Army Rumour Service

Register a free account today to join our community
Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site, connect with other members through your own private inbox and will receive smaller adverts!

UK Accents

What's your usual spoken accent?

  • Southern generic

    Votes: 48 28.4%
  • Southern London

    Votes: 20 11.8%
  • Welsh

    Votes: 7 4.1%
  • Midlands

    Votes: 21 12.4%
  • Northern (red rose)

    Votes: 14 8.3%
  • Northern (white rose)

    Votes: 17 10.1%
  • North-Eastern

    Votes: 17 10.1%
  • Scottish (Lowland)

    Votes: 13 7.7%
  • Scottish (Highland)

    Votes: 5 3.0%
  • Norn Iron

    Votes: 7 4.1%

  • Total voters
    169
I still pronounce Glass as G.L.A.S.S, not Glarse; Grass as G.R.A.S.S, not Grarse, and Laugh as L.A.F.F , not Larf.

We moved down to London when I was five so I have a London accent but say all the above words with the proper north of Watford accent like Andy Farman. Really used to get some strange looks at school and lead to me being asked if I was Scottish, Irish, tyke etc.

I am not ticking any boxes as Southern London makes it sound like I might be from south of the river.
 
East Riding differs from both West and North, and then Hull is a rule unto itself.

Even down to different dialects and accents for individual villages. I grew up in a village in east Yorkshire where all the farming types spoke completely differently to anyone else from the surrounding towns. Even now when I go back they will still greet me with a "Noo den borr, 'ows thee dee'in?"
 
I was at a party once in Shoreditch, everyone saying how great being a "Londoner" was. Out of the 20 odd "Londoners" there only 2 where actually born in London. Everyone else moved there after uni. All very surreal. My Dad was 4th generation (Crystal Palace area) but moved about a lot and settled in Scotland for a long time, started a family with my mum (who is from the Borders). He was fascinated with local history and how accents changed over time. My Dad always sounded like Danny Baker to me. His mate Harvey grew up in Southwark, his family ran a fish & chip shop by Borough Market. As the area got gentrified all that history and family links got lost. I am only middle-aged , but the London I grew up in no longer exists.

Agreed: Why so many people leave London
 
Indeed. The generic forces / lower tier boarding school accent.
Yes indeed. RP generic from this c/s, of an earlier era than Rees-Mogg J and thus sounding extremely posh despite a relatively humble HM Forces upbringing and going to a boarding school near the Ravers estate.

I gather the reason for my practically Noël Coward inflections was that, as the offspring of a Mackem NCO and posh Pompey lass (yes, really: well Southsea) said mother had me schooled in diction back in the 1960s before the glottal stop escaped Essex.

It’s as much a burden as a benefit, although being from the OP’s Corps not unusual for an NCO there.
 
Born and raised just off the (H)olloway Road in North London. Maternal language Polish. Decent education at a local Catholic boys’ school mostly attended by the sons of Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants. Joined Foreign Legion at eighteen. After five years back to Blighty and joined the Army, first Regular then TA. Travelled around internationally for work both in green and as a civvy and closely worked with many different nationalities. Learned various other languages to various levels. Now living in the Scottish Borders. Accent changes depending on who I am working/dealing/socialising with. And yet when I'm pissed off at something, the Missus mk.2 (originally a Weegie) reckons that I come across like a Ray Winstone movie character throwing a wobbler.
 
Last edited:
True about Gornal and also Cradley Heath having an almost unintelligible accent. Only 10 miles from Wolvo, but the difference in accent may as well be 100 miles.
 
Growing up as a North Londoner I was vaguely aware of the slight differences between how I spoke and those south of the river, cockneys and Home Counties spoke.

But I could tell it was all related and had spawned from the same language.

It was only when I joined up that I realised what a mental country this is accent wise.

Take Manchester and Liverpool for example, two cities just a few miles apart and they speak completely differently. The two dialects are in no way similar.

Since moving to Cumbria I’ve noticed vast differences between what was Westmorland and what was Cumberland. The “marra” west Cumbrian accent is very distinctive and interestingly female marra is completely different to male marra. There is a lot of Irish influence (as with Scouse) from the imported workers.

Likewise Carlisle seems to have a distinctive blend of Cumberland and Westmorland with some Jock and even Geordie influences. Even just the variation in a single county is massive.

I recall some Westmorland farmers having “craic” in the pub a few years back and I genuinely couldn’t understand them. The conversation should’ve been recorded and put in a museum for future generations to hear.

I’m Carlisle with family branches in Penrith and Barrow, all sound different
 
Yes indeed. RP generic from this c/s, of an earlier era than Rees-Mogg J and thus sounding extremely posh despite a relatively humble HM Forces upbringing and going to a boarding school near the Ravers estate.

I gather the reason for my practically Noël Coward inflections was that, as the offspring of a Mackem NCO and posh Pompey lass (yes, really: well Southsea) said mother had me schooled in diction back in the 1960s before the glottal stop escaped Essex.

It’s as much a burden as a benefit, although being from the OP’s Corps not unusual for an NCO there.
My granny was from Liverpool. Old Swan, L13. She recalled having local accents trained from her and her classmates.
 
Yes indeed. RP generic from this c/s, of an earlier era than Rees-Mogg J and thus sounding extremely posh despite a relatively humble HM Forces upbringing and going to a boarding school near the Ravers estate.

I gather the reason for my practically Noël Coward inflections was that, as the offspring of a Mackem NCO and posh Pompey lass (yes, really: well Southsea) said mother had me schooled in diction back in the 1960s before the glottal stop escaped Essex.

It’s as much a burden as a benefit, although being from the OP’s Corps not unusual for an NCO there.

I grew up in London and my mother sent me to elocution classes until I was about 10 years old. Hated it at the time but it served me well in due course. Of course, having spent the last 30 years in Shropshire I have pickd up some of the local lingo... but hey, never mind duck, dinna mither eh! :)
 
Born scouse, bit of Oldham then dahn sarf, spot of Battersea in my teens and I speak French with a muddy rural Vendee accent, only ever holidayed there though. Weird. I have an immature accent as a result, and tend to follow the strongest accent in a conversation until I'm asked if I'm taking the piss.
Weirdest of all, Sarfamptin and Peortsmouth are only 23 miles apart, moments on the motorway, yet I can tell the difference of which people went to school and where. The locals can't.
 
Born scouse, bit of Oldham then dahn sarf, spot of Battersea in my teens and I speak French with a muddy rural Vendee accent, only ever holidayed there though. Weird. I have an immature accent as a result, and tend to follow the strongest accent in a conversation until I'm asked if I'm taking the piss.
Weirdest of all, Sarfamptin and Peortsmouth are only 23 miles apart, moments on the motorway, yet I can tell the difference of which people went to school and where. The locals can't.
Which locals Kev? Southampton and Pompey are (few miles) geographically apart but linguistically miles away. Just curious.
 
My wife was born in City road London before the war and she still has no
accent to speak of. More to do with being the daughter of middle class parents that where born. Being a Pompey lad I had the local accent but gradually lost it after the age of 15 when joining up and spending the rest of my life in other places and countries. Oh just to say, the locals in Pompey can tell the difference between not only them and Scummers but different parts of Portsmouth as well.
 
Top