# Are there "posh" or cultured, upper class accents in every major language or not?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 26, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635 "2013-07-26T22:23:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/1 "2013-07-26T22:23:29Z")
Are there accents usually associated with a cultured, socially superior demographic in every major language or is it restricted to English? Are there posh, Italian, German, Chinese, Russian or Indian etc. accents?
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/2 "2013-07-26T22:30:43Z")
IDK about every language, but I’ve heard that American Sign Language even has regional accents.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/3 "2013-07-26T23:01:22Z")
Sure, but do wealthy deaf people hold their pinky out when they sign?
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/4 "2013-07-28T21:33:20Z")
There’s definitely a posh and several not-so-posh Afrikaans accents.
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### Author:  [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/5 "2013-07-28T22:05:03Z")
Australia sort of has one, comically suggested here by [Kath and Kim](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1sV4Uep4cGM&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1sV4Uep4cGM).
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/6 "2013-07-28T22:08:52Z")
What’s a posh American English accent? Thurston Howell III?
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/7 "2013-07-28T22:11:25Z")
I think that in a lot of languages, the upper class accent/way of talking tends to become the standard newscaster accent/way of talking which then reinforces its status as upper class. Certainly the case for Froggish.
Am I correct that it’s also the case for British English where public school types made RP the chief BBC accent which then reinforced its association with upper class-ness?
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/8 "2013-07-28T22:25:30Z")
I really cannot point to a posh version of American English. That language they speak and call English on the other side of the pond has such a version, of course.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/9 "2013-07-28T22:32:28Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> I really cannot point to a posh version of American English. That language they speak and call English on the other side of the pond has such a version, of course.
FDR’s style of speaking, while obsolete today, had definite class indicators at the time.
A more current version would be the so-called “Long Island Lockjaw”, spoken by William F. Buckley, among others.
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### Author:  [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/10 "2013-07-29T00:51:16Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> What’s a posh American English accent? Thurston Howell III?
charles emerson winchester on mash. brahmin boston, or the various “lockjaws” of private u.s. schools.
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### Author:  [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/11 "2013-07-29T05:37:17Z")
In Mandarin Chinese, some people believe that the Beijing dialect is more posh. This often correlates to either the history of nobility in the city or the semblance of “educated dialect” because of the many universities in the city.
Here’s a comment I found [at another forum](http://www.antimoon.com/forum/2005/6507.htm).
> [@](#):
>
> Moreover, Beijing accent is regarded as official or upper class. Just like actors speak an English accent to reveal their posh background in movies/TV play, we do that also.
Here’s a [different forum comment](http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/t-1318769.html).
> [@](#):
>
> "I have a friend from HK, who speaks far better Mandarin than most of us, that came here for the sole purpose of learning Beijing Hua (which she reveres in the same manner that some attribute to the “Queen’s English”). In fact, she went through no less than 5 tutors before she found someone with an accent that met her standards.
>
> Personally, I think that Mandarin spoken in other parts of China sounds better than Beijing Hua (except for conflating “s” and “sh”; that’s just annoying), but I do appreciate the traditions surrounding the Beijing dialect, and the perceived ties with nobility."
>
> Are we talking about the same accent that sounds like a boat-load of pirates just landed? Does that sound posh to chinese ears???!!
(quotation marks added since the last sentence was a very humorous reply to the earlier comment)
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/12 "2013-07-29T06:03:15Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Sure, but do wealthy deaf people hold their pinky out when they sign?
There are some subtle nuances in ASL depending on where one learned to sign.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/13 "2013-07-29T06:04:53Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> FDR’s style of speaking, while obsolete today, had definite class indicators at the time.
>
> A more current version would be the so-called “Long Island Lockjaw”, spoken by William F. Buckley, among others.
I thought that was the Philadelphia Mainline Clenched Jaw accent, made famous by Katherine Hepburn in “The Philadelphia Story”.
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### Author:  [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/14 "2013-07-29T06:56:33Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> I thought that was the Philadelphia Mainline Clenched Jaw accent, made famous by Katherine Hepburn in “The Philadelphia Story”.
My favorite! Otherwise known as the Transatlantic accent. [George Plimpton](http://youtu.be/aYLly625cXE) provides another wonderful example of the posh American English accent.
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### Author:  [@Batistuta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batistuta)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/15 "2013-07-29T07:05:10Z")
(Isn’t it usually stated that there are no accents in Russian? That could be an interesting one…)
In the case of - Castillian - Spanish there are definitely ‘posh’ accents. But they are not, at least in my opinion, particularly cultured. They tend to be used, at least stereotypically, by people who have a lot of money but little in the form of culture.
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### Author:  [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/16 "2013-07-29T07:23:06Z")
In Hindi, there is a definite non-posh accent-Bihari/Bhojpuri, but it’s doubtful that any one of the many many other accents can be held up as the posh version. What may have been regarded as posh once - a Lucknowi accent associated with a lot of urdu use, has become less and less important, since most of the most affluent muslims moved to Pakistan at partition
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### Author:  [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/17 "2013-07-29T07:41:17Z")
In German, there isn’t. We do have regional dialects, some of which might be considered more low-brow than others, but we don’t have an Oxford-style rich people accent. Newscasters and the like will usually speak “Hochdeutsch” (high German), a dialect-free, universally understood version.
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### Author:  [@Alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alba)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/18 "2013-07-29T10:04:22Z")
In Dutch there is. There are regional dialects, some of which might be considered more low-brow than others, but there is an Oxford-style rich people accent. There is also “Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands (ABN)” (High Dutch) which newscasters use, a dialect-free, universally understood version.
**Pitchmeister** ; my apologies for using your words, I just couldn’t resist. There is probably still some alcohol residue left in my blood from this weekend.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/19 "2013-07-29T10:05:24Z")
> [@Batistuta](#):
>
> (Isn’t it usually stated that there are no accents in Russian? That could be an interesting one…)
>
> In the case of - Castillian - Spanish there are definitely ‘posh’ accents. But they are not, at least in my opinion, particularly cultured. They tend to be used, at least stereotypically, by people who have a lot of money but little in the form of culture.
I wouldn’t say _pijos_ are posh, though. They’re posh like Posh Spice, who’s about as really-posh as a two-dollar whore.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-posh-or-cultured-upper-class-accents-in-every-major-language-or-not/664635/20 "2013-07-29T10:39:34Z")
> [@bldysabba](#):
>
> In Hindi, there is a definite non-posh accent-Bihari/Bhojpuri, but it’s doubtful that any one of the many many other accents can be held up as the posh version. What may have been regarded as posh once - a Lucknowi accent associated with a lot of urdu use, has become less and less important, since most of the most affluent muslims moved to Pakistan at partition
Although that accent in Urdu no longer has “posh connotations”.
Lots of South Asian languages do not have a “posh” accent at all. Punjabi has dozens of accents, but as it has never been a Court or prestige language, it has no such thing in it. A “posh” Punjabi speaker will not employ Punjabi (or Pahari, Potohari, Seriaki etc) in streotypically posh setting.
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