Generally I speak with pronounced South Staffordshire accent which sticks out here in northern part of the county who have their own words too. Culturally I think Staffordshire does break down to four main areas with Burton/Uttoxeter and Eccleshall being more in with Derbyshire and Shropshire respectively.
To put it this way, I know when I'm Cannock or Wolverhampton compared with Newcastle or deepest Stoke!
Being able to understand this helps in Newcastle/Stoke:
Translation: Do you have a crowbar in the shed?
No I haven't. Anyway, why do you want it?
To prise you out of that chair you've been sat in all day!
There was a brilliant one years ago by Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig with a husband and wife talking Strine (with a translation underneath) — beginning with something like "Gitsanudda cannabeer wooja sweedart" (Get us another can of beer, would you, sweetheart) — but I can't find a copy of it online. Anyway, I recall it included a few mildly rude colloquialisms — nothing very shocking, but still not language that would really be right for an Enid Blyton forum!!
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
joanne_chan wrote:Being able to understand this helps in Newcastle/Stoke:
Translation: Do you have a crowbar in the shed?
No I haven't. Anyway, why do you want it?
To prise you out of that chair you've been sat in all day!
Well done to those who could understand the meaning without the translation!
sixret wrote:Thank you so much to all of you for the inputs. They help me to understand better. I really wonder which accent that British people consider as posh? I know the meaning of posh but I do not know the example of posh accent. If possible, please share a youtube link of a person who speak in “posh accent” so that I can listen and understand better.
When we moved from Kent to North Staffordshire I used to "read" May and mar Lady each day in the paper and soon got the hang of the local dialect - which is not quite as broad as it is portrayed in the cartoon which is headed, in plain English "Me and my lady".
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Chrissie777 wrote:André was perfectly able to understand you when we met at Mespelbrunn Castle 3 years ago, Wolfgang.
He was used to the accent already .
I suppose it's possible to understand many accents depending on talking speed of the person. Being a telephone agent I'm used to talking slowly and clearly.
sixret wrote:Thank you so much to all of you for the inputs. They help me to understand better. I really wonder which accent that British people consider as posh? I know the meaning of posh but I do not know the example of posh accent. If possible, please share a youtube link of a person who speak in “posh accent” so that I can listen and understand better.
Wolfgang wrote:He was used to the accent already .
I suppose it's possible to understand many accents depending on talking speed of the person. Being a telephone agent I'm used to talking slowly and clearly.
Yes, Wolfgang, you are right about that.
Are you working in a call center? Over here they call the people who make the phone calls customer service representatives, but in the UK and in Germany they have different names.
I worked in a call center in Massachusetts from December 2005 until May 2008...it was the worst part of my working years.
Not so much the repetitive job itself, but a very nasty program manager. She made my life a living hell.
Chrissie
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"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
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"Posh" is a relative term. Nobody is absolutely "posh" in and of themselves, everyone is just "more posh" or "less posh" then someone else. (I think the opposite of "posh" may be "common")
For example, Victoria Beckham was called "Posh Spice", but she wasn't really extremely posh, she was just more posh then the other Spice Girls.
If you are looking for the "poshest" accent in Britain, I think I would suggest the Queen. And Prince Charles. Since these folks are at the very top of the English social pyramid, I think they are also generally the "most posh" people in Britain.
A general rule of thumb, not absolutely true but generally true, is that the more "common" accents in England tend to drop out consonants, until you are left with most "common" accents consisting of almost nothing but vowels, while the more "posh" accents do the opposite--they seem to be trying to drop out vowels until they are left with nothing but consonants being spat out between clenched teeth. Again, this isn't universally true, but this is a trend to watch out for.
Culturally I think Staffordshire does break down to four main areas with Burton/Uttoxeter and Eccleshall being more in with Derbyshire and Shropshire respectively.
