One is talking proper

Nicky Trup

December 13, 2007

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The Royles - not noted for speaking the Queen's English

The Royles - not noted for speaking the Queen's English 1/5 Play Slideshow

AS the Queen gives her Christmas speech, many mums and dads might be taking notes - to give their children tips on pronunciation.

A recent study showed that half of parents try to stop their children from speaking in their local accent for fear it will go against them in later life, with many preferring to encourage the `Queen's English'.

The M.E.N. spoke to shoppers in Manchester to find out whether they would rather their children sounded like the Royal Family or TV's Royle Family. And it seems local accents are not appreciated by many people from Greater Manchester.

Lisa Andrew, 36, from Denton, said that she tries to correct her two-year-old daughter Lucie's speech with little success.

Lisa said: "She does talk very broad. She talks just like her dad from Oldham. I'm expecting and she calls it a `beerby', and I don't call it a `beerby', it's a baby."

She wasn't the only one to criticise the Oldham twang.

Margaret Brooks, 61, said: "We're from Oldham, it's not a particularly good accent, is it?"

She and her daughter, Kay Longley, 37, admitted that while they never corrected their children's accents, they were not keen on slang.

Janine Scott and Alex Grimshaw, from Warrington, try to stop their daughter Ava, three, from having a strong accent.

Janine said: "We do try and discourage her. She says `thur' and we always try and correct her and say `there'."

Marion MacKenzie, 55, from Preston, said she had never tried to change the way her children speak. " I love an accent."

George Ridge, 84, said his children had always been encouraged to speak the Queen's English. "We brought them up to speak properly. We're from Liverpool but we don't speak with a Liverpool accent, hopefully!" His wife, Noeline, 72, said that while she doesn't think employers should judgel workers based on their accent, some do.

The perception of accent snobbery is certainly not true of Edwards of Manchester, a formal shoe shop on Deansgate.

Supervisor Peter Leighton said: "If we were hiring somebody the accent wouldn't make any difference. "

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Janine Scott's views
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Jane Jackson's views
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dessie, manchester (13/12/2007 at 10:06)

who cares? we all know what upper class twits sound like

GOD IS A BLUE, Failsworth (13/12/2007 at 10:08)

stuff the queens english i only speak manc and sometimes rude manc !

The Bobelesque (13/12/2007 at 10:52)

There's nothing to be proud of in speaking like a moron. Most of the people I hear speaking with a so called 'manc' accent are clearly putting it on. My dad came from Whit Lane in Salford when it was really rough (unlike now, just full of chavs) and his accent was nothing like the one people think of as a Salford accent these days.

People pretending to have a 'manc' accent is as irritating as the received pronunciation practised by BBC announcers - and her maj.

Why can't you all just be yourselves?

GOD IS A BLUE, Failsworth (13/12/2007 at 11:09)

The Bobelesque

times change and so do local accents,there diferrent strengths and variations.personally i like my accent and won't hide it so i am being myself.

marc (13/12/2007 at 11:19)

i've picked up a mancunian twang during the time i've been here. it must sound odd to people when combined with my leicester accent.

gillykins, urmston (13/12/2007 at 12:31)

I have always thought I spoke properly - I have lived in Manchester all my life and have been brought up to pronounce my words as they should be. My Parents are from Salford born and bred and they sound like me! I do not however sound like I am from Manchester because of the silly accent the TV people think we all have. I think its every parents responsibility to teach their children to speak properly - its just plain embaressing to listen to some of the voices kids have nowadays! Now - Geordie - there is a lovely accent!!!

David,North M/C (13/12/2007 at 12:54)

The worst accent in Manchester I think comes from males up to the age of around their mid 20s when they sound like they are speaking through their noses innit.....I also get embarrassed about my own North Mancunian accent when I speak to other people that speak nice.

barryj (13/12/2007 at 14:19)

Geordies have a nice accent, I do hope your being sarcastic, everyone knows that they would kill for a Birmingham accept, how am ya?

langley lad in exile (13/12/2007 at 16:23)

Ive lived in jersey for the last 13 years. not lost my accent to much i hope. should be proud of how u speak not ashamed.who wants to sound like a hoo har henry anyway. were not robots we r all different all over britain which is a good thing. unless ur scouse i suppese

Garfield (13/12/2007 at 17:29)

i like my yonner accent very much!!! even in manc they can't tell where im from. fools!!!!

david rowlands (13/12/2007 at 19:08)

The subject of regional accents will always be an emotive topic for debate, as long as we adhere to the tiered social class system in this world of ours and on that basis,an accent will define the person which in turn defines their social status!
If we all spoke in the same way wouldn't we find another way of socially categorising people? Lets accept our cultural and verbal diversity.

sold me wellies, Canada (14/12/2007 at 00:53)

People in other parts of the world just love English accent no matter what part you are from. Be proud of your accent do you really want to be a toffee nosed G.

Tagger, manchester (14/12/2007 at 06:48)

Talk how you want to talk....just try to talk some sense. Only thing I can't stand are all the little " EE AAR YO' ers with their hoodies and rockports on!!

Helen (14/12/2007 at 15:40)

my sister and i were born and raised in the same area of manchester (the same house if we're going to get picky about it!) yet over the years she seems have developed the 'fake' manchester accent (you knw the one- 'eer-ya-yo'-ing and 'innit' at the end of EVERY sentance) whereas, i hope, mine is much more natural which i think shows that accent comes down just as much to peer group as it does to geography!

BTW- i'm with you gillykins, geordy accents are lovely... but i'm also a sucker for the irish!

Pescado (14/12/2007 at 16:16)

I am from Salford but I have not lived there in over 29 yrs so my accent has softened up a bit.
I was on a beach in the US with my american brother in law last year when he needed a light for his cig he went over and asked a couple of blokes for a light. When he came back he said he did not understand a word they had said because they were from belgium or somewhere.
I saw one of them was wearing a mcfc t shirt so I asked him where they were from, yeah you guessed it Eccles.

Octavius Tinsworth Ace (14/12/2007 at 21:26)

The Mancunian accent is a strange one. A moderate one sounds great in my opinion -- far better than a bland "Queen's English" one -- but a broad one often sounds dreadful.

Timberman, MANCHESTER (16/12/2007 at 11:21)

Your accent shouldn't matter,
it's your manners that make or break you, and a good use of the ENGLISH language.
It doesn't make any difference what your accent is, to politicians we might as well be speaking gibberish
for all the notice they take.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

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