"Could someone with a West Country accent ever become Prime Minister?"
"It would be really nice if Our New Prime Minister was from Piddletrenthide and greeted the morning press conference with 'all right my luvvies'. I don't think you can really 'spin' in a Dorset accent."
says Leon Yeats, self-described Dorset lad and 'proper straw sucking son of the land'.
The way we talk can point to where we've come from but it can also allow us to make sweeping assumptions about others. Advertisers apparently favour certain accents for voiceovers because they're more trusted.
People in some regions of the country can face prejudice and discrimination just because of the shape of their vowels.
Does this chime with your experience? Have you changed your accent? Comment below, email us or tweet.
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Comments
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One way to stop M.P.s from making a fortune out of second homes would be for the Government to purchase accomodation for each eligible constituency to be used by the encumbent M.P.for the duration of his office.
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Bravo Ernpet! That is what it should be. Capital gain on the back of low paid tax payers is not really what was meant by reigning the country.....
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I don't mind if someone with a West Country accent became Prime Minister, as long as they don't distinguish between the people and the grockles.
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no.
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A Prime minister from Piddletrenthide, i would have thought Piddlehinton may have more prime ministerial material. If a piddlite was elected for PM would they put the piddle back into puddletown and briantspuddle. c'mon Piddle Valley.
Piddlers for PM.
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Yes. I believe anyone who is capable of proving that they can manage a team, are intelligent enough to chose the correct skills in people for the right positions and show an improvement in the way Britain is run, can become a Prime Minister. Saying that only certain people can be a Prime Minister is a prejudice that runs deep in a country still ruled by an aristocratic landowning and business elite. It's about time we proved we are above such rot that eats into this country and stops us being Great. Something I feel Britain has now lost. We can be a guding light to the rest of the world, yet at the moment someone has dimmed the light.
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I don't ave an accent as I was actually born in ar'fordshire and as artfordshire is the 'art of england, therefore I speak proper know what I mean. However because of class descrimination that the English are subjected to, perpetuated by the BBC, if you have an English regional accent you are not allowed to get away from your roots. The archers (popular radio 4 soap) has people like Matt Crawford (a dodgy dealer) with a London accent and the grundies with midlands accents (slow witted). Radio 4 dare not portray Scotish as mean or Irish as thick or Afro-Caribeans as criminals as this would not be PC. However, English working classes can be portrayed as workshy, immoral, adulterers and criminals. Look at Eastenders, Coronation Street and The Archers and you will see the English working classes in the worst light. Hence the continuation of negative stereotypes, although we should be heading for a society based on merit only.
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I have 'received pronunciation', and I've cultivated it over the years, with pride. The point of RP isn't that it's posh, but that it's NON-REGIONAL. I like not being identified with any particular place in the UK.
And that's why I oppose having announcers with regional accents on national radio. For example, Kathy Clugston and Neil Nunes have gorgeous voices, but every time I hear them, their accents convey 'place', and that gets in the way for me. Great as voiceovers, not as continuity or news reading.
I'll make an exception for a well-spoken Scot, preferably from somewhere in the middle of the East coast, such as Dundee. They can sound very non-regional. I don't think 'Scotland' when I hear Susan Rae, for example. I hear 'Britain', or even 'The World'.
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I am considered to have a southern English accent. However as I am an electronic engineer who has for the past 30 years been involved in high-tech cutting edge scientific instrumentation my accent has not been a problem. I am in regular contact with scientists throughout the British Isles. I am also in regular contact with suppliers from Sweden, Germany, France, USA and Canada. I have had no problem with people understanding me at all . Mainly because the southern English accent is the most widely spoken native british accent and therefore the most frequently encountered by foreigners it is easily understood worldwide. As an engineer in a high tech enviroment scientists and foreign suppliers listen to what I say not how I speak. I have advised on the pronunciation of technical terms for various DVD presentations for our overseas suppliers. Only the media has a downer on the southern accent. Furthermore because the broadcast media appears to discriminate against regional English accents and yet allow strong Scottish and Irish accents it looks racist. Maybe anti-discrimination laws need to be applied to newscasters. I have had no need to cultivate my accent. The only change I make to non-native English speakers is to slow down and cut out the slang terms.
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I've changed my accent so many times and it is always interesting to see how differently I get treated by some. After havng lived in New Zealand for many years when coming back, no one was quite sure what sort of person I was Now I've added a few Dorset expressions, none from Piddetrenhide though, even though it is just round the corner Here we say My lovely Wouldn't that be nice if the PM addressed the leader of the opposition such!! !!
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Just been reading some news online about palestinians firing ten rockets from Gaza into civilian areas of Israel during the Jewish Yom Kippur celebrations. Why do we never hear of the ongoing attacks, against Israel, from the BBC. could it be that there is a bias.
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SO, President Obama isnt going to withdraw from Afghanistan, Britain is going to send 500 more british troops and the rest of the E.U. Nato members are keeping a low profile so as not to upset their home front.NO FRENCH OR GERMAN TROOPS GETTING ANY OF THE ACTION OR COMING HOME IN BODY BAGS. and the Great british public are treated to support our Heros prpaganda ect.
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