The Scouse dialect and associated vocab is my particular favourite. Very similar to cockneys although I doubt either party would like to admit it.
It’s funny how people get caught up in pronunciations. Look how many people get upset by Clinton Morrisons “lazy” accent on sky sports but if you actually get past it he probably speaks more sense than the rest of the panel put together.
I find the scouse accent particularly 'dirty' a mate of mine used to work in Germany, there were that many scouser in his factory that all the German birds spoke English with a scouse accent! Aaaalright, are you calling me a taaart?
I’ve resisted replying to this thread because once I start ranting I might not stop, but here’s my dirty dozen…. 1. Vocal fry. 2. The way many young American women have started pronouncing “too” as “tyoo” and “and” as “ayand”. 3. GenZ American, ahem, “men” who are starting to adopt the feminised speech forms at 1 and 2, above. 4. The way Americans say “podcast” as “pahdcast”. 5. Tbh, the modern American accent/cadence sounds incredibly whiny, so I’d rather they all just remained silent. The world would be a better place. 5. Glottal stops. 6. People who drop their H’s. 7. People who pronounce “H” as “Haitch” 8. The London road man accent/dialect which now seems to have been adopted by everyone in the UK aged under 25, regardless of socio-economic-ethnic background (although I imagine most of them don’t speak like that in front or their mothers). Thankfuckfully, despite growing up around a lot of actual road men, including going to school in Tottenham for a spell, neither of my sons speak like that. 9. People who pause for effect mid-sentence, as if they’ve just said something profound, when it was in fact invariably incredibly banal. This is often emphasised by a smacking of the lips and a faint, almost imperceptible, wobble of the head and/or the speaker holds your gaze in anticipation of you paying homage to the depth of their wisdom. Those people should be put to death. 10. When people transpose similar sounding but completely different words eg: “substantive” when they mean “substantial” or “pacific” when they mean “specific”. 11. The term “eye of the storm” is almost never used correctly. The eye of the storm is a calm place, whereas people almost always use to refer to when upset and upheaval is at its peak. 12. The term “meteoric rise” needs to be expunged from our lexicon. Meteors do not rise, they fall, you fucking imbeciles.
I find myself agreeing with you on every point and as Scotsman I cringe every New Year when I hear Auld Lang Syne pronounced as "Alld Lang Zine".
Yeah ..... wot you just said !! 1] "I'm like waiting at traffic lights " , or " I was literally waiting at traffic lights" 2] using "absolutely" to replace the word "yes" ( which has worked very well for many centuries ). 3] working with Americans who ask me if I like " Marn Nay Pie Tharn " 4] that really annoying modern "development" where every statement sounds like a question ? ...... because the tone of voice always rises up at the end ? 5] ..... there's no number 5 .... but give me a few minutes ....
Americans dragging out the last syllable of a word...Whateveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer. English/UK people pouncing schedule as skedule. Rising intonations.
I confess as a sarf Essex lad I do drop my H's. Otherwise I concur with all points raised. 'Literally' really does me. I was in a warm shop wearing a face mask during Covid and a woman in front said 'I'm literally dying' - I asked her if she was OK and if she needed an ambulance, which got me a 'no' (as opposed to 'No, thank you'), after which I explained her erroneous use of the word. She looked at me like I had had 3 eyes
It's too easy to (incorrectly) confuse a colloquial dialect with IQ. Especially if the person speaking sounds like a west country farmer/pirate.
I personally think we've got a propensity to do that in the UK - maybe a hangover from early empire days - it reminds me of watching older people talk more loudly at 'foreigners' (esp in their own country) to try and make them understand...assuming because the don't speak much/any English they are thick.
I occasionally watch the interviews with with Aldous Huxley or even the old British Pathé newsreels on YouTube. They way they speak is so nice.
6] "The only flight was 6 am in the morning " 7] hearing about a football club called " Mih Wor " ..... written with 4 'L' s apparently , but all of them "silent" , when spoken !!
Yes, the Cairngorms, continually mispronounced on the BBC. Mind you mispronunciation is not the same as bad use of language which is much worse.
I've just noticed the headline of this thread and I thought Sean Connery was making a contribution...
I'm not too sure about the "incorrectly" part of that ..... Estuary English ..... that is definitely very fertile ground to plough through , especially on the subject of accent versus intelligence . The Crown offers this in evidence M'Lud ..... Girlfriend Can't Understand Pizza Problem ..... put that into Youtube search , and watch .
