# UK Dopers: Which English accent carries the most prestige? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 21, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869 "2007-05-21T00:28:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/41 "2007-05-22T07:04:04Z")
[QUOTE=Rayne Man] Just has here in the East Midlands you will hear “duck” as a term of endearment. [/QUOTE] I know, I have some friends who live in Newark ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/42 "2007-05-22T07:04:59Z")
I think that the zeitgeist popular culture Valley Girl equivalent, though there’s a class difference as both characters are working (or under-) class would be encapsulated in two popular characters in the comedy shows ‘Little Britain’ and ‘Catherine Tate’. [Vicky Pollard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcqUn79eGL4) - Bristol working class. [Lauren](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu8xzo-lk84&mode=related&search=) - London working class with elements of African and Afro-Caribbean speech incorporated. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/43 "2007-05-22T07:07:02Z")
[QUOTE=Shamozzle] dough! [/QUOTE] …a deer ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/44 "2007-05-22T15:25:29Z")
I dont know if this applies to other parts of the UK but those at the bottom of the working class who aspire to be petty criminals or who wish to be regarded as tough ,deliberately exaggerate their accents . Brought up on a crime ridden council estate I noticed that people whos family and neighbours weren’t particulary badly spoken ,in their teens suddenly started speaking an exaggerated accent veering between gruff and nasal ,with more glottal stops then you could shake a fist at and a very liberal insertion of swear words. ie.“I was fuckin walkin dahn the fuckin road wannI?and fuck me ,I nearly fuckin ,fucked myself up cos I was fuckin”…and so on . Many of them also adopt unnaturally deep or harsh voices which must be bad for their vocal chords. Is this only a south eastern thing ? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/45 "2007-05-22T15:56:49Z")
My wife and I both love the movie, _Billy Elliot_. But we had to watch it once through with sub-titles. I don’t know what accent that is, but there are times when it sounds like a foreign language. … Jamie Bell, by the way, does an impressive variety of accents, and does them well. He’s nailed more than one American accent. ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/46 "2007-05-22T15:58:42Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] “I was fuckin walkin dahn the fuckin road wannI?and fuck me ,I nearly fuckin ,fucked myself up cos I was fuckin”…and so on . Many of them also adopt unnaturally deep or harsh voices which must be bad for their vocal chords. Is this only a south eastern thing ? [/QUOTE] No, we get exactly the same sort of thing in Hull, but with different vowel sounds, goat-fronting and so on. Gradually, we’re all merging into a monoculture, and many examples (“I’m like totally no” and so on) are being imported through TV and film. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/47 "2007-05-22T16:08:01Z")
One person I have noticed who has changed his accent is the Nigel Kennedy, the violinist. I remember seeing him on TV when he was about ten years old and he spoke with quite a “posh” accent. Now he has adopted an awful fake Cockney accent. What’s he trying to achieve, a more popular following? ---
**Author:** ![mrcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@mrcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcheese)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/48 "2007-05-22T16:23:04Z")
One other interesting thing is the geographical distance between wildly different accents is very short. It always freaks me out a bit that I can drive for only an hour or so on the motorway, step out of the car and everybody is speaking with a completely different accent. I also think that Patrick Stewart is a good example of a posh accent. ---
**Author:** ![m1k3g](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@m1k3g](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m1k3g)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/49 "2007-05-22T16:31:39Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Hin is Geordie (Newcastle) speak, North East England and does not mean “Honey” Au contraire, it means “Hen” which for some obscure reason is a term of endearment in that particular neck of the woods. Its usage is mostly confined to addressing members of the fair sex e.g “Dis tha fancy a newkie wi’ mi’ hin?” Newkie being Newcastle brown ale [/QUOTE] Funny, but I remember this term as widely used in the books ‘Trainspotting’ and ‘Glue’, Irvine Welsh’s fascinating accounts of life in Scotland. As an expat brit living in Texas, married to a chinese woman who grew up in Mexico, you can imagine my chagrin at hearing my daughters accent when she pronounces words like ‘theyar’ (for ‘there’) and ‘lahk’ (for ‘like’)… We have a few communication issues 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/50 "2007-05-22T16:34:21Z")
It’s said that in certain parts of the country, such as the North East of England and the Black Country, you can pinpoint almost to the exact street where a person originates from, just by listening to his accent. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/51 "2007-05-22T16:34:28Z")
