toys.usvsth3m.com/north-o-meter/
I am 0% Northern, somewhere around Jersey.
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12%, somewhere round Bournemouth.
Thank God for that.
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I'm "52% - somewhere around Nottingham" - which, considering that I'm from Leicestershire, isn't a million miles out.
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Well, I am in reality Scottish but according to that I'm from Bournemouth.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 9 Nov 13 at 11:24
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>> Well, I am in reality Scottish but according to that I'm from Bournemouth.
>>
That's the civilising influence of this forum, Runfer.
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Not far off, 72% says im in Hull. I live in Doncaster.
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>> Not far off, 72% says im in Hull. I live in Doncaster.
It could have separated Hull from Doncaster by asking you how the number 40 was pronounced......
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60% northern, somewhere around Doncaster.
Not too bad as I was brung up in Leeds but have worked in London since 1979.
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Very strange, and accurate. I was born In Europe, came here as a refugee during WW2 and Stamford (where I live now) is as far North as I have ever lived and that is the latitude the quiz puts me. Level with Wolverhampton in North/South terms
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'Somewhere around Wolverhampton'.
Damn cheek.
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>> 'Somewhere around Wolverhampton'.
>>
You and I both, AC.
Yam a yam yam, yow?
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>> Yam a yam yam, yow?
I know what 'yow' means but I can't decipher the rest Alanović.
In Plymouth I was at school with someone who came from, or had been living in, Wolverhampton. He had an accent of some sort but I don't remember any West Midlands sound in it. More London and Plymouth. But my ear was undeveloped in those days.
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>> >> Yam a yam yam, yow?
>>
>> I know what 'yow' means but I can't decipher the rest Alanović.
Yam = you am.
"Yim Yams" is how a Brummie friend of mine refers to Black Country speakers. I guess that's what Alanović refers to.
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>> Yam = you am.
>> "Yim Yams" is how a Brummie friend of mine refers to Black Country speakers.
****!... pretty recherché stuff man....
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>> >> Yam = you am.
>> >> "Yim Yams" is how a Brummie friend of mine refers to Black Country speakers.
>> ****!... pretty recherché stuff man....
Yes, sorry AC. The subject amuses me somewhat - I have a great friend from near the Black Cun-trai, he buys presents for his children at "Toys Am We". Refers to Wolverhampton folks as Yam Yams.
One Brummie I know propounds the theory that the Brummie accent is actually the closest accent to the original English mode of speech when the language first originated, and is probably how Shakespeare spoke. Always raises a crooked smile when I hear Shakespearean dialogue and imagine it all sounding like someone from Selly Oak (sorry, Smelly Poke). Dunno about Chaucer though. Where was he from?
:-)
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>> One Brummie I know propounds the theory that the Brummie accent is actually the closest
>> accent to the original English mode of speech when the language first originated, and is
>> probably how Shakespeare spoke.
Unlikely, he spent most of his time in London.
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This is uncanny - my wife's father was in the RAF so, although the family moved around quite a bit, she spent her formative years in Bicester. The North-o-meter put her at "30% - somewhere near Oxford".
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60%, somewhere near Doncaster.
Born in Luton and subsequently moved twenty miles further North - what a load of old tosh!
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80%, somehere near York. Actually from Brighouse.
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Somewhere around Doncaster spot on for a Dutchman.Wife is born Yorkshire somewhere near Oxford.Strange.>;)
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London. Incorrect, but understandable.
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Says 54% Northern, Nottingham. Well I am about 80 miles away from Nottingham at a guess. However the questions seem to be more about finding out if you're a Yorkshire man than a Northerner.
I am as northern as they come, but I am not a Yorkshire lad and I don't understand most of their sayings.
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25% Northern. Somewhere near London.
Jolly accurate.
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For me it said donny, not far out only 30 miles away. Although some of the question were weird wrong side of t'pennines questions and therefore made no sense.
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Just done the kwiz on Facebook. 97% Northern. Middlesbrough. Born in Devon , though. Never lived further North than Whalley Range...half a mile North of 'ere.
Ted
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0% Northern - What a relief !
