My broad northern accent is surely holding me back
in the search for a better job. Common, it is, liken unto shite.

So as I can't afford elocution lessons at £25 an hour I've sent off for a book/CD self-help set from Amazon.

I'll let yous know how I get on, like.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 14:03, 14 replies)

I too am conscious
of my Northern accent amongst these heathens. I too fancy diy electrocution lessons.
( Piper Alpha is being a grumpy northerm bastard on:, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 14:18, closed)

I'm planning to start sounding posh by xmas
so the course'll soon pay for itself when I get a job on the telephone sex lines.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 14:33, closed)

it's a conundrum this one
a regional accent can be quite charming but also utterly indecipherable. I for one, speak beautifully in my soft Dublin brogue but many of my countrymen are gibberish witters.

I dont think it's fair to dismiss regional accents wholesale. Surely the goal is merely to make yourself understood?
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 14:34, closed)

That sounds reasonable
but alas, I am from the midlands, and even a hit of a midlands accent makes people think you are a bit slow.

And I'm on the radio, so I should know these things...
( TheAlmightyBeev, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 14:51, closed)

Kiipper
tie, sir?

My youngest lives in the Midlands ('Black Country, Mum, NOT Brum!') and it took her months to stop laughing openly at the locals' speech patterns. How rude.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 15:08, closed)

Yup
but there's a 'nice' accent and then there's a 'common' one. 'Common' means dropping aitches and Ts and generally slurring.

It wouldn't be a problem if people didn't judge others on the basis of how they speak.

Strangely, I find that if I have to stand up and address a group I speak quite nicely. It's the small talk that trips me up.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 14:59, closed)

A woman I know
was born in New Zealand and spent a lot of her life in Australia before moving to the US. She's reluctant to talk on the phone to any man she doesn't already know. I asked her why this was.

Apparently it's not uncommon for guys to start wanking to the sound of her accent.

Now, having met this woman and spent some time talking to her, I can say that while her voice is pleasant enough I didn't find it especially sexy- she has a fairly standard sounding voice, not a deep husky sex-growl. So apparently it was her Oz/Kiwi accent that was getting these guys off.

Very weird.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 22 Oct 2008, 14:50, closed)

And here's me shelling out twenty quid to learn to talk posh.
Ungrateful, that's what she is.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 15:10, closed)

Ah
So that "yous" is the accent. I've been wondering for a year why this Irish woman uses the "plural" when says: "See yous tomorrow"
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 22 Oct 2008, 17:31, closed)

I'm really considering
meeting you in the November bash in Manchester or around. Who knows what you'll think of my accent...
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 22 Oct 2008, 17:32, closed)

ooer
sounded a bit Hannibal there!

'I'm giving very serious thought...
... to eating your wife.'
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 18:08, closed)

ooer?
How am I to say that?
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Wed 22 Oct 2008, 20:18, closed)

Pfft
Don't you read the Beano?
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 20:38, closed)

No
Never hear about him
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Thu 23 Oct 2008, 13:23, closed)