Nigel Kennedy’s a screw-up with such an identity crisis he probably couldn’t speak in any single ‘natural’ accent if he tried. Patrick Stewart does still have tiny twinges of Yorkshireman underneath the huge RSC resonances. Re. **Lust4Lift** and **Barrington** - I’d be amazed if there’s really anything new in people in certain situations adopting a ‘tough-sounding’ voice. (And I don’t like **Lust4Life** ’s suggestions of social connotations, either. Perfect example of sterotyping a person through their speech.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/52 "2007-05-22T16:37:59Z")
I should always preview: I’m with **Rayne Man** more than **mrcheese** regarding geographical distribution, unless your hour on the motorway is rush hour on the M25 😉 (Plenty of times I’ve narrowed down a person’s origin to a particular part of Suffolk) ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/53 "2007-05-22T16:47:24Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I should always preview: I’m with **Rayne Man** more than **mrcheese** regarding geographical distribution, unless your hour on the motorway is rush hour on the M25 😉 (Plenty of times I’ve narrowed down a person’s origin to a particular part of Suffolk) [/QUOTE] There was that famous case of the false Yorkshire Ripper confession tape. Experts were able to pinpoint the speaker to a very small area of Sunderland. Mind you, it still took years for the police to catch this hoaxer. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/54 "2007-05-22T17:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=m1k3g] Funny, but I remember this term as widely used in the books ‘Trainspotting’ and ‘Glue’, Irvine Welsh’s fascinating accounts of life in Scotland. [/QUOTE] “Hen” is common in parts of Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/55 "2007-05-22T18:09:02Z")
**Spectre of thingy** You have mail ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/56 "2007-05-22T19:10:49Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] . Paul McCartney never had a really strong Liverpool accent, and these days it’s even fainter, so I would say Liverpool/RP for him. . [/QUOTE] As long as you mentioned the Beatles, I always noticed that they had different accents among themselves. George Harrison’s and Ringo Starr’s accents always seemed noticeably thicker than the others’, so much so that Harrison’s accent was discernible in his early singing, e.g. “Do you want to know a secrut?”. The thickest accent of all belonged to their poor fired ex-drummer Pete Best; I’ve heard him in interviews and I tell you, that accent would stand up in the middle of a room without any support. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/57 "2007-05-22T19:27:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sir Doris] hin = hinney, which is a term of endearment (honey, I presume). It’s a Geordie (North East) dialect word [/QUOTE] Oh…I thought it might be a vestige of accusitive case marking on he/him. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/58 "2007-05-22T20:02:56Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] George Harrison’s and Ringo Starr’s accents always seemed noticeably thicker than the others’, so much so that Harrison’s accent was discernible in his early singing, e.g. “Do you want to know a secrut?”. [/QUOTE] Or “Now my advice for those who die/ De **clur** the pennies on your eyes”. _Very_ Liverpool, that. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/59 "2007-05-22T20:31:31Z")
[QUOTE=mrcheese] One other interesting thing is the geographical distance between wildly different accents is very short. It always freaks me out a bit that I can drive for only an hour or so on the motorway, step out of the car and everybody is speaking with a completely different accent. I also think that Patrick Stewart is a good example of a posh accent. [/QUOTE] Hi Mr. Cheese! So glad this thread on accents brought you out! 🙂 What is a council estate? Is it simiar to our public housing? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869/60 "2007-05-22T21:42:01Z")
[QUOTE=Rayne Man] It’s said that in certain parts of the country, such as the North East of England and the Black Country, you can pinpoint almost to the exact street where a person originates from, just by listening to his accent. [/QUOTE] I was born in Australia, but lived in England from age 2 to age 9. My accent really hasn’t changed much for most of my life: it’s somewhere in between RP and Educated Australian. I once met an Englishman in Australia who, after hearing me speak a few words, said that he couldn’t decide whether I was from Leeds or Leicester. I can’t detect any Yorkshire or East Midlands in my accent at all – but I did live 7 years in Leeds, and my mother was from Leicester. So some people can pick these things! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-which-english-accent-carries-the-most-prestige/404869.md?page=4)