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Accents

A

Alberta

Super Moderator
Staff member
As many members know I was born in the Staffs moorlands and came here when I was 7 and my sister was 4.
I speak with a Brummie accent with a few exceptions, e'g.I say break-fast instead of brekfast.
Mind you people in Brum think I am from Liverpool and my family in Staffs think I speak like Lenny Henry.LOL.
My sons tell me that they can always tell when I have been on the phone to my cousin because they can hear the Staffs in my voice.

My sister has virtually no regional accent,but when she talks about our parents she speaks in a pronounced Potteries accent.
She visits her best friend in Cornwall and comes back with a hint of a Cornish accent and her late husband was from Donegal and when she comes back from visiting relatives there she speaks with an
Irish accent.

My son who only moved to Leicestershire 5 years ago says some things with a Leics accent.

Has anyone who has moved elsewhere lost their Brummie accent.
 
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My son moved to London 10 years ago. He hasn't got a hint of a Brummie accent. He did when he left
 
I moved from Sutton to Tamworth in 74 but don't have a Tammie accent. Mind you there are so many Brummies here the Tamworth accent has nearly disappeared.
 
My sister has a Brummie accent whilst mine is muted. Not for any deliberate reason but the way were brought up (Dad was from the country and Mom has lived in London). My sister I think needed to fit in more when she moved to secondary school so her accent got more Brummie. Now we have a mix as my sons has a brummie accent.
 
We lived in the USA for a few years, and when we came back a lot of people thought that I in particular was being pretentious when I spoke, purposely putting on an American accent. I soon reverted back to my old Brummie. Because of my am-dram interests I did have a couple of elocution lessons, but the teacher told me very early on that of all the English regional accents, Brummie is the hardest to disguise, along with Scouse. I'd rather speak Brummie any day than that horrible whining 'Estuary English' most current TV presenters seem to have.

My wife was born in Dublin, but has lived in Birmingham since she was 14, and hasn't got one single trace of a Brummie accent. She still speaks with a lovely Irish lilt. Strange.

Big Gee
 
I probably need to change my language. Just had an email alert from the BHF saying an Instant Message is available for me, it's entitled 'Самооборона в'
Looks as if the Russian robots like the Brummie accent...:)
 
ive lived in Texas more than 50yrs and l still talk with a brummie twang.....my brother never did speak with a brummie accent and always told me as soon as l opened my mouth people would know where l came from, ....my mother and father were both born and bred in Aston, l guess l must have picked it up somewhere......Brenda.....by the way the Texans think l talk lovely
 
My sister marilyn lived in Italy for 24 years, spoke fluent Italian, but when she phoned me she spoke pure brummie, I left aged 15 yrs and never went back to live, I have lived in Cambridge since 1975 (56 yrs) but even now people who have just met me say after a few minutes, you've got a midland accent hav't you.
paul
 
I have lived in Cambridge since 1972, and I still do a good Brummie accent when I get angry.
 
Has anybody noticed the new presenter, who does the Traffic Reports on Radio 2 ? When he first started he had the usual BBC accent but then, after a while, I noticed the telltale flattening of his vowels. Now the bloke's Brummy accent is really coming to the fore and it's great to hear it. If Julie Walters doesn't try to hide her accent then why should anyone else ?
 
His name is Richie Anderson, formerly with BBC WM 95.6. He is great to hear, particularly when he talks about BUZZES. His accent really comes to the fore when he is talking about any of the west midland area
 
cba said:
His name is Richie Anderson, formerly with BBC WM 95.6. He is great to hear, particularly when he talks about BUZZES. His accent really comes to the fore when he is talking about any of the west midland area
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He sounds a cheerfull soul, certainly seems to get on with bradcasters like Ken Bruce.
 
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I spent part of my early childhood age 3 to just short of 5 in Dundee, when I came back to Brum I had to start school again after starting at 4 years of age in Scotland. Hardly anybody in my new school could understand a word I said, but I soon lost my Scottish accent and replaced it with an English one.

A few years back when talking about accents with some Italian Friends, I was surprised when they said that they thought I had a pronounced Brummy accent, They were both Birmingham born & bred but spoke Italian fluently, and here was me thinking that I didn't sound like a Brummy at all.
 
Ha ha - Dundee - my son-in-law is from there and is now back living there. I can't understand a darned word he says. He sounds like he's talking with a gobful of jelly babies! :)

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
Ha ha - Dundee - my son-in-law is from there and is now back living there. I can't understand a darned word he says. He sounds like he's talking with a gobful of jelly babies! :)

Maurice
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Actually friends in the USA said the a similar thing about Adrian Chiles in the World Cup commentaries. The difference was not jelly babies but spaghetti. :laughing:
 
Hi,

You can take the girl out of Birmingham, but you can't take Birmingham out of the girl.
I took my missus over here to Norfolk, and everyone knows she's a Brummie!

Kind regards
Dave.
 
Have lived in scotland for 42 years still got my Birmingham accent lived in great Barr then Aldridge everyone here says about my accent
 
Just like you Paul Davidson, i too have lived in Scotland for 42 years, and also worked in Dundee for a year, many years ago. Was over at the Edinburgh Fringe a coupl of weeks ago, and was asked about my accent whilst there too. Have been asked many times over the years, due to the accent still being strong. But have never had any trouble with it. The Scots are so friendly.
 
I'm now 82 and was almost 24 when I left Brum. Spent about 40 years in Dorset and 15 years in Crete, but I'm instantly identified as a Brummie even now.

No, your Honour, I've never been near the place, honest!

Guilty as charged! Send him down!

Maurice :cool:
 
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