I definitely think that the staff thing is an exaggeration here. Whilst there are those who are just off/socially inept/jobsworths, etc., the vast majority I've encountered are brilliant, even with the most challenging of people. I'd be very surprised if they were joining in with anything sinister.
Ridiculing Peers for their Accent?
- Thread starter Ryan-3
- Start date
I have a really strong Brummie accent (can't get much worse) and went to University in Manchester. Can't say I had any grief really just the usual mocking impressions but nothing major. Girls seemed to like it tbh.
However in life I do feel my accent has held me back massively. All the graduates we hire at my company all seem to have this generic posh accent and let's be honest it comes across so much better in meetings then my accent or a thick Scouse accent. Actually affects my confidence sometimes as feel inferior to the better spoken individuals despite looking like Brad Pitt.
The older I get the less Im bothered. 2 years ago I actually paid for elocution lessons to try and soften my accent. Didn't work for me so slowly accepting it. My wife is very well spoken and considered very posh so if we have kids definitely don't want them to have my accent.
However in life I do feel my accent has held me back massively. All the graduates we hire at my company all seem to have this generic posh accent and let's be honest it comes across so much better in meetings then my accent or a thick Scouse accent. Actually affects my confidence sometimes as feel inferior to the better spoken individuals despite looking like Brad Pitt.
The older I get the less Im bothered. 2 years ago I actually paid for elocution lessons to try and soften my accent. Didn't work for me so slowly accepting it. My wife is very well spoken and considered very posh so if we have kids definitely don't want them to have my accent.
For balance, I actually overheard a guy explaining what his Maths course consisted of to someone else like it was some shocking breakthrough. They definitely weren't local.
Messages can also mean the same here, although I've often heard it used more when it's doing a combination of more than one thing.
For those looking for balance, a good friend of mine at Uni (first time) was v.well off and it never went beyond friendly banter. It certainly never went too far or having a herd mentality against him. For the turd filled revenge, what would that even achieve other than driving an even larger wedge between? The most extreme cases of what's listed in the article have led to expulsion or year-long suspensions. And no, the only mocking of the privately educated in this has come from me. And this leads to what I've encountered within the undergraduate community. They have a pressure to succeed through it, some feel a heightened level of social status because of it, whilst others have ended up here because they've missed out on going to the top 2 and came here as a backup. I guess some bitterness could be caused through that for them...
It's good that these bullies are getting punished by the college. I don't make a habit of filling beds with dog turds and such but sometimes, when a bully doesn't give a monkeys about you, it pays not to give a monkeys about them. That's what makes them stop.
It's not a battle for the moral high ground. It's so they leave decent folk alone.
No, I understand. It's definitely something that must be done, and at the minute with the hammering they appear to be getting on a few sides, they are dealing with. I just hadn't realised how big the issue was starting to be for them.
I lost my fairly strong NW Wales accent after years of working away but it came back after I returned.
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I once worked with someone who was INCREDIBLY posh.
He told me that he found his accent very isolating and that he had taken elecution spells to try and take the edge off it.
Also a friend's brother is/was studying economics at Durham and is/was the only British person in his year group.
So, based on this, I wonder precisely who prevelent the toff snobbery at Durham actually is...
He told me that he found his accent very isolating and that he had taken elecution spells to try and take the edge off it.
Also a friend's brother is/was studying economics at Durham and is/was the only British person in his year group.
So, based on this, I wonder precisely who prevelent the toff snobbery at Durham actually is...
I don't feel that North Eastern or Northern accents sound like people are stupid, or worse in meetings than Southern ones, North accents can sound authoritative and trustworthy. I think Yorkshire accent is considered highly for that.
I have a smart, but not posh accent from going to non fee Grammar school in London, but plenty of disadvantaged pupils were there too from some tough working class background, but all spoke with a smart/cockney hybrid accent after years of being there.
At uni in the West Country we all took the **** out of each other, went with loads of Welsh, Northerners, and West country boys we would all mock each other pretty equally, some genuinely posh ones too would generally join in and have a laugh.
I have a smart, but not posh accent from going to non fee Grammar school in London, but plenty of disadvantaged pupils were there too from some tough working class background, but all spoke with a smart/cockney hybrid accent after years of being there.
At uni in the West Country we all took the **** out of each other, went with loads of Welsh, Northerners, and West country boys we would all mock each other pretty equally, some genuinely posh ones too would generally join in and have a laugh.
That’s not peculiar to Glasgow and is barely the tip of the ice berg of the ‘interesting’ vocabulary there
I love British accents (Southern Irish and Geordie in particular). It marks out the unique and broad tapestry of cultures that make up this land. Born in London but raised in several other places, I’m lucky my baseline ‘posh’ accent can easily meld into the surrounding dialects. Especially handy when living north of the border
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In the amateur radio world i often hear Americans complimenting someone English with a cut glass accent, they seem to love those of us that sound like the Queen. i have to say i do like hearing "proper" English spoken myself, Rees-Mogg for example, but being and sounding mildly like a northener i don't receive these complements myself. I do like a proper Yorkshire accent though 
Whenever I hear a Yorkshire accent I'm preparing myself to listen to how expensive everything is, how proper everything is in Yorkshire and how crap everything is elsewhere.
Sometimes I like telling Yorkshire folks how much I love London before heading off, so I know my mates are gonna be listening to the same conversation for an hour
A couple of times I have faced a series of perpetual digs for being a ‘public school boy’ (?) - I dealt with it both times by allowing it to go on for quite a prolonged period without correcting them. Then revealing their error at the most opportune moment to make them look like a complete nob.
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When I hear a Yorker accent I’m normally expecting some supervisor to be telling me how he’s wrecked my plant by way maintaining it.
Whenever I hear a Yorkshire accent I'm preparing myself to listen to how expensive everything is, how proper everything is in Yorkshire and how crap everything is elsewhere.
Sometimes I like telling Yorkshire folks how much I love London before heading off, so I know my mates are gonna be listening to the same conversation for an hour
you forgot how miserable and unfriendly everybody else is outside of Yorkshire
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I know someone from Manchester who went to Oxford, her accent was often ridiculed - she survived and is now a Barrister at an internationally recognised Chambers - some survive Etonian prejudice.