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Birmingham Accents

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JohnJames

JohnJames

master brummie
Something that most non Birmingham people don't realise is that there are or were several different Birmingham accents. Growing up in East Birmingham (Small Heath), I always found that people from other parts of the city and in particular those from North Birmingham sounded different to us east side folk. At my first place of work, a dyed in the wool old Small Heath guy always jokingly referred to another worker from Great Barr as a 'Yam Yam'. As a Villa fan from the Blues part of the city, I also noticed these differences during games at Villa Park. Not having lived in Birmingham for many years, I wonder if this is still the case now?
 
On one of my visits to the Midlands I was at a supermarket in West Brom by the Albion ground and was quite surprised to hear a young Asian guy talking with a broad 'yamyam' (black country) accent.
Those from the Indian sub continent seem to have taken on the local accents far more closely than the West Indians.
 
I worked in and around the Black Country from about 1966 onwards, and never heard the term 'YamYam' until about 10 years ago! Someone told me it was all started by a DJ on a local Wolverhampton radio station....might even be true!

Re: differing accents around Brum, this is perfectly true. I had some friends who lived in and around Northfield when I lived in Aston, and they used to take the mickey out of my accent, which I never thought was particularly Brummie. I think you'd have to be a Professor Higgins to pinpoint the precise origin of any Brummie accent, but I do agree there are differences.

Any Brummie accent is in my opinion a damned sight less annoying and more pleasant to listen to than the whining, nasal Cockney accents which seem all over TV these days. I can think of two presenters in particular - I turn off the sound whenever they come on.

G
 
JohnJames said:
Something that most non Birmingham people don't realise is that there are or were several different Birmingham accents. Growing up in East Birmingham (Small Heath), I always found that people from other parts of the city and in particular those from North Birmingham sounded different to us east side folk. At my first place of work, a dyed in the wool old Small Heath guy always jokingly referred to another worker from Great Barr as a 'Yam Yam'. As a Villa fan from the Blues part of the city, I also noticed these differences during games at Villa Park. Not having lived in Birmingham for many years, I wonder if this is still the case now?
Click to expand...
Weird this...just saw this by total fluke looking for something else, and felt compelled to reply ......

I'm from Great Barr,( an still am ) and think of myself as a Brummie as per my address an post code ( and please dont anyone mention the contrived aberration Sandwell to me please ! )

Some twenty + years ago, i was attending Media Forge at the Chubb Buildings in Wolverhampton and I hadnt heard of the term Yam Yam til then, on asking i was told

Yam yam was explained to me as a term West Brom or Brummie folk attributed to their Black Country Wolverhampton neighbors , for saying, '' Yam this, yam that '' instead of You are.

I personally dont attribute it to the Great Barr in any shape or form .....but i know it is a phrasing ive heard in West Brom in the past ...

So for a Greatbarrite to be called a yam yam, is erm , to me.....well shall we say rather strange ! .

My experience growing up here is there are many people who have quite middle England accents, with very little affiliation to Brum or the Black country , just maybe the occasional more regionalised pronunciation of a specific word depending on their own origin .

But me a YAM YAM ?? ??? ,

NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS :) !
 
Digitalguru said:
Weird this...just saw this by total fluke looking for something else, and felt compelled to reply ......

I'm from Great Barr,( an still am ) and think of myself as a Brummie as per my address an post code ( and please dont anyone mention the contrived aberration Sandwell to me please ! )

Some twenty + years ago, i was attending Media Forge at the Chubb Buildings in Wolverhampton and I hadnt heard of the term Yam Yam til then, on asking i was told

Yam yam was explained to me as a term West Brom or Brummie folk attributed to their Black Country Wolverhampton neighbors , for saying, '' Yam this, yam that '' instead of You are.

I personally dont attribute it to the Great Barr in any shape or form .....but i know it is a phrasing ive heard in West Brom in the past ...

So for a Greatbarrite to be called a yam yam, is erm , to me.....well shall we say rather strange ! .

My experience growing up here is there are many people who have quite middle England accents, with very little affiliation to Brum or the Black country , just maybe the occasional more regionalised pronunciation of a specific word depending on their own origin .

But me a YAM YAM ?? ??? ,

NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS :) !
Click to expand...
Yam all rite r kid,
 
Given that the city;s boundaries were only extended within the last 150 years or so, some more recently in the 1970's, it stands to reason that the regional accents of neighbouring counties, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, would be an influence hence some differences.
 
