Is Benny at the Crossroads

[... 1,411]

On the news today there was a peice about getting rid of the black country accent argument being confuses children local accennts in general were being questioned .Should we keep slang i personally love it what will comedienes do without it what are the pros and cons.

[Commo 1,292]

All dialects are worth preserving and cherishing, they are what define particular groups and form an affinity bond and a sense of belonging to your own community. I doubt that every one on The Forum speaks in a broad Nottingham dialect particularly when conversing with folk from "foreign" parts, yet the fact that we take a delight in writing on here in dialect confirms that we all have something in common and are proud to actually declare it.

Dialect is totally different to sloppy and slovenly speech. Is there anyone else who cannot stand the sloppy way of speech that now appears to abound where every sentence finishes in an interrogative upward note? Here I have to exclude our antipodean ex pats, for whom this is an accepted way of speech and have by now probably adopted this themselves after so long having been transported down to Van Diemens Land !!

Yerve gorra laff antya !

[Bilboro-lad 294]

Personally, I'm not a fan of broad accents. We live in a modern world where communication is key. Broad accents don't help anyone. I lived in Oz for around 16 years and now don't tend to have much of an accent of any kind. If everyone spoke like a BBC newsreader we'd all be better off.

Having said that I still can't bring myself to say "garaarrge" It's still a "garij" to me.

I really don't like the old Bilborough slang of childhood. "Oi yo, warra yo doin ere?"

No thanks.

[carni 10,094]

You are right Commo,

I know that i don't talk with quite such a broad Nottingham accent here in West Mids, But it hasn't left me, just faded slightly over the years. on saying that,i haven't picked any of the Black Country accent up either. I find i use different expressions for the sole reason that it makes life easier if i don't have to go on and explain what i mean. It is great to come home to Nottingham and hear the majority of people around me and at our meet ups still with the Nottm twang.

Yevgorralafmiduckentya

[jackson 301]

Hi Carni, yo'll 'ave te mek your Nottinghamese a bit simpla, I 'ad abaht 6 goes beforra cud understand wot ya were sayin'.

PS: this site is playin' up too much; we'll have to ask Mick for overtime - taking twice as long to mek a posting!

[carni 10,094]

Sorry Jackson Miduck,

I had another look and i see what you mean, the odd comma would have helped. Lol

[jackson 301]

Carni, no offence meant at all - keep the condensation me duck...............

[carni 10,094]

None taken, I like a giggle, I hope to meet you soon at one of the meetups.

[StephenFord 866]

I reckon some of you are labouring under a delusion ! I know for sure that my speech is completely neutral - not a trace of an accent at all. Except that wherever I go, people say "You don't come from round here do you?" It even happens in Nottingham - because, having moved around a bit, there's a slice of Derby, a touch of Lincolnshire, and now a dab of Devon, and I guess shortly Shropshire will go into the mix too !

When I worked in the railway works HQ in Derby, I had a colleague who slipped unconsciously into the accent of whoever he was talking to. When he rang one of the other works around the country, after a few sentences you could tell which factory he was on to, as his accent gradually drifted into Glaswegian, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Yorkshire, Kent or North East.

[Commo 1,292]

Like you Stephen, #9, I have a fairly "neutral" accent, but at times some folk ask if I come from Derby !!

It was natural for me when speaking to clients and suppliers to pick up on the level of dialect and accent needed for the conversation to be acceptable to the other person, from Yorkshire to Mancunian to received pronunciation. The most difficult accent to understand I have to admit was West midlands, sorry Carni !

[TGC 216]

My sister and brother-in-law lived in Aussie for several years - then returned to Nottingham.

Apparently they tried to speak over there with an Australian accent to fit it. When they returned they insisted they had not got an Aussie accent - but they had. Over the years they have lost it again.

[carni 10,094]

Commo,

Yum Alroight Flower, Me too, I'm still true to Mi Roots Miduck.

Common as Muck, but twice as Cheap! No i must be a bit more refined cos i stick mi little finger up when i drink mi tea, out of a cup with a matching saucer. Lol

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

It becomes natural to slip into the local accents without realizing it...Having lived in North Yorks for a few years before I migrated to Oz, then living there for ten years, and now stateside for some 23 years I'll bet I have a "hotpotch" of accents when I speak, Mick would best comment on that as he phoned me up a couple of years.

Even stateside there are regional accents, from state to state and even cities. Nobody will ever be able to stamp them out.

When I lived in Oz I could tell a Sydney sider from a Melbournite when they opened their mouths, even West Australians sound different to Queenslanders and of course those from Van Diemens Land, Tassie have their own broad accent.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I am Nottingham and proud of it. Nottingham accent is unique and they couldn't even get it right in the film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, preferring to use the Salford accent common to some of the actors. I would hate the Nottingham accent to be lost because of that unique-ness (new word?). But alas, a lot of the children in Nottingham have adapted the horrible childish way they speak on East-enders.

I now live in Mansfield and have grown to love the way that they speak up here. I do a lot of catering work in South Yorkshire and it makes me smile when they ask for bread-cakes or buns instead of cobs or rolls.

I lived in Glasgow for five years in the 1970s and when I came back to live in Notts people used to think that I was Glaswegian.

[loppylugs 8,429]

Having lived in Canada and the US I think after a while we tend to slip into the accent we are surrounded by. Nothing wrong with regional accents, they lend character to a place. Reminds me of Paddy who had gone to New York a year before his wife. When she arrived she said, "Paddy, don't these people talk funny?" To which Paddy replied, "Yes they do, but you should have heard 'em when I first got here!"

[jackson 301]

Hi Stephen @ #9, put yourself on tape and have a listen; I bet you'll detect a drawl to your speech somewhere along, Midlands people are renowned for this.

[... 1,411]

The one i cant get my head around is the west indian accent spoken by young white kids whats that all about or perhaps its me being an old fart .YEH MAN DATS IT. innit.

[mick2me 3,033]

Its not even West Indian that the now third generation kids speak but their own bastardised drawl.

I love to hear true West Indians speak.

[poohbear 1,360]

When they keep saying 'Y'know what I mean?' ten times in a sentence....where the hell did that come from?

[TGC 216]

I've heard the local yobs talking about 'popping'.

Any ideas please?

By the way, I started life with nothing - and I still have most of it left!

[Bilboro-lad 294]

They are 'popping' out to the shop to get some milk and toilet rolls.

[TGC 216]

Bilboro-lad:

Ha ha. They were talking in threatening style about someone I think. Seemed it to me.

Bless em.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Whose idea was it to start using the word 'like' about 20 times in each sentence? And the word 'yeah' at the end of every sentence.

[Compo 10,328]

Popping is a street dance and one of the original funk styles that came from California during the 1960s-1970s. Full article at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popping‎

[TGC 216]

Re #23

Annoyin' innit?

Re #24

Ta. Yer learn summat every day. (In my case, I forget something eveyday as well Hehe)