Real Kairdiff

Half a dark and a Clarksies - the Welsh capital has its own distinctive accent.

your comments

Gilly, Llandaff, Cardiff
I have been told my great-grannie who used to live in Hills Terrace between 1841-85 also spoke with a very broad Kairdiff accent, so we were waxing lyrical even in those/them days! There is a massive Irish influence running through the Caaardiff accent. Linguistically, I think of Cardiff as being more of an 'Wirish' city than a Welsh one, we are a little bit Scouse here, that could be why we are so cosmopolitan as well. We also have a wicked sense of humour (I wonder where that comes from?) Whenever I go away and hear a Kairdiff accent I feel really proud of who we are. It is very hard to speak with a classy Kairdiff accent, but after a few glasses of wine, I do try (tries like.) Favourite Kairdiff words:- "tidy like, innit?"

JM - London, via Ely
My absoute fave example of Kaardiffese has to be 'Over by hure'. I still say it now and again much to the bewilderment to everyone around me here in London, or should I say 'By hure' in London.

Chris living in Germany
I have lived here for 27 years.. and when i have been back home for a visit my German friends say I talk a bit funny. Must be the Cardiffian coming out again. I notice it too in my daughters - they were brought up here. But after two weeks home visiting the family they talk funny like as well.

Emyr from Cardiff
Most of the time I can't stand the accent, same with the Scouse accent. To put it bluntly; "sounds likes you haves some screws loose in yer 'ed like." It either makes me cringe or laugh, depending on who speaks. Another one you hear is "oww bruv!" bloody lovely that is. Although it makes spotting chavs (another blight on 'Blighty') easier, because the 'Kairdiffs' tend to come from the poorer areas and chavs are associated with the working classes. I'd like to see Torchwood and Russel T. Davies tackle that one!

Colin RIchardson
I love both the accent and the wit ... all you Kaadifians please accept this as a compliment from a Londoner. Brilliant - so like the cockney humour.

Bow, Abergavenny
I always remember a Brazilian friend who was learning English who corrected the lecturer. The lecturer explained that in English one said "I love this" or "I love that" My friend's response was that she was wrong because in Cardiff he was taught to say "I loves this" or "I loves that"! And of course you never studies woodwork at school - it's always "I do do woodwork - I do!"

James Gwent
Jon, Newport - I get intensely annoyed when someone from one of our cities implies that to speak with the accent of a small valley town means the residents are 'dopey' or somehow inferior.

Peter, Bridgend
I hate the Cardiff and Newport accents - sounds very English to me.

Gareth from London
I didn't realize that Kardiff had more than one local accent until we had married friends, one from Grangetown and the other from Rumney.

Johnny Pina
Well Carl Martin, if you ain't heard one speak like Frank Hennessy, you've been livin in a dream world. That's how I've always known the Cardiff men and women to speak.

Tim Morgan
I'll tell you the story o' Billy the seal, he baarked like a dog 'un 'e swam loike an eel. He lived in the pond in Victoria Paaark, and they fed 'im on kippers and flagons o' Daark. I'm proper caardiff, me. And a prouder caardiffian you never will foind, me old son. Gimme a claarksie, n quick

Winifred
I think the best Kairdiff accent comes from "old" Grangetown.

Tess, Queensland, Australia, formerly from SPLOTT!
I'm a Cardiff girl from Splott! Emigrated to Australia, I did, in another lifetime. I get into trouble for being 'gobby' - couldn't understand why until I came home to Cardiff last year!! Now I know and am proud to be Cardiffian I am!!! So they had better build a little plot in Splott for when I comes home!!!

phill from cardiff
i love the way we talk wouldnt swap it for the world im a cardiff lad till i dies

hilly kiardiff
in leeds uni at the moment - people seem to think im commas as muck with my accent ( or from seth effrica for some reason ) but i dont care - i'll keep my accent til i die - like they say cardiff born n cardiff bred when i dies i'll be cardiff dead

Jon, Newport
I get intensely annoyed when someone not from Wales does an accent of one of our cities (Cardiff, Newport and Swansea) only to sound like a dopey resident of a small valley town.

Ian Cooper from Edinburgh
Even though i've been living in edinburgh for 19 years, i still miss my home. both my daughters have broad scottish accents and are proud of it, but you'll never beat the KARDIFF accent. i'm proud to be from KARDIFF and have never lost my feelings for my home town.

Carl Martin, Ely Cardiff
I was wondering where frank henessey got that terrible accent from, he keeps on about the Cardiff accent, and how much Cardiffian he is, well i have never heard anyone from any part of Cardiff talk like him, i have friends all over the city but none of them talk like that,and to listen to him on radio makes me Cringe, its a tinny sort of accent, and one that i would not want, thank you very much,i think he might have been imported,

Jon Holland from Alberta, Canada
I was born and raised in Cardiff, and truly loved living there. I starting working in Les Croups casino in '86 when I turned 18, and first started travelling the world in '89.