Big Gee said:
I worked in and around the Black Country from about 1966 onwards, and never heard the term 'YamYam' until about 10 years ago! Someone told me it was all started by a DJ on a local Wolverhampton radio station....might even be true!

Re: differing accents around Brum, this is perfectly true. I had some friends who lived in and around Northfield when I lived in Aston, and they used to take the mickey out of my accent, which I never thought was particularly Brummie. I think you'd have to be a Professor Higgins to pinpoint the precise origin of any Brummie accent, but I do agree there are differences.

Any Brummie accent is in my opinion a damned sight less annoying and more pleasant to listen to than the whining, nasal Cockney accents which seem all over TV these days. I can think of two presenters in particular - I turn off the sound whenever they come on.

G
Click to expand...
Arthur Smith, Nick Knowles or Matt Allbright perhaps?
 
When I was a LorryDriver in the 80s got into Glasgow one day,looking for an address.Went into a small shop .Have you ever heard a Pakistani with a Scottish accent:laughing::laughing::joy:
 
jmadone said:
Arthur Smith, Nick Knowles or Matt Allbright perhaps?
Click to expand...
I am sorry but whenever I see and hear Nick Knowles I think he should be in prison! Considering that I have never knowingly met anyone who has served time in one of HM's establishments I can only think that Mr Knowles conforms to some stereotype that our national broadcaster has carefully implanted in my brain.

No talk of Yam-Yams is complete without mention of Doreen Tipton, the queen of Yamland!
 
My wanderings away from Brum, since '57, perhaps leave me a bit out of touch. That being said, until I joined this site, I'd never heard the expression "Yam Yam".
Re. Edifi's post. When I was posted to Woolwich, back in the late 70s, two doors down from us was a woman married to a soldier of the Royal Irish Rangers. She was German, he was from Belfast. Now there was an accent !
 
Spargone said:
I am sorry but whenever I see and hear Nick Knowles I think he should be in prison! Considering that I have never knowingly met anyone who has served time in one of HM's establishments I can only think that Mr Knowles conforms to some stereotype that our national broadcaster has carefully implanted in my brain.

No talk of Yam-Yams is complete without mention of Doreen Tipton, the queen of Yamland!
Click to expand...
Had to google this one.
 
Spargone said:
I am sorry but whenever I see and hear Nick Knowles I think he should be in prison! Considering that I have never knowingly met anyone who has served time in one of HM's establishments I can only think that Mr Knowles conforms to some stereotype that our national broadcaster has carefully implanted in my brain.

No talk of Yam-Yams is complete without mention of Doreen Tipton, the queen of Yamland!
Click to expand...
Is Nick Knowles the one with that awful nasal voice ? Yeah I hate that accent.
Is Doreen Tipton the woman I saw on youtube, delivering a scathing attack on our unloveable MPs ?
 
jmadone said:
Arthur Smith, Nick Knowles or Matt Allbright perhaps?
Click to expand...

You'd got one correct! The other one is a small bald-headed fellow....

I used to visit Tyneside on business on occasion. Loved the genuine Geordie (Newcastle) accent, but when I was in Gateshead I could hardly understand a single word. Likewise, people I know who come to the Midlands don't normally have a problem with Brummie, but take them just a few miles to somewhere like Sedgley and it's a different story.

G
 
Given that the 1960's and 70's were times of relocation for many citizens of Birmingham to outlying parts - and that is forty to fifty years ago (although to some it might seem like yesterday :laughing: ) - I think that some accents probably moved with the people, which may explain some incongruities. Some people can soon lose an accent and acquire another, other less so, as evidenced on some of the BHF posts. A friends mother who normally spoke with a nice Devonian accent went to the USA for three months to stay with her expat family. There were decidedly Americanisms to her speech on her return - soon lost, however once back home. A young teenager from Leicester acquired a local accent (South Devon) within weeks; more vernacular in fact than some of the natives. ;)
 
My workmate Bill McMahon spoke with a pretty normal brummy accent at work but at home with his Irish mother he returned to a broad Irish brogue.
 
Digitalguru said:
Weird this...just saw this by total fluke looking for something else, and felt compelled to reply ......

I'm from Great Barr,( an still am ) and think of myself as a Brummie as per my address an post code ( and please dont anyone mention the contrived aberration Sandwell to me please ! )

Some twenty + years ago, i was attending Media Forge at the Chubb Buildings in Wolverhampton and I hadnt heard of the term Yam Yam til then, on asking i was told

Yam yam was explained to me as a term West Brom or Brummie folk attributed to their Black Country Wolverhampton neighbors , for saying, '' Yam this, yam that '' instead of You are.

