Anyone notice local accents disappearing ?

In this area I notice that younger people  ( Under 40s)   ..in general ...  seem to have a more neutral accent .  Kids specially .     Two main accents in Brum  ,  North & South  roughly  .  Jasper Carrot  is South Brum  .  General North   Brummie   would be  Ozzie Osborne   who grew up by me  , he's not putting it on , thats normal  for  his age, I speak much the same ,  but you don't hear that from younger folk .      

My father & father in law spoke with a much broader accents that isn't heard much now .       A similar example is  broad Cockney , like you hear in old B&W flims   " Cor blimey ..luv a duck , your a Toff guv'ner "       Now I hear a general   darn  sarf  type accent instead .

On TV  you don't hear so many  local dialects anymore . 

An interesting thing I read once ,    during World War 2  they decided to use local dialects for the BBC news  in case of invasion  .  False news read by a German would be in an adopted  posh , BBC accent so one person they recruited was Wilfred Pickles  who was a radio star of the day  who spoke with a broad Yorkshire accent and  folk would know he was the real deal .    

Interesting thread.

I think the fact that we as a population are far more mobile these days has had a dramatic effect on dialect and accent

The BBC rarely hire people with distinct accents any more and I think that places like London are so cosmopolitan that accents have just died away 

sad but true and I suspect the international theme of films and some TV has its part to play too

Murdoch said:

sad but true and I suspect the international theme of films and some TV has its part to play too

Click to expand...

Thats a point .....  a while back I noticed ..say as passing a school.... the kids were coming out  and hugging  their  friends  , which is not so common in England  ...yet it appeared somehow familiar .     Then I realised ....they were picking up the habit from the TV series  "Friends"   .

Murdoch said:

think the fact that we as a population are far more mobile these days has had a dramatic effect on dialect and accent

Click to expand...

And everyone  watching / listening  to  the same TV  programmes  I guess ....instead of  growing up in a village and never meeting a Londoner say , now modulates to the speech in  Eastenders . 

I notice the  TH  & the T sound disappearing    ....stuff that would have raised the ferocity of our teachers  like ..." I bin to the ci' ee  cen'a wiv me muvva "      

Another  one is   ..." He  just spent a week in  'orse pickle "     

hardly ever hear a proper Cornish or Devonian accent these days, it seems limited t a few old farmers and that's about all. Has a lot to do with people retiring down here, you are more likley to hear a London / SE accent than a local as they have bought all the costal village houses, and quite a few countryside properties to. 

i wish the geordie accent would disappear... hate it

We used to to work with an alarm engineer who was from up round that way. Can remember one tea break one of the joiners came out with "did you hear, (alarm-eng) has joined AA...... Yeah, he actually wanted to switch his phone to EE but they mis-heard him"

Andy™ said:

i wish the geordie accent would disappear... hate it

Click to expand...

Away Canny lad ....  it's probably the best accent in the country  , come on Andy , you're stirring it now   :innocent

When I worked on overhead cranes I was in New-castle , thats how you say it  .  Told the guys there we had trouble finding our way from the hotel to the works .     Theres this bloody great river flows right through the middle  and you have to cross about 50 bridges to get there .  

One of the guys said he'd pull in at the hotel at 7.45  and we can follow him .  Now you don't get that darn sarf. 

In the hotel bar in Jesmond, one night ...round our table were  a load of  Army guys who seem to arrive there from NI  , all different accents,   me  a Brummie  , my mechanical partner , broad Yam-Yam , even I didn't understand him .... a Scotsman ,  a Yorkybar ,  Middlesbrough  guy,  an Irishman ,  with an American couple trying to understand us all , & failing .   Nice people but the guy underestimated the power of Newcastle Brown  , two soldiers had to carry him to bed with his wife fluttering round . 

contrary to popular belief, the river tyne doesnt run through newcastle. newcastle is on the north side, gateshead is on the south, and is its own city. wish there was 50 bridges over it though. instead we have a tunnel and a few bridges and thats it

and deke got middlesbrough right, its middlesbrough, not middlesborough like most spell it. they skipped a o for some reason. probably a typo in 1800's that was never fixed

I have to admit I typed  Middlesborough  and it looked wrong  so spell checked it .   Not a  word one types every day .  