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45%, somewhere near Wolverhampton. Rubbish, although the family narrow boat was kept there for a while.
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52% - somewhere near Nottingham.
Scarily accurate although we are only JUST in Nottinghamshire here.
But ... I lived and worked in the city of Nottingham from 1957 to 1964!
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The results are in! We reckon you're 10% northern
That's somewhere around Bournemouth.
Couldn't be further from the truth - Perhaps I'm just confused.
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>> The results are in! We reckon you're 10% northern
>>
>> That's somewhere around Bournemouth.
>>
>> Couldn't be further from the truth - Perhaps I'm just confused.
Some of the questions are a bit left field. I got one about an oatcake and selected the staffordshire variety - an pancake made with oat flour.
I know that 'cos my OH was brought up in N Staffs. In Yorkshire reference to an oatcake would be assumed to be the Scottish variety.
Muffins, crumpets and pikelets are a minefield between Yorkshire and Lancashire. And how do you pronounce scones or almonds is another.
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It's really very simple, if a scone is a confection it rhymes with "gone". If it's a town it rhymes with "moon". On neither occasion does it rhyme with "stone".
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Scones rhymes with bones, except when referring to stoones in Scootland.
Muffins are a Macdonalds thing. I'd never heard of them before then. The only person I ever heard refer to a pikelet was from Cradley Heath.
"Armonds"
Last edited by: Manatee on Sat 9 Nov 13 at 17:23
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40% - wolverhampton - quite a way from Luton where I was born and bred. Maybe it's my father's DNA as he was born in Tetney and brought up in Cleethorpes.
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Only 75 %......
and I was born as far north in England as you can be without being Scottish .....
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>>Scones rhymes with bones
Dear God, absolutely not !! Never at any time in any circumstances.
...and what's more Almonds are "Ahll-monds" Just as salmon are "sall-mon".
Obvious isn't it?
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>> >>Scones rhymes with bones
>>
>> Dear God, absolutely not !! Never at any time in any circumstances.
>>
>> ...and what's more Almonds are "Ahll-monds" Just as salmon are "sall-mon".
>>
>> Obvious isn't it?
Unlike spelling, pronunciation does allow for some variability! And it would seen affected, to me, to say 'skonns', as well as a bit disloyal to my Mum's baking.
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>> ...and what's more Almonds are "Ahll-monds" Just as salmon are "sall-mon".
>>
>> Obvious isn't it?
Yore 'avin a larf!
You aren't seriously suggesting that the 'l' in 'salmon' is sounded - are you?
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Only if you're Scotch! (Puts on tin hat)
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Relating to previous entry on muffins. Not one for old nursery rhymes then? Clue: Drury Lane.
Last edited by: NIL on Sat 9 Nov 13 at 18:09
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>> Relating to previous entry on muffins. Not one for old nursery rhymes then? Clue: Drury
>> Lane.
Now that you mention it, yes...but I never saw a muffin man and I can't remember whether I knew what they were. I don't think anybody would have asked for them in Brighouse,but I expect they do now.
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>>
>> "Armonds"
>>
Armunds, with a sort of slurred "uh" sound.
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Sun 10 Nov 13 at 15:27
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>> Armunds, with a sort of slurred "uh" sound.
There's no R in Almonds, and the L and O are mute. 'Ahm'nds' FFS!
(And 'skons').
Don't make a clamour at the back there.
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>> how do you pronounce scones or almonds is another.
Runfer points out in meticulous detail that not everyone pronounces 'scone' as 'skon', anyway north of the border. But surely everyone pronounces almonds 'ahm'nds'?
:o}
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I knew about the Staffs oatcakes, having been brought up on the Northern limits of where they are sold (Macclesfield, or thereabouts).
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Sat 9 Nov 13 at 17:28
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>> And how do you
>> pronounce scones or almonds is another.
>>
Scones rhymes with stones or bones - logical innit?
Almonds, well - "arm onds". Surely you wouldn't say "all monds", would you?
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>> Surely you wouldn't say "all monds", would you?
>>
My Dad, born in Rochdale, certainly did.
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>>Scones rhymes with stones or bones
Preposterous !
