Why do I not have a Scottish accent?

[coprolite]

I've a generic mixed East coast accent (family from fife, lived in Embra and Aberdeen/shire and abroad) that i don't think is particularly broad but still have to tone it down to make myself understood by the mainly english i work with and welsh i live among.

It's mainly vocab and phrases that need changed rather than pronunciation, but speaking to foreigners (e.g. My nigerian and philipino colleagues) can require a bit of extra enunciation. 

[VincentGuerin]

I lived in Australia for a few years as a younger man and have now lived most of my adult life in England. My accent hasn't changed at all, but then I've always had a lot of Scottish people in my social circle, often just through chance.

My next door neighbour in Sydney was from Glasgow and two of the guys I worked with were Scottish too. Now me and the missus live in England (she's English) but it's not exactly unusual to bump into other Scots down here. Also, I go to watch Hearts all the time, so there's been no real change in accent.

What I did find was that when I lived with my Australian ex, we would mimic each other's accents to say certain things, just for a laugh. After a while of doing that while living there, my Australian accent became fucking spot on and I can now switch it on whenever I want. Occasionally when visiting Australia I'll do this when ordering in a restaurant or cafe as I've lost count of the number of times I've been misunderstood when ordering things there and got something I didn't want. Similarly, in England if there's confusion I'll just clarify in an over-the-top version of the local accent. Necessary from time to time.

[tamthebam]

11 hours ago, BillyAnchor said:

30 year in the States of America and my Glasgow accent is still pure dead brilliant.

Sheena Easton not found....

[s_dog]

12 hours ago, jimbaxters said:

Similar for me. Been away from home for nearly 13 years and my accent is still as broad as ever. I honestly believe it takes effort to change it.

There might be something in making an effort to fit in but isn't it a lot to do with what age you are? If you move elsewhere as an adult you'll probably never lose your accent completely, but as kids you adopt the accent of where you are staying and are surrounded with pretty quickly. I was most disappointed that within six months of moving south a friends wee yin could no longer pronounce dreich. 

[Gorgie greatness]

My nephew spent three years in Canada and occasionally said “water” with a mid Atlantic accent! Been back a while now so it’s stopped TF. 

[Richey Edwards]

16 hours ago, superwell87 said:

In most cases yes, probably. My Aunt has lived down south (Cumbria) for as long as I can remember (easily the best part of 30 years a  least) and still has a Scottish Accent. 

Both of my sisters still have English accents.

[BFTD]

9 hours ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

Why do English people pronounce lieutenant as left-tenant? I say loo-tenant like a normal person.

They also say water as wawter and southern as suh-then like a bunch of Brexit weirdos.

The wauw-ah in Majauw-ah dahn't taste laak wot it auw-ah.

[Crawford Bridge]

I would pretend be local on nights out in Minnesota/Wisconsin because I got sick of drunk yanks telling me they were "scatch" and pish like they are related to Rod Stoo-art. 

[Wee-Bey]

My mum is Australian, has lived in Scotland for over 30 years but sounds English with no real trace of either a Scots or Australian accent.

[GNU_Linux]

1 hour ago, tamthebam said:

Sheena Easton not found....

For your ears only

[Pocketman]

14 hours ago, Shotgun said:

Although I was born in Scotland, we moved to Cumbria when I was 2.

Dad was from Falkirk, Mum was a Weegie. (Double whammy) Without being conscious of it, my sisters and I spoke with a Scots accent at home, and a north of England one everywhere else. I've now lived in the USA for longer than I lived in Britain, but still receive regular compliments about my accent. I've been asked if I'm Scottish, English, Irish, Australian, New Zealand and South African (and on one bizarre occasion, Russian). In contrast, most of the British people I meet just think I'm American.

My sisters, 2 nephews and 3 nieces are now scattered around the British Isles and no two of us sound alike. 

 

[Pocketman]

a Northern Irish kid joined our class in the first year of Secondary school. He got slagged mercilessly on pretty much a daily basis every time he opened his mouth and this continued all the way up to Highers.

I still think about this and how feckin grim his life at school must have been. 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

1 hour ago, BTFD said:

The wauw-ah in Majauw-ah dahn't taste laak wot it auw-ah.

 

[BillyAnchor]

3 hours ago, s_dog said:

There might be something in making an effort to fit in but isn't it a lot to do with what age you are? If you move elsewhere as an adult you'll probably never lose your accent completely, but as kids you adopt the accent of where you are staying and are surrounded with pretty quickly. I was most disappointed that within six months of moving south a friends wee yin could no longer pronounce dreich. 

Somewhere I read that the accent you have at puberty is the one you keep but I have met exceptions.

[TxRover]

17 hours ago, Eednud said:

IStill causes problems if I have to spell something to someone face to face or on the phone…

Despite the almost complete lack of an English accent in conversation, the way I say letters when spelling words is troublesome until I resigned myself to using the NATO phonic alphabet. Even then, in the U.S., that alphabet isn’t as easy for them as the police version with things like Charles, David, Paul and stuff.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

I got asked if I was a weegie once. 
 

Fackin cant.

[Crawford Bridge]

1 hour ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

I got asked if I was a weegie once. 
 

Fackin cant.

Had you not washed for a few days? 

[LongTimeLurker]

On 24/03/2023 at 21:35, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

There are enclaves in New York which are home to Northern Ireland ex-pats, over many generations they still retain their mother tongue accents.

I assume that's somewhere rural in upstate New York rather than New York City? In Canada, the rural parts of the Ottawa Valley has an accent that sounds vaguely like a posh Ulster one and I have met older people from up the Bruce peninsula in southern Ontario that sounded like they were from the West Highlands but definitely weren't. In the cities though there's a generic Canadian accent that very much dominates.

[welshbairn]

5 hours ago, BillyAnchor said:

Somewhere I read that the accent you have at puberty is the one you keep but I have met exceptions.

I used to know near twins who left Bridge of Allan for London at around 14, by 25 one of them sounded like a Cockney and the other like they'd never left. The first was female and the latter male, but that's probably nothing to do with it.

[LongTimeLurker]

3 hours ago, TxRover said:

...the way I say letters when spelling words is troublesome....

Pronouncing j as jye rather than jay was a habit I had to very quickly get out of when in North America but for some reason no matter how hard I try the way I say the vowels never seems to compute with some people there so I have to say a for apple etc.