Anyway  the friendliest folk we worked with  were  up in Geordyland   and  the Rhondda  .  

The most unfriendly & unhelpful , I don't want to upset any members  so  just saying , it was a large power station , near a tunnel under a well known river .   nuff said! 

I used to go out with a lass from Western Way, Darras Hall, Ponteland

couldnt fault her

very accommodating

Can't remember when or where I read it...

But it was a long time ago..

And  basically the conclusion was for all call-centre staff...

The more northern the accent gets, the more friendly it appears to people on the other end of the phone...

The starting point was Yorkshire...  

Anything below that was a bit suspect on the friendly voice scale.

Then the nearer you got to Scotland..

the more helpful and accommodating the voice sounds!

No idea how accurate this is...

But I would Guess Andy is somewhere in the helpful and friendly category!

Guinness    :C

It is against the law to be british anymore never mind have a regional accent..

I posted on facebook earlier that there was no such thing as "institutionalised racism" in the uk... You would not believe the replies i got for pointing this out and suggesting that anyone unhappy to be living here were free to go elsewhere.. I had idiot replies from people claiming to have experienced it themselves, but when you see their picture they are as white as me..

Apparently it was "racist" that the block of flats in london burnt down, [despite the fact that so far as i know every block of flats in the country has the same cladding] and apparently london fire brigade are racist too. Apparently some feel there was some sort of "bias" in the way they went about rescuing people..

In OUR country we cannot even call christmas christmas anymore, we have a black mayor of london, the health secretary here in wales is black, the president of america was black [not the present one!] and yet our country is apparently "institutionally racist" Just a load of rubbish..

Glad i have not got any kids.. i would fear for their future..

john..

Just put my tin hat firmly on!

If you go back 30 years, there was serious racism in this country, but now I'm not so sure , BUT what there is now , are large numbers of people who want to "change" the UK to be like somewhere else - I think we've been too accommodating. 

Look at the Police for example, they bend over backwards to try and recruit a more diverse cross section - but there are groups that won't join ........ Over the weekend, it was reported that golf was "racist" - I play on a public course and you see very few, if anybody other than white people - I've no idea why as I would have thought that Tiger Woods immense success would have introduced golf to a wider audience decades ago'

I've got kids and do fear for their future

Racism only lives in the minds of people, which comes out in their attitudes, I would say that maybe 30yrs ago racism was about, but today in this country not a chance, we’ve had to many politicians wanting a multicultural society to be deemed a racist country. The real problem is that the ‘blacks’ read as Africans don’t want to let it go because if they did they’d have nothing to argue about. There have been many a successful ‘black’ person in many different sectors of life so how can they argue that they don’t get the same opportunities as the white folk?
 

Also ask yourself this, What has the African man ever achieved? Their as they call it home countries are classified as third world, their houses are a basic shell, their technological development is next to nothing so I don’t think it is a race issue more perhaps let’s take a look at ourselves issue and see what we contribute to the world? 
I have had first hand experience of the black African attitudes, as anyone who lives in many areas of London has, They do not come across as very nice people- I will say that that doesn’t count for all but the majority that I have experienced. 
 

I don’t think that we will ever abolish racism, not for the white mans want of trying but because the ‘black’ community will not move forward. I remember back in the 80’s we were not allowed to use the n word but they still can, we were not allowed to call them coloured, but they still reference themselves as coloured, we were told we can not call them black as they are not black but they still call themselves black, so for all our listening and adapting it changes nothing for them? 
I know of first hand experiences that in Africa the whites built houses with running water, toilets etc and the blacks destroyed them because that’s not how they live so the question is what more can we do? 
Until they change their attitudes then we are fighting a losing battle. 
 

but to pick up on Johns post, I agree I am bored of people coming here from other cultures and wanting us to change and adapt to suit their believes of how a country should be, if their country’s ways are so good then why leave? 

