How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??
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How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??
I didn't realise that I had a "plummy" accent until I was on my gap year in America and met several Brits generally from the Northern side of the UK. Living in the South, the people that I'm around pretty much sound like how I sound in my ears. But I've dreams of going to Liverpool for university, and my newly-made friends(from the North) are telling me that I will get "mugged" or taken the piss out of all the time. I don't really believe that's true, but I didn't realise that my "accent" could be such a bother/noticeable to some people. I personally find Northern accents and the North in general beautiful and fascinating, but apparently I'm better off just studying in Oxford.. as stereotype puts it. Some people even think that my accent is "put on" or think that I'm "trying to be posh" because apparently "your accent is just too posh to be genuine". I didn't really notice this, or heard this until I came across people with "regional accents". (Sorry for the overusage of inverted commas. I'm getting a bit carried away lol). Anyway to make a long story a bit shorter, my friend recorded my voice and made me listen to it, and I have to admit that it really does sound quite ridiculous. I sound just awful, like the snootiest voice you could ever hear. If that's how I sound to other people, I really would like to change it. I mean if it was someone else talking, I'd think they were looking for a serious beating. That's how bad it is. Problem is, I'm not really good at immitating accents. I can't even do an American one properly, and that's supposed to be the easiest accent there is!! Any advice??
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Re: How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??lol! Safe from those sub-human savage beasts that dare to mock your accent?(Original post by TheSownRose)
Just accept you're posh and stay down here where it's safe. -
Re: How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??Indeed.(Original post by Chengis)
lol! Safe from those sub-human savage beasts that dare to mock your accent?
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Re: How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??I'll give most of Cambridgeshire ... but Peterