almost east london sounding. Alright mate, haw ya doin. But go to North Essex and people speak with a Norfolk and Suffolk twang. So in a short space the accent completely changes.

It is said that in some parts of the UK that the accent changes in as 5 miles!

I remember as a 8 year old when I moved from Cumbria to Lancashire (about 50 miles) and I was endlessly mocked for my accent on certain words.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

EDIT: In as little as 5 miles!

[rjbetty]

Well I honestly don't know what kind of accent I have now.

It's a combination of living in these places and being with people who speak these accents:

South East London -7 years
South Wales/Swansea - 14 years
Reading/Berkshire - 9 years

and also a bit of Befordshire. Also my mum has/had a strong Derbyshire accent.


Maybe this is why people can't understand anything I'm saying.

Basically I probably talk a bit like Jenson Button at times, though I spend much of my time at work talking in an imitation of my colleagues voices, since I just loooove my impressions. I can do some F1 impressions too (extremely badly). :p

[steveaki13]

Maybe this is why people can't understand anything I'm saying.Pardon?

[Bagwan]

My accent is central Canadian , whatever that means .

But , I mock accents from all over .

My best story about that is from an encounter in El Paso , Texas .
My 1974 Ford Econoline had just decided to have more of a rest than I was prepared for(new timing chain required) , and I was wandering the rest stop , looking for someone who could fix the issue , or , at least diagnose it , and , as I waited for the tow truck , a man walked up to the door as I walked out .
Not really thinking about what I was saying , or the way I was saying it , I piped up with "Y'all know anythin' about old vans ?" in a "Jawja" drawl .
He asked where we were from , and I answered with "Up in Caynuduh , in Ontarriow , not the Ontarriow in Californyuh ya unnerstan , but up in Caynuduh ."
We must have talked for about twenty minutes or so , until the tow truck arrived , and I managed to keep the accent flowing for the whole conversation .
"Oop , thars muh tow truck . Gotta go . Nace towking to ya ." I said .
And , he asked "Where y'awl from agin ? "
To which I replied "Up in Caynuduh , in Ontarriow ." .

He shook his head and said "Wow , Y'all don't have much accent !" .

I managed a straight face until out of sight .

[Daniel]

I don't have an accent :s But I love listening to other accents, one if the many advantages of living in the North East :D

You don't have an accent my left bumcheek!

[Mark]

You don't have an accent my left bumcheek!

You are the only person I know who really doesn't have an accent ;)

[Donney]

I have been told I have a fairly neutral accent, but I can't hide that fact that I am not an English speaker.

My Spanish accent is also quite neutral with the odd drop of cazurro accent when making questions or the use of some localisms.

[dj_bytedisaster]

In English I have a fairly neutral accent. The more important bit there is the complete absence of any German accent when speaking English. Since I mainly work for large international corporations, I do a lot of telco's and it's always funny when the English or the Americans realize that I'm German. They all expect us teutons to drool all over ourselves trying to pronounce 'th' :p

In my native German I've got the thickest Berlin accent you've ever heard.

In Russian I speak with a southern siberian accent, as I spent a lot of time in Omsk.

[Alexamateo]

I don't even remember how exactly I was chosen, but a few years ago, I went down to Ardent Studios here in Memphis and was told my accent was classified "Mountain Southern" even though I have lived here my whole life, and Memphis is nowhere near the mountains.

Regardless, they took me in and recorded my voice saying various words and phrases for two hours as part of Onstar's voice recognition system. They were trying to upgrade their systems to respond correctly to different accents and such. It must have gone ok, they paid me $200 for two hours. :D

[henners88]

I was born and brought up in Stratford Upon Avon and then lived in Banbury for a few years after that. I've lived in Wales for the past decade though, but thankfully haven't picked up any kind of accent along the way. My accent I would say has a slight Midlands twang although I have been told I sound posh many times. :)

[gadjo_dilo]

I was born and brought up in Stratford Upon Avon and then lived in Banbury for a few years after that. I've lived in Wales for the past decade though, but thankfully haven't picked up any kind of accent along the way. My accent I would say has a slight Midlands twang although I have been told I sound posh many times. :)
Naahhhh... I bet you speak like a shakesperean hero....:devil:

[henners88]

I was born and brought up in Stratford Upon Avon and then lived in Banbury for a few years after that. I've lived in Wales for the past decade though, but thankfully haven't picked up any kind of accent along the way. My accent I would say has a slight Midlands twang although I have been told I sound posh many times. :)
Naahhhh... I bet you speak like a shakesperean hero....:devil:
No peril my sweet Juliet, for thou wrong you may be lol :)

I'm more Iago :D


Sent from my ?