I of course have pointed out several times that Pasties are from Cornwall & that I am in fact from Somerset but it falls on deaf ears!
I suppose it’s preferably to being called Wurzel … although they do ask if I came to work on my tractor!!!!
Some accents seem to generate a stereotype in peoples mind, I can’t be the only person out there who is nicknamed & teased by their accent!?? It doesn’t bother me in fact I quite like it, it’s who I am & believe me I can give as good as I get, lets be fair the Brummie accent is hardly without comedy value!
To my midland mates all the west country accents sound the same, I can distinguish between Cornish, Devon, Dorset etc but ask me to identify the different Midlands accents … Warwickshire, Coventry, Staffordshire etc and then I struggle!
I suppose our ear attunes to the accents we grew up with or schooled in?
I think with time you can identify other sub regional accents as opposed to just being Welsh, Irish, northern etc …. I know Mr Heron is very good at identifying different Irish accents but he has lived there for a long time now or maybe it’s just a talent!!?
I love the regional accents for such a small Island we have a very diverse range of accents. From the slow Cornish accent to the fast Liverpudlian banter as soon as someone speaks you can generally place them in a vague area of the country!
Am I alone in feeling a little thrill when you hear your own accent coming from someone else when you are both miles from your native county, there’s that instant bond, that feeling that you just want to ask where they are from ….. I often do … I can’t help myself!!? I find that it’s a good opener for a conversation with people you don’t know, most people are proud of their accent & where they come from!
So in a Somerset stereotype I lift a glass of scrumpy cider to the accent – long may it live!
Owh ah' m'dear youm a zummerzet one baint ee !
ReplyDeleteS'pose you'll be gwain dawn thicky rod fer a pint a cider an a game of shove ha'pney or a skittles evenin.
Doan ee be takin no nunsese fram them townnie volk, thame ony jalous of ee cos of thee weerin a smock wid gaiters an a flappy at on yer ed. So doan thee be worrin!
I moved to Dorset from Gatwick and everyone thought I was Australian...for years after my arrival. Dorset 'poshed me up' (yes west country sounds better than Gatwick) but now after several years in Norwich, I occasionally hear myself do the Norfolk intonation. I adore accents too. You have reminded me...when I was a teacher I used to deliver the times table tests via accented characters that I made up. The kids loved it. The characters would all have a relationship to times tables e.g. Trace from Liverpool hated them - got in the way of shopping, never got them right, Katy from Scotland was a swot, Ron the merket stall dealer would give you two tables for the price of one, the queen would come to open number 6 and so on....
ReplyDeleteThe other ones I remember wer..
George the Tractor driver (Dorset) what he didn't know about tractors wasn't worth knowing.
Brenda from Sweden
Someone from Ireland...Hollywood Ireland that was
Brian from Birmingham...only really interested in eating
PJ from the southern states
...there were more but I can't remember them!
Terrible sterotyping!!!
P.S. Hi!