Where is your British accent from?

[PR19_Kit]

Still closer than most Americans, who think I'm an Aussie

Yes, they assumed that of me too, when I travelled over there regularly. I never did find out why either. 

[rickshaw]

Being from downunder, I though it would come up with some strange answers and it did.   I'm originally from South Australia and downunder, South Aussies are considered by many to sound a bit well, "toff".  Anyway, I was rather surprised that it decided I came from some where "up north", giving three alternatives: Blackpool/Manchester and Newcastle on Tyne.   Interesting, I know I tend to use many Northern words but not that many!   

[zenrat]

I grew up in the UK before emigrating to Aus.  I answered the questions as I would have done growing up in Sussex and while it got close it wasn't that accurate until I answered the question about what I called a passage between two buildings with a "Twitten".  At which point it pin-pointed me.

[Weaver]

Pretty good.

The first 25 questions got me in a zone covering all of Cheshire and Greater Manchester and stetching down Northeast almost to Birmingham, with another island of possibilities on the Southern Welsh border and big uncertainty areas around it.

The full 100 questions got me into a much tighter zone covering Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester with miuch tighter uncertainty areas.

I'm about 10 miles south of Manchester and lived here all my life, but I did go to a grammar school where you got bullied for having a 'common' accent, so that knocked the edges off my local accent a bit. I'm also a bit of a parrot when it comes to accents, soaking up the ones around me and then unconsciously repeating them back. Free daysin Landan an' Cockniz fink am takin' tha piss!

Back in the '60s my mum and dad went on holiday to Cornwall, and at Land's End there was a guy in a booth, who turned out to be a language professor doing a bit of summer work. He asked you to sit and talk to him for a bit and then told you where you came from. He was amazingly good with both of them, nailing dad straight to North Manchester and mum to Mid/North Cheshire, but even picked up that she'd probably started off in Merseyside. Not bad since she was born in Birkenhead, but the family moved here when she was VERY young (can't remember exactly how young, but it was low single figures...  )

[Martin H]

Still closer than most Americans, who think I'm an Aussie

Yes, they assumed that of me too, when I travelled over there regularly. I never did find out why either. 

Thats not because of your accent Kit. Its that hat..........................................

[NARSES2]

In the UK regional accents/slang/colloquialisms are on the decrease at quite a sharp rate, at least according to a report I read. Mainly to do with the spread of youngsters constantly watching online videos/blogs etc.

Back in the day (1950/60's) accents were so regional that you could tell if someone came from North or West Croydon (as I do) or came from the Southern end of the borough.

[Weaver]

In the UK regional accents/slang/colloquialisms are on the decrease at quite a sharp rate, at least according to a report I read. Mainly to do with the spread of youngsters constantly watching online videos/blogs etc.

Back in the day (1950/60's) accents were so regional that you could tell if someone came from North or West Croydon (as I do) or came from the Southern end of the borough.

Funnily enough, the article attached to that NYT quiz says exactly the opposite. I tend to instinctively agree with you though, but perhaps what's happening is that local accents are changing, rather than dying out? Also 'local' is becoming a non-geographic term, with 'communities' existing online and creating their own sub-cultures and slang. Case in point: the members of this board live all over the world, yet how many people outside of here know what a JMN is?

[rickshaw]

In the UK regional accents/slang/colloquialisms are on the decrease at quite a sharp rate, at least according to a report I read. Mainly to do with the spread of youngsters constantly watching online videos/blogs etc.

Back in the day (1950/60's) accents were so regional that you could tell if someone came from North or West Croydon (as I do) or came from the Southern end of the borough.

Many years ago, in the late 1980s, I worked with an Academic lass from Ireland.  She had worked for several years for the British Government in Northern Ireland.   She told me that many Northern Irish people could tell not only which district you came from but which street you were raised on, because of the accents that you displayed.   I was rather surprised to learn that but since I have started to notice accents a great deal more and I can pick a Queenslander from a Victorian, a Victorian from a South Australian, a Western Australian from nearly everybody else.  What is interesting though is despite the vast distances involved in Australia, the differences are slight.