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What's more, Birmingham is "Bir-ming-ham" and not "Buh-ming-um. Not that I ever feel a need to go there you understand. Who would?
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Not sure which but there's a rising inflexion at the end.
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>> What's more, Birmingham is "Bir-ming-ham" and not "Buh-ming-um. Not that I ever feel a need
>> to go there you understand. Who would?
>>
Just ask yourself, how would the Queen pronounce Birmingham? That's how it should be said.
Mind you, I am sure HM would go to any lengths to avoid having to say it! What!
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Only to see her jewellery origins perhaps?
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It' s Berminggum. Oi quoit loik the way the lowkel in-abitents spake moi-self.
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>> Berminggum. Oi quoit loik the way the lowkel in-abitents spake moi-self.
Brilliant CGN. I wouldn't dare (perhaps because I find the Brum accent grating and music-hall-comic, although nothing against the actual Brummies at all).
Saw a load of stuff about Enoch Powell on the box the other night. He had a genteel Brummy accent. There was a lot of learned analysis of his wickedness, but they didn't really have it right being whippersnappers who weren't around at the time. He didn't mean any real harm, he just thought it expedient to kick a hornets' nest, to play at playing hardball, and reaped the consequences. Big cock-up from his point of view.
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I have it on good authority that HM pronounces photographs as Faytograrphs
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>> Faytograrphs
Would you prefer it if she pronounced it 'fortograffs' to dissimulate her generally southern, non-working-class origins?
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>> What's more, Birmingham is "Bir-ming-ham" and not "Buh-ming-um. Not that I ever feel a need
>> to go there you understand. Who would?
Birmingham is "EEEEEEwwwwwwwww Yuuuukkkkk"
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>> toys.usvsth3m.com/north-o-meter/
>>
>> I am 0% Northern, somewhere around Jersey.
Ditto
And proud of it.
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15% North around Bournemouth. WTF
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24% Northern. Somewhere near London.
Pretty well spot on old chap.
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>> >> toys.usvsth3m.com/north-o-meter/
>> >>
>> >> I am 0% Northern, somewhere around Jersey.
>>
>> Ditto
>>
>> And proud of it.
>>
Dangerously close to France, nothing to be proud of there me 'ol.
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90% Northern, somewhere around Middlesbrough
Not too far out as I grew up in York.
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45% northern, somewhere around Wolverhampton.
Good few miles south of there in reality, but I did live for 5 years in Scotland.
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Heck. It reckons I'm 100% Northern, somewhere near Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
As I started off in N Herts and crept northwards to Bedford before leaping nine junctions up the M1, I blame my score on the Durham and Yorkshire miners' corruption of Leicestershire English (and their dietary habits!). The Coalville dialect is much closer t'North Yorks sound than it is to anywhere else in t'Midlands. I can hold a conversation wi' t'locals like a native - I've only lived here 6 years mind :(
In mitigation, I travel widely across the UK and regularly hear regional accents and enjoy regional delicacies. (Orange scraps, anyone?)
Last edited by: Dave_TiD on Sat 9 Nov 13 at 23:27
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20%
But I'm an exiled Scot!
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Just like the last test I did linked in this forum, and in fact a large degree of the tests I've taken in my life - 0%.
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Many, many, years ago, (late 1950s to early 1960s) when I lived in Nottingham, I was in the T.A. My platoon was based in Worksop and it was to there that I travelled for evening and weekend drills.
At the time the mining industry was still going strongly and virtually all the volunteers were so employed.
I could barely understand their accent, which was very strong.
Now I live in Worksop (strange how life moves one around) and I find that, to my ears the accent is much less strong.
Do regional accents change over time - perhaps the fact that these days TV is ever present has made a difference?
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>> Do regional accents change over time - perhaps the fact that these days TV is
>> ever present has made a difference?
>>
Yes. Listen to young Yorkshire people now and the lovely flat vowels have increasingly been replaced by horrible southern dipthongs.
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>> Do regional accents change over time - perhaps the fact that these days TV is
>> ever present has made a difference?
