Are you a Londoner?

[DirtMechanic]

I like the fine edge in this funny vid!

 

[Sheal]

I worked in London for some while and the video isn't far from the truth. People rarely speak to each other on the streets unless they know the person/s.

It's the same on the trains that run into London. Nobody ever speaks unless there's a crisis which halts the train. When the crisis is over, silence returns.

 

[Sean Regan]

I was born in South London, in those days it was "North Surrey"
My future wife and I moved into a flat in Soho when we were nineteen.
I changed jobs at the age of 25 in 1965 and we and our three kids, living in North London by then moved to south Manchester.
We're still here.
There were and still are, a lot of ex-Londoners who live in this area.
The first thing I noticed was that Northerners speak more slowly than Londoners.
Then there's the accents, as in London there are regional ones. I could understand them but not so all, mine.

In our first week in Manchester, my wife asked me to go into a big department store and buy her some buttons.

I asked an assistant. "Do you sell buttons?"

"Paper patterns?"

"No buttons, like these," pointing at one on my shirt.

"Oh! You mean bootons!"

Yes, people were more friendly, you were often addressed as "Love" or "Chuck."
It was also evident that many people you met, lived and worked not far from where they were born.

Accents are amusing. Our youngest son's ex wife came from a posh area of West Horton, a suburb of Bolton.
When they moved into a house, she decided they needed another power socket in the kitchen. He told her he could run another from an existing one.

She replied "Ooo" You're picking up the accent!"

To which he replied "No I'm not, I said I could run a spur, not a spare."

As for regional accents. In a converstion with a woman who worked for me, she told me that she originally came from London many years before.
I said, "I can tell, you come from Peckham." She was astonished that I was correct.
Lots of people are unaware of their accents.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I said, "I can tell, you come from Peckham." She was astonished that I was correct.
Lots of people are unaware of their accents.

It is true, When i moved to South London I noticed everyone had accents. In Edmonton/Palmers green where I grew up no-one had an accent, they all spoke normally

 

[Sean Regan]

I went to an old fashioned grammar school in Mitcham.
For what it's worth, amongst others I have an "O" level in English language and English literature.

Every week, in an English class we had a "public speaking" exercise. One of our number had to stand up in front of the rest of the class and give a 2 minute talk on a subject of your own choice.

Any "hand waving," the inclusion of an "umm" or an "err" and you would find a soft blackboard rubber aimed at your head thrown by the master at the back of the class, plus cries of derision from your fellow pupils.

It amazes me that very few people on TV can do it.


Fiona Bruce with her frequent, "Julie Andrews Sound of Music arms spread"

I find particularly annoying.

 

[Sheal]

We all have different accents/dialects and some are more difficult to understand than others. I'm southern English and have lived in northern Scotland for seven years. My family have a mixture of accents/dialects from not only parts of Britain but further afield too so I've got used to 'tuning into' them.

Thought I'd add this to @DirtMechanic's thread. I wonder how many of you understand what is being said by this Scotsman? Hit the 'X' on the Facebook sign in box to raise the link.

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Do you find it difficult to understand people from other areas, or have a range of accents amongst your family and friends?

 

[Sean Regan]

When we moved from London to Manchester, what struck me was how much slower local people spoke.

I'm reminded of my daughter when at eighteen, she left home here in Manchester to train at Great Ormond Street Hospital. There was a girl from Chorley who started at the same time, with whom she became friends, who marvelled at the fact that in London, she had a "London accent," (as she had at home) and a Manchester accent when out with friends in Manchester. She developed this at school when she started here at the age of five, as she didn't want to "stand out."

 

[Sheal]

Some seem to pick up accents easily. Both my niece's son and daughter were born and reared in the Gloucester area. Her son speaks like a Londoner but her daughter has a south-west dialect.

 

[Sean Regan]

Some seem to pick up accents easily. Both my niece's son and daughter were born and reared in the Gloucester area. Her son speaks like a Londoner but her daughter has a south-west dialect.

On accents.

In the first few weeks we were in Manchester, my wife asked me to buy her some buttons for something he was knitting. I went into Kendalls and spoke to an assistant on a counter near the door.

"Do you sell buttons?"

"Paper patterns?"

"No, buttons. These things," pointing at one on my jacket.

"Oh! You mean bootons!"

 

[DirtMechanic]

Lol -people say if you visit us here in the land of cotton it takes 3 days to aquire our accent and 30 days to lose it. Y'all drop by anytime!

 

[Sheal]

I haven't got a clue what your accent would sound like DM, but like Britain I know there are light and strong accents. I consider my daughter-in-law to have a strong accent - she grew up in West Virginia.

 

[zigs]

I haven't got a clue what your accent would sound like DM, but like Britain I know there are light and strong accents. I consider my daughter-in-law to have a strong accent - she grew up in West Virginia.

I picture Mr Mechanic having the same accent as the lead character from "My Name is Earl"

 

[Sean Regan]

Here's a phrase that some Brits have difficulty understanding.

"Twenny fluey dancers."

It's Australian for "a pint."

 

[zigs]

I had some neighbours from Bolton once. One of them asked if they could borrow an urrlock

I had to tell them I had no idea what they were asking for (I was picturing some sort of monster from HG Wells Time Machine)

They repeated it a bit louder, "Urrlock"

Still no idea...

"You know, thing that goes on top of wine bottle to stop flies gettin in, urrlock"

How can an entire city have a speech impediment?

 

[Sheal]

You know, thing that goes on top of wine bottle to stop flies gettin in, urrlock"

And I still have no idea what your neighbours were talking about.