Accents

[Cosmic Joe]

I like to think I'm pretty good at picking these up, but there are a few that I cannae distinguish between, even in Scotland.

Anything Aberdeenshire. Peterhead/ Aberdeen, Stonehaven, even Elgin (strictly speaking not Aberdeenshire). As soon as they start that "fit aboot" stuff I'm floundering.

Is there any difference between the accents around about Glasgow? Renfrewshire v Lanarkshire. Again, my ear fails me.

Angus is pretty generic. Dundonian is magnificently independent of anything within a three mile radius. Stranraer anaw.

I enjoy the diversity..

 

[ScotiaNostra]

Ive heard accents in West Ireland that sound a bit similar and use same slang words as parts of the highlands

[johnnydun]

Fit ye spikin' aboot min bam cuv?

[MazzyStar]

Anyone from the east of Scotland and Stranraer shouldn’t be allowed to talk. 

[maicoman]

North Ayrshire and East Ayrshire sound different. Have relations in Stranraer and Wick and for some reason i think they are slightly similar

[MazzyStar]

Also the Lanarkshire accent is definitely distinct from the weegie one. 

[BFTD]

I'm absolutely chronic with accents. I've found myself listening to broad Yorkshire or Lancashire accents, knowing I've heard them before, but struggling to place where they're from. Blows my mind when people can differentiate between Forth Valley accents, but some folk have an amazing ear for this stuff.

I had a drunk Derbyshire woman at work who was delighted to meet someone from "my part of the world" a while back, which amazed me as I spend my first decade in the West Midlands but didn't think I had any of the accent left. Apparently there's still enough that she picked up on it just by me saying "that'll be £4.99, please"  

[Wee-Bey]

Every accent except mine.

[velo army]

6 minutes ago, MazzyStar said:

Also the Lanarkshire accent is definitely distinct from the weegie one. 

Where have you heard this? I class EK as a Glaswegian colony, so we never had an accent I could distinguish from Glaswegian. However, my colleagues from Larkhall sounded like they came from a different time period and would use "ken" liberally (as well as "bunkers" to which I've alluded previously). Aside from Larkhall and the redneck parts of Lanarkshire (Lesmahagow etc) where would you say you've heard an accent that distinguishes itself?

[velo army]

8 minutes ago, BFTD said:

I'm absolutely chronic with accents. I've found myself listening to broad Yorkshire or Lancashire accents, knowing I've heard them before, but struggling to place where they're from. Blows my mind when people can differentiate between Forth Valley accents, but some folk have an amazing ear for this stuff.

I had a drunk Derbyshire woman at work who was delighted to meet someone from "my part of the world" a while back, which amazed me as I spend my first decade in the West Midlands but didn't think I had any of the accent left. Apparently there's still enough that she picked up on it just by me saying "that'll be £4.99, please"  

Big Fat Tabby Nigel

[MazzyStar]

2 minutes ago, velo army said:

Where have you heard this? I class EK as a Glaswegian colony, so we never had an accent I could distinguish from Glaswegian. However, my colleagues from Larkhall sounded like they came from a different time period and would use "ken" liberally (as well as "bunkers" to which I've alluded previously). Aside from Larkhall and the redneck parts of Lanarkshire (Lesmahagow etc) where would you say you've heard an accent that distinguishes itself?

Yeah it’s not as distinctive in most people I’ve come across from the bigger towns like EK, Hamilton and Motherwell, it’s probably more the desolate towns and villages like Carluke, Wishaw, Forth etc. 

[BFTD]

7 minutes ago, velo army said:

Big Fat Tabby Nigel

^^^ reported for Nigelism.

[Wee-Bey]

15 minutes ago, velo army said:

Where have you heard this? I class EK as a Glaswegian colony, so we never had an accent I could distinguish from Glaswegian. However, my colleagues from Larkhall sounded like they came from a different time period and would use "ken" liberally (as well as "bunkers" to which I've alluded previously). Aside from Larkhall and the redneck parts of Lanarkshire (Lesmahagow etc) where would you say you've heard an accent that distinguishes itself?

I think we can guess the time period.

[Cosmic Joe]

19 minutes ago, velo army said:

Where have you heard this? I class EK as a Glaswegian colony, so we never had an accent I could distinguish from Glaswegian. However, my colleagues from Larkhall sounded like they came from a different time period and would use "ken" liberally (as well as "bunkers" to which I've alluded previously). Aside from Larkhall and the redneck parts of Lanarkshire (Lesmahagow etc) where would you say you've heard an accent that distinguishes itself?

It would be interesting to chart a map of Scotland where the word "ken" is in use. I'd think it would cover most of the country.

[Leith Green]

2 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said:

It would be interesting to chart a map of Scotland where the word "ken" is in use. I'd think it would cover most of the country.

Radge, Chipper and Ginger would give a non-venn diagrammatic map imo.

[velo army]

3 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said:

It would be interesting to chart a map of Scotland where the word "ken" is in use. I'd think it would cover most of the country.

The Kenpire on which the sun never sets (especially in Lanarkshire where it f**king rains all the time).

Aye I wonder if it's the Irish influence in Glasgow that eliminated ken from the vocabulary over time as it clearly isn't solely an east coast phenomenon. I had a mate from some Dumfriesshire place (Kirkconnel rings a bell) who used "ken" and "feenished" and other such idiosyncratic speech patterns. So aye, it's the length and breadth of Scotia.

[RiffRaff]

9 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said:

It would be interesting to chart a map of Scotland where the word "ken" is in use. I'd think it would cover most of the country.

Inverclyde and Glasgow folk don't say "ken" as they know better.

[Cosmic Joe]

2 minutes ago, velo army said:

The Kenpire on which the sun never sets (especially in Lanarkshire where it f**king rains all the time).

Aye I wonder if it's the Irish influence in Glasgow that eliminated ken from the vocabulary over time as it clearly isn't solely an east coast phenomenon. I had a mate from some Dumfriesshire place (Kirkconnel rings a bell) who used "ken" and "feenished" and other such idiosyncratic speech patterns. So aye, it's the length and breadth of Scotia.

There is, however, the small matter of Dundee, not entirely untouched by the Irish..

[Cosmic Joe]

4 minutes ago, RiffRaff said:

Inverclyde and Glasgow folk don't say "ken" as they know better.

So you're saying they ken better?

[RiffRaff]

My wife is from East Lothian, I grew up in Inverclyde. 

Part of my wedding speech was about the two different languages, which I explained by the following:

"Do you know Ken, he is a fine chap"

Translated into East Lothianish 

"Do yi Ken,Ken,yi Ken, he's barry"

Edited 7 hours ago by RiffRaff