>>
Yes if you listen to recordings made forty or fifty years ago accents were much stronger, some almost incomprehensible. As kids we stayed many times in a farm in the Newlands Valley, the farmer's Cumbrian accent, talking about the weather or whatever, might have been foreign.
There's still some regional pronunciation around though. Last week in Mallorca we encountered a group from the Black Country waiting for their transfer to the airport. Took me a second or two to twig that the couch they were talking about was actually the coach!
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>> Yes if you listen to recordings made forty or fifty years ago accents were much stronger,
>> some almost incomprehensible.
Absolutely.
Memories of driving for a couple of hundred miles, stopping to fill the car up, and not being able to understand the pump attendant initially: took about three goes before we understood one another.
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Some accents, alive 50 years ago, have gone completely!
I had an uncle who lived in a old ramshackle cottage in Swaffham, and he had the lovely really broad singsong uplift Norfolk accent. I have traveled a lot round that part, and its really being diluted and disappearing rapidly.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 10 Nov 13 at 09:52
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Does the same apply in other countries I wonder? When we learned French at school, for example, it was made clear that whilst we might be understood in Paris, just about, it would be a different kettle of fish if we were in the deep south.
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>> Does the same apply in other countries I wonder? When we learned French at school,
>> for example, it was made clear that whilst we might be understood in Paris, just
>> about, it would be a different kettle of fish if we were in the deep
>> south.
>>
The trick when communicating in any European country is to use the universally understood language. "Oi Froggie/Manuel/Fritz"*, give us a pint of lager" in a very loud voice while pointing at the item you want works nearly everywhere.
*Delete as applicable
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Sun 10 Nov 13 at 10:53
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>> Does the same apply in other countries I wonder? When we learned French at school,
>> for example, it was made clear that whilst we might be understood in Paris, just
>> about, it would be a different kettle of fish if we were in the deep
>> south.
>>
Yes it does, spending time in Beijing and Shanghai I can hear a difference in accents - Shanghai being easier to understand to my (very) uneducated ears. Mandarin (Putonghua) is itself a kind of 'received pronunciation' insofar as there are many regional dialects spoken in China, Cantonese (Guangdonghua) being an almost totally different language to my ears.
So, to draw a parallel - if a Londoner struggles to understand a Geordie, a Hong Konger may have little clue what a Beijinger is saying. People often resort to writing it down because the symbols are the same even if the words are different.
I tried the humourous North-o-Meter being 'shared' on Facebook, answering honestly and avoiding the temptation to manipulate the results it got the latitude of my upbringing correct.
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It's true what Zero and others say about the fading of regional dialects under the onslaught of film and TV.
But some bits of dialect will persist down the years. An example is the Devon word for wortleberries: 'erts'. The same word was in use in Georgia and the Carolinas in the seventies, having survived no doubt from the 16th-17th centuries there.
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It is also often said that Asian, Latino and other usages in English have entered the mainstream of the language inflecting it a bit, not to mention the egregious creeping Americanisms that infect the rougher sort of written English carried by the people who get into journalism these days.
Yes, language is a living thing. But let no one use that as an excuse for slovenly neglect of grammar, syntax, spelling and punctuation. Those are more or less sacred and immutable, whatever you may read in the comics.
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>>.But let no one use that as an excuse
>> for slovenly neglect of grammar, syntax, spelling and punctuation. Those are more or less sacred
>> and immutable, whatever you may read in the comics.
Come come, none of those are immutable over a sufficiently long time.
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>> Come come, none of those are immutable over a sufficiently long time.
Perhaps, but they are over a sufficiently short time... and I did say 'more or less'.
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Well I more or less agree then.
There's a nice little album (again with the Spotify, sorry) I listen to from time to time, where the same texts are said in Old English, then Middle English, then sixteenth century English, then modern English.
It's most intriguing to listen to, picking up a little more each time until you realise what it is.
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I suspect accents have polarised quite a lot since the radio and TV was invented. Couple that with a hugely more mobile population and there is bound to be some cross fertilisation of speech patterns.