[kitnut617]

What is interesting though is despite the vast distances involved in Australia, the differences are slight.

Yes I've noticed that in Canada too, the east side of Canada has a number of different accents, but from Manitoba westward there's not much to differentiate, and we're talking maybe 3000 miles

[zenrat]

Far too many of the young people in my family use american pronunciations.
Ant for aunt and zee for the letter after Y being the ones I have to correct them on most often.
I blame a lack of enough locally produced TV.

[Leading Observer]

In the UK regional accents/slang/colloquialisms are on the decrease at quite a sharp rate, at least according to a report I read. Mainly to do with the spread of youngsters constantly watching online videos/blogs etc.

Back in the day (1950/60's) accents were so regional that you could tell if someone came from North or West Croydon (as I do) or came from the Southern end of the borough.

Funnily enough, the article attached to that NYT quiz says exactly the opposite. I tend to instinctively agree with you though, but perhaps what's happening is that local accents are changing, rather than dying out? Also 'local' is becoming a non-geographic term, with 'communities' existing online and creating their own sub-cultures and slang. Case in point: the members of this board live all over the world, yet how many people outside of here know what a JMN is?

When I first joined the Bank in the mid 70's I worked with a chap who was originally from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. When he joined in the early 60's, he was sent to the Banks training centre and shared a room with a Welsh guy who spoke English as a second language - evidently it was about a week before they could understand each other!

[Old Wombat]

Far too many of the young people in my family use american pronunciations.
Ant for aunt and zee for the letter after Y being the ones I have to correct them on most often.
I blame a lack of enough locally produced TV.

And cattle-prods, there's a distinct lack of cattle-prod use to correct incorrect pronunciation!

[rickshaw]

Far too many of the young people in my family use american pronunciations.
Ant for aunt and zee for the letter after Y being the ones I have to correct them on most often.
I blame a lack of enough locally produced TV.

And cattle-prods, there's a distinct lack of cattle-prod use to correct incorrect pronunciation!

I blame the ABC, myself.  They appear to have become rather lax in their on air pronounciations.  I even heard one reporter talk about a Loootenant.   

[Old Wombat]

Far too many of the young people in my family use american pronunciations.
Ant for aunt and zee for the letter after Y being the ones I have to correct them on most often.
I blame a lack of enough locally produced TV.

And cattle-prods, there's a distinct lack of cattle-prod use to correct incorrect pronunciation!

I blame the ABC, myself.  They appear to have become rather lax in their on air pronounciations.  I even heard one reporter talk about a Loootenant.   

Oh, good grief!

[Weaver]

In the UK regional accents/slang/colloquialisms are on the decrease at quite a sharp rate, at least according to a report I read. Mainly to do with the spread of youngsters constantly watching online videos/blogs etc.

Back in the day (1950/60's) accents were so regional that you could tell if someone came from North or West Croydon (as I do) or came from the Southern end of the borough.

Funnily enough, the article attached to that NYT quiz says exactly the opposite. I tend to instinctively agree with you though, but perhaps what's happening is that local accents are changing, rather than dying out? Also 'local' is becoming a non-geographic term, with 'communities' existing online and creating their own sub-cultures and slang. Case in point: the members of this board live all over the world, yet how many people outside of here know what a JMN is?

When I first joined the Bank in the mid 70's I worked with a chap who was originally from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. When he joined in the early 60's, he was sent to the Banks training centre and shared a room with a Welsh guy who spoke English as a second language - evidently it was about a week before they could understand each other!

When my dad joined the army in 1939 he was sent to a camp on the south coast (from Manchester) and found himself in a barracks with guys from all over the country. He said it was about a fortnight before everyone could communicate with everybody else at even a basic level.