I was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, dealing blackjack to a Japanese man, when he suddenly looked up and said "You're from Cardiff!" I was amazed as we usually had a ship full of Americans who had never heard of Wales, let alone Cardiff. I was usually accused of being English! I would have to correct them by saying I was Welsh, and it was like being English but better! I asked him how he knew I was from Cardiff and he simply replied that he had been there once and liked the place.

Sadly after travelling for 19 years I have lost alot of my accent, until I get on the phone to family and all the old slang comes back.

Philip Michael, Cyncoed, Cardiff now Manchester
I have never had a strong Caaardiff accent and I suppose that's down to the fact that I was brought up in the suburbs of Cyncoed. A lot of people I knew had real Cardiff accents which makes them more identifiable as proper Cardiff folk. I have been living away from Cardiff since 1991 and despite visiting family occasionally, 14 years later am beginning to really miss the place and the people.

cwtchy girl los angeles
worked at LAX for 20 odd years & felt my accent was very neutral until complete stranger asked me if I was from Rhiwbeina or Whitchurch favorite word frock & my Californian kids still give me a cwtch. find my accent very much alive at Welsh church downtown LA..

Pam Clatworthy from Cumbria
I'm Rumney Cardiff born and bred, living away from home now though. Still wish my Nan could give me a 'cwtch'. Is this the right way to spell it? It used to mean a loving cuddle in our house in Wentloog Road.

Ann from Ely now Reading
Reading all these comments makes me home sick. I'm still in Kaardiff regularly and can soon slip back into arright luv? My grandchildren dont wear daps any more only trainers. Sad!

Damo from Pencoed
I only work in Kairdiff but some voices get right on my t*t "in i" "kno wha i mean" "dyou ge me"

John Tyte (ex-Cardiff) from Manchester
Quite apart from the immediately identifiable long 'a' ('Caaardiff Aaarms Paaark'), there are plenty of characteristic Cardiffian usages. Even if you've lived away from the city for many years and your accent has changed considerably, as in my case, you're still likely to perplex listeners with an occasional exoticism.

Here are some of my favourite pieces of Cardiffese:

'Tooth' with a vowel sound similar to 'wood'. Everyone else rhymes 'tooth' with 'truth'.

'Daps', of course. ('Dappers' for newport readers). Elsewhere they're known variously as 'pumps', 'plimsolls', galoshes (yes!), sandshoes and gollies. Aren't people odd? Choice of word for this item is usually a good guide to a speaker's place of origin.

Use of 'aaaye' as a reinforcer at the end of almost any statement.

Frequent dropping of the indefinite article.

Cavalier disregard for Welsh pronunciation.

Illustration of last three points above: "Egorrouse out lanrummy, aaaye." ("Aaaye" could also be transposed to the start of the phrase above, and delivered slowly and ruminatively.)

Elision of 't'

Use of 'now' instead of 'next'.

Illustration of above two points:

"Whayoudoin'now?"

Oddly, to the rest of the country Cardiffese sounds Welsh. An entirely acceptable perception - but we know the difference ...

Diane Tapscott (Brussels) formerly Cardiff Docks
I left Cardiff in 1973. I still have my accent and I am proud of it. I work in an international environment and have many colleagues who have lost their accent. How and why I don't know. I still have mine and I am proud of it. "Over by there" in English is a bit strange but most people seem to understand. I thought I spoke excellent English! Hee hee - why should I change??

Sinead, Dublin
I think regional accents are wonderful. They're a part of who you are. The Welsh accent is lovely, soft and lilting, very musical to the ear. It's disappointing when visiting a new city if you don't get to hear local accents, just bland 'metro' English.

Mel from Roath
From Cathays via Caerphilly and Sydney and back again! I work in Newport, and there is a definite difference..secretly I feel more Welsh than some of my colleagues, and occasionally stick in an 'Ych a fi' or two.. I agree with a previous poster that I do tend to put on the Kairdiff pronounciation to feel that I am asserting my roots! 'Where're you to' comes quite naturally though.

spicko28, now living in Barry
I am an original Ely kid - I like it when you hear a TV broadcast from say an inner city area like Splott or Canton. The Cardiff accent is very strong and I always have a laugh. My favourite saying has to be "come year".

Steve from Kaaardiff...
My favourite saying are " I'll be there now in a minute. " and " Where u to". Safe man.