While it's fun to joke about failing to understand other users of the same basic language because of regional accents and dialectal differences it doesn't take much additional brain power to unscramble it in reality. We're all quite used to hearing the main regional accents from our exposure to the media.
I have caught myself wondering however, in the unlikely event of the invention of a reliable time machine, how far any 21st century English speaker could go back and still be understood or indeed understand the everyday language of a given time period in our history.
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If the time machine went forwards by a couple of thousand years I might be able to understand Glaswegians.
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>>
>> I have caught myself wondering however, in the unlikely event of the invention of a
>> reliable time machine, how far any 21st century English speaker could go back and still
>> be understood or indeed understand the everyday language of a given time period in our
>> history.
>>
You can get some idea by reading stuff written at the time. However the use of English by people who could read and write might have been very different from those who couldn't.
Class differences might have been much more significant in the past, even to the extent of speaking a completely different language. eg Norman French or latin.
In some countries until almost modern times the court spoke a different language, or else a highly refined version;
Turkish in Egypt, Manchu in China, French in Russia, Persian in mughal India.
It is said that when Hirohito gave his famous broadcast announcing that "the war had gone not altogether favourably", no one could understand him because he spoke in the special court version of japanese.
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I was in South Wales last week for a couple of nights staying in Cardiff. In Cardiff city centre itself I heard a lot of slightly Welsh accents but they were not at all strong. A lot of the people there seemed to have a bit of a none accent really, all quite well spoken. I then went into the Rhonda valley to do a bit of coach spotting (long story!) and I had no doubt at all then I was in the Valleys :).
I think it is similar these days in Manchester city centre, you don't hear that many manc accents compared to say 15 years ago. Just as likely to hear Spanish, Polish or Southern accents these days.
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>> I think it is similar these days in Manchester city centre, you don't hear that
>> many manc accents compared to say 15 years ago. Just as likely to hear Spanish,
>> Polish or Southern accents these days.
>>
Southern people don't speak with an accent.
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>>Southern people don't speak with an accent
They don't know how to pronounce "scones" though.
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>> >>Southern people don't speak with an accent
>>
>> They don't know how to pronounce "scones" though.
>>
Oh, but they do and 'almonds' as well!
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>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scone_%28bread%29
>>
Couldn't have put it better myself!
99% of Jocks say 'skon'. What better proof do you want that it is 'scone', to rhyme with 'cone'?
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It's a confection of Scottish invention that's why it should have it's Scottish pronunciation.
( from the same page - "British dictionaries usually show the "con" form as the preferred pronunciation" )
I mean even southerners don't try to say haggeez or keeltz or something else ludicrous instead of haggis or kilts do they ?
They do say "saw-ring" instead of "sawing" though which is another irritation especially as they conversely leave the letter "r" out of words which deserve its inclusion.
Still, I suppose they know no better and the majority are more to be pitied than scolded. This doesn't automatically excuse the educated ones though.
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>> They do say "saw-ring" instead of "sawing" though which is another irritation especially as they
>> conversely leave the letter "r" out of words which deserve its inclusion.
>>
You appear to be confusing Cockneys with Southerners.
Cockneys speak with an accent and say 'sawring'. Southerners do not.
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>>You appear to be confusing Cockneys with Southerners...
Same thing aren't they? They're just posher versions in the home counties. Nothing to do with Bow bells and all that malarky.
Anyway, don't be trying to avoid the issue here, it's pronounced "skon" and there's an end to it. Please be good enough to correct those who misuse the word in future. In fairness to them they may not have been previously apprised of their error so no need to be too harsh initially.
;-)
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Id the correct Scottish pronunciation of scone is "skon" why is the Stone of Scone pronounced Stone of Skoon?
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>> Id the correct Scottish pronunciation of scone is "skon" why is the Stone of Scone
>> pronounced Stone of Skoon?
Perversity?
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Because a scone is a cake and Scone is a town. Obviously.
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"Because a scone is a cake and Scone is a town. Obviously."
So why is Dundee cake pronounced the same as the town?
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Because it is.
No one goes there anyway so it doesn't matter.
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>> No one goes there anyway so it doesn't matter.
Wasn't it that England was settled by the Angles and the Saxons and the Jutes went to live in Dundee (or am I getting confused?).
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The Scots aren't fussy when there's a bob in it.
They didn't try to correct me when I asked for a fruit scone (as in bone) here recently -
weeblethertearoom.co.uk/
The best tea room in Kinlochard. The only one actually. But still very good.
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They were just being polite. ( and making allowances of course )
;-)
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On reflection they probably just thought that Italian guy speaks really very good English. If a bit accented.
;-)
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>> On reflection they probably just thought that Italian guy speaks really very good English. If
>> a bit accented.
Never thought of that. Makes sense now.
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>> weeblethertearoom.co.uk/
>>
>> The best tea room in Kinlochard. The only one actually. But still very good.
>>
I had to read that link twice. First time I thought it was about those toys that wobble but don't fall down.
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Southern people don't speak with an accent
The Central London accent is different to the accent only a few miles south of it. And to the Americans, all the UK has an accent, it's a function of being different to your own pronunciation.
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I can tell the difference between a Swansea accent and a Cardiff accent (In English!).
North Walians are very different from South Walians, while dear old South Pembrokeshire is very close to old Devon.
By Damn, boy!
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Why are Scotch, Scots and not Scotch? A fairly recent affectation surely?
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>>A fairly recent affectation surely?
Not that recent actually. The word "Scotti" is from Latin and was the generic name used by the Romans to describe the tribes inhabiting what is now Ireland and some parts of Scotland. In time, this became adopted by the population of Scotland as a word to describe their national identity and it evolved into the word "Scots".
If there is any affectation to be found it's on the part of the English who felt more comfortable with the word "Scotch".
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The only scotch we feel comfortable with is the wet brown type.
The other type are too raucous and vexatious to the spirt of the more civilised parts of the country.
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>> Why are Scotch, Scots and not Scotch? A fairly recent affectation surely?
The English Oxford dictionary I have states either is acceptable, but adds: modern Scots usually prefer the forms Scots, Scottish.
I just enjoy winding up the Picts. ;>)
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Isn't there a Bertie Wooster quote about a Scotchman with a grievance?
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>> Isn't there a Bertie Wooster quote about a Scotchman with a grievance?
As I'm sure you knew...
It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 11 Nov 13 at 17:49
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Wodehouse but not Wooster. I think it refers to McAllister, the gardener at Blandings Castle.
I scored 55, incidentally. Not as wildly inaccurate as 'Nottingham' might suggest; my mother was born near there, of Mancunian parents, and I've acquired her tendency to converse with strangers on public transport. No idea about 'pie barm', though.
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Worst accent in the world - the East End. And Issicks (Essex)
A school becomes a skoow
Small becomes smow
A girl is a geaw
Something becomes sammink
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>> Worst accent in the world - the East End. And Issicks (Essex)
>>
>> A school becomes a skoow
>> Small becomes smow
>> A girl is a geaw
>> Something becomes sammink
wrong
Issixs sounds like a South African, its E'ssi'x (' - glottal stop)
Small is does not sound like mow, its "Smaw-a"
Something is "Summink" don't sound naffing like SAm.
Git it rite yew norfern git.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 11 Nov 13 at 15:08
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>> >> I think it is similar these days in Manchester city centre, you don't hear
>> that
>> >> many manc accents compared to say 15 years ago. Just as likely to hear
>> Spanish,
>> >> Polish or Southern accents these days.
>> >>
>>
>> Southern people don't speak with an accent.
That is utter cobblers. The mangled vowels are a fashion that has become embedded as RP, and are rare in other languages I have been told (I'm not much of a linguist)
Pure unaccented speech is pretty close to broad Yorkshire. If you want to learn Italian, practice your Yorkshire accent.
Say "Berlusconi" in Yorkshire and it's nearly spot on the Italian pronunciation.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 11 Nov 13 at 15:03
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Although, to be fair Manatee, Sheffield was the one place I was asked if I'd like a slice of "peeet-za"
;-)
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It's a new term to Sheffield. So they haven't evolved a degraded way of saying it, yet:)
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North-o-Meter - Robin O'Reliant