It is time for all to accept that we are one race on one planet.

Murdoch said:

I think we've been too accommodating

Click to expand...

How bloody true is that .

Thing is you can't force people to play golf  ,  I'm not a great fan  TBH  , but  theres always the culture difference  .....   how many Asian footballers  do you see  ?   Its a sport slightly out of their culture zone hence not many take it up ......... its not that they are prevented from doing so .    Black people used to complain there were not enough black footballers ,  now theres plenty by natural progression , so now the complaint is not enough  black managers .  

Over the years I've not experienced racism to any great extent ...in fact  the worst case was against myself .....   started with a contractor  on a Gulf fuel storage depot ....  supervisor who was Irish   said "Do you go to mass Derrrk  "  ?  (Thats how he pronounced it)   I said why would I want to do that , puzzled  .  "Will you be down the Rum Runner Friday  Derrrk ? "        No mate I'm taking girl friend out .  

Found out I didn't fit in because :-  

1)  All the crew were Irish or Liverpool  Irish .

2)  So all were Roman Catholic.  as was Supervisor .  

3)  I'm neither .

4)  On Friday nights you were expected to be buying Supervisor drinks in the Rum Runner  ( Brum night club)     

5) Supervisor/foreman is always right ,  you are a mere sparks , you know nothing , you do as you are told .  ( not my way)   

6)  When he was delayed by heavy snow ,  I used my initiative , checked with the Gulf office for a flame permit for gas torch  & put half a day in before he arrived . 

        He was not happy , how dare I usurp his authority  ,  I didn't last much longer . 

Exactly 1000% correct.. That steven laurences mum, whilst it is of course not right what happened to her son, has made an industry out of this sort of thing. The halfwit went and accused the fire brigade of being "racist" but then had to go and apologise..

You are exactly correct, THEY will not move forward as then they would have nothing to complain about..

john..

Sharpend said:

I am bored of people coming here from other cultures and wanting us to change and adapt to suit their believes of how a country should be, if their country’s ways are so good then why leave? 

Click to expand...

I am only allowed to award one "Scoob"   to Sharpie's post  unfortunately.  

I too am tired of black folk complaining they don't get opportunities  here ....I'd say ,  there were plenty of opportunities here  but if you don't qualify you don't get them , which is the same for white folk .      Black folk get on and are respected  here  ,   Sir Trevor McDoughnut  for instance  ,   my late brother  in later life was ordained as an Anglican priest ......by the Archbishop  of York  no less , who just happens to be black .      My MP is black .   Half B,ham council are black .   98% of our doctors are black  ...  80% of sparks at my wholesalers  are black /Asian ......     and there are no opportunities !!! 

Lets face it , any young guy in a working class area  ,driving round in the latest  Beamer / Audi / Merc/   WILL get pulled by the police  WHATEVER his colour !!!  

Strange that when there were hardly any black folk here ,  the police  would take one look at us lot ,   hanging out on street corners , motor bikes , black leather jackets , blue jeans , Elvis hair cuts  etc    and would   pull over to find out what was going down .   

Evans Electric said:

I am only allowed to award one "Scoob"   to Sharpie's post  unfortunately.

Click to expand...

Same here..

john..

I have distinct memories of going up north and into Scotland and having the pxss taken out of my southern accent - and as for the Lassie in Holyroyd, just imagine if somebody in Westminster went on about the Scots like she does about the English 

Sharpend said:

 I agree I am bored of people coming here from other cultures and wanting us to change and adapt to suit their believes of how a country should be, if their country’s ways are so good then why leave? 

Click to expand...

hit, nail and head

Look across the channel to France - go to a hospital and you can't speak French - tough or pay for a translator - here in the UK, the NHS provides translators at OUR cost.

I went to junior school in leafy Surrey - there was only 1 non white kid in the school - did he get any abuse - NO, the fat kids did - whats happened to our tolerant society? Its all very sad.