Merv , Rumney
The accent depends on which part of the City you were brought up, as it does in any other City in the UK. The accent in one area of the city can be totally different to that of another area a few miles up the road. The area you are brought up in depends on whether you say Cardiff or Kairdiff, having said that I believe that a large majority of the populace purposely pronounce Cardiff as Kairdiff. It must be some sort of standing joke ! Personally I think that the Cardiff accent rates alongside that of the Scouser, awful, there doesn't appear to be any attempt to pronounce the English language properly and even less in speaking Welsh. Having said all that, its accent is far better than what you might hear a few miles further up the M4 !

Chris Gardiner ex-Kairdiff, now shropshireite
I'm of proud of my Kairdiff roots and it's greattt when I get home to visit. I lived down the Splott for the first couple of my years, then moved out to Rumney, must be posher there, people don't reconize my accent except sometimes I slip it back in* ..... it then gives me away. So come on you reds, let's have a good Six Nations.

(*Editor's note: don't you mean you "slips" it back in?!)

George, Cahdeff
To see if someone's from Cardiff ask them to say 'Mars bar' or 'a pint of dark from Cardiff Arms Park'. The word 'Hal' also works.

Granville Harris, Cwmbran
I have a son and daughter in law living in Cardiff. My son is an incomer, he has only lived there for about 10 years, but his wife is Cardiff born and bred, and they both dislike the Cardiff delicacy 'Clarksies'. They prefer any pie bought from any butchers or supermarket. When I first heard of the Clarksies and wanted to try one, but my son put me right off the idea, so not everybody sees the Clarksies as a premier pie.

Emma, Kairdiff born and bred
The Kairdiff accent is fab, it's recognised immediately and it's so funny to listen to. My fave saying is "Where you to?", meaning of course "where are you?". However when I recently asked my Scouse friend this question she answered "Liverpool", thinking that the question meant "Where are you from?"!!

Sami from Cardiff
I am Cardiff born and bred, but people have a problem knowing exactly where I am from. I have an accent of sorts but I was brought up to sound my aitches which I feel takes the broadness out of a Cardiff accent. I don't have a Welsh accent either which I am quite happy about. I like the Welsh accent coming from others but not for me...

Jenny, Ely, Cardiff
This topic takes me back to my English lecture at Cardiff University, where the lecturer told us that seeing as we would all be living in Cardiff for the next 3 years or so that we should all learn to speak 'proper Kairdiff' and wrote up on the whiteboard all essential phrases and pronunciations of words such as 'Kairdiff' and 'Clarksies' and made the whole lecture theatre of about 300 students practice pronouncing words in a Kairdiff accent for about half an hour! Being an Ely girl I was pronunciation perfect from the start!

Victor Gray - ex Cardiff born and bred
The Cardiff accent is known the world over. I am still a Welsh/British Citizen but have lived in Canada for thirty years, and people still say I and my family have a Cardiff accent. As Frank used to say, Cardiff born, Cardiff bred, and when I die I will be Cardiff dead. :-)

Angela from Kairdiff
I am very proud to have a fairly strong Cardiff accent. Although people from Cardiff say I talks posh, people from outside Cardiff can pick up where I come from immediately.

Chris Jones, Singapore
Having lived overseas for some time, I miss the Kairdiff accent big time. The accent is certainly not classy, but to me it conjours up memories of the warm "Cardiffians" I used to know when i was a kid, who would invite you over for a "glaass of pop" or go down the road for "penny cob" or a "batch" and chips.

When I first came out to Singapore, the use of the Kairdiff greeting to a lady, "How's it going love?" got me into a bit of trouble as it was taken as being just a "touch' forward in this community...

Frank Hennessy came out to Singapore last year for our St Davids Day ball and "the way he talks like" all the old memories came flooding back when 'e opened 'is gob like. (And we 'ad a couple of "pops like" but of the alcoholic variety this time).

Steve Maddern
Cardiff has always changed during its history, and will continue to, no doubt. But I don't think that the Cardiff accent will disappear for a long time yet - at least I hope not.

David H - Texas, USA (formerly Splott)
Being able to talk proper Kairdiff when viewed from inside the city boundaries is sometimes viewed as common. When used by the more higher profile citizens it is seen as more classy. The regular street denizens have moulded the language to suburban variations - an Ely 'La' amongst his peers would twist his speak to something that a 'Rummey Boy' wouldn't use amongst his peers.

I was fortunate to grow up in one of the oldest areas of Cardiff and have sinced moved off into the wide world. People abroad recognise my 'twang' as Welsh (although South African and Australian have also been mentioned!) which works fine for me. I don't think the true backstreets will ever change - they may move around the corner or down the road but they will always be in the old areas of the city.

When I'm back in my mother country, "I'm Kairdiff born and Kairdiff bred, and when I dies, I'll be Kairdiff dead.... They'll build a little plot in Splott, in memory of me...."