I personally dont attribute it to the Great Barr in any shape or form .....but i know it is a phrasing ive heard in West Brom in the past ...

So for a Greatbarrite to be called a yam yam, is erm , to me.....well shall we say rather strange ! .

My experience growing up here is there are many people who have quite middle England accents, with very little affiliation to Brum or the Black country , just maybe the occasional more regionalised pronunciation of a specific word depending on their own origin .

But me a YAM YAM ?? ??? ,

NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS :) !
Click to expand...
Definitely not a yamyam if you are from Great Barr! The old boy that I quoted was just taking the mickey as the Great Barrites Brummy accent seemed a little bit 'broader' that our Small Heath version. One thing I recall is that he referred to women as 'wenches', which is, I believe a bit black country. Incidentally the workplace was Bywater's pork factory, close to the Blues ground. It is long gone and that area has been completely redeveloped.
 
As I was growing up all of the females in both my Dad's and my Mom's families were referred to as "wenches". Both families were full blooded Brummies and not from the Black Country.
 
jmadone said:
As I was growing up all of the females in both my Dad's and my Mom's families were referred to as "wenches". Both families were full blooded Brummies and not from the Black Country.
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The word wench has been around for hundreds of years, and has both good and bad meanings.
I recall it being used but a term that has fell out of favor, unless in a period Hollywood movie.
 
Have lived in Kent since 1984,While shopping in Lidl said to the good lady shall we have some of these lovely Grapes.Alady next to me said !What part of Bham are you from,I used to live in Great Barr she said.Some of us never loose the accent do us.
 
There is also a thread in the forum called “A Brummie accent will hold you back in life.”

A 'brummie' accent will hold you back in life.

Another'know it all ' group has come up with a list of accents that either hold you back in your working life or make life good for you. Having a brummie accent apparently means you will not be a success in your career.Crikey Dr.Chinn have you read this.? Take heart, we were 2nd worst,poor...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

I was looking at a YouTube video concerning our own Jess Philips, Labour MP for Yardley and Hall Green. I love her Birmingham accent but won't post the video for fear that there is a Question mark over the politics.

Her father wanted her to get rid of her Birmingham accent, but she says that in reality a regional accent has been her greatest asset. She doesn’t think too much of the Peaky Blinders accents and what she calls her fictional predecessor Thomas Shelby (MP for Yardley).

As for the accent holding people back, there is an outside chance that she could become the first female leader of the Labour Party.
 
When i was at a training collage in Nottingham in 1979 . i got some stick about my accent they called me 67:grinning:
 
Not so long ago I read a book about Bartley Green in the late 1800s and was surprised to read that the Bartley Green accent differed from the Frankley accent. Weird because they are more or less known as one area now.
 
A good one on accents. I was taking a load of sanitary goods being delivered to my place by Landon's (he of the old Crown Cinema, Icknield Port Road??
"Where did you use to live" the driver asked of me.
I assumed he ment my previous address which was a village just a few miles away.
"No" says he "where do you originally come from in Birmingham"
I've never attempted to modify my accent, and told him I was brought up in Irving Street.
"I bloody new it" says he "I would know a Ladywood accent anywhere".
He then dived into the back of his Luton van and dragged out a chest full of old black and white photos of the area which if I recall his comments were taken just after the war.
Loads of great photos I recall of the area with more than a few of Holloway Head.
I'm not sure but the driver may have been one of the Landon family and the event took place some 20+ years ago.
 
Mick Johnston said:
A good one on accents. I was taking a load of sanitary goods being delivered to my place by Landon's (he of the old Crown Cinema, Icknield Port Road??
"Where did you use to live" the driver asked of me.
I assumed he ment my previous address which was a village just a few miles away.
"No" says he "where do you originally come from in Birmingham"
I've never attempted to modify my accent, and told him I was brought up in Irving Street.
"I bloody new it" says he "I would know a Ladywood accent anywhere".
He then dived into the back of his Luton van and dragged out a chest full of old black and white photos of the area which if I recall his comments were taken just after the war.
Loads of great photos I recall of the area with more than a few of Holloway Head.
I'm not sure but the driver may have been one of the Landon family and the event took place some 20+ years ago.
Click to expand...

would loved to have seen those old photos

ly
 
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