Placing accents is a bit of a hobby of mine.
Being from the West Riding identifying south or north of Leeds etc isn't too difficult and neither is Manchester from further north towards Burnley/Blackburn but even then the SE Lancs/NE Cheshire bit round Ashton and Stalybridge can deceive.
At my paid work I'm dealing with people from outer east London round coast and Humber/Trent to North Nottinghamshire and back. Even locally there's a fair mix of people who've moved around for work.
Being able to recognise accents and comment along lines of 'you're not from there originally are you' is one amongst several tools one can use as an 'icebreaker' to turn what the other party might otherwise feel to be an interrogation into a conversation.
I really like that bit where I've got someone to relax and talk openly - It's what the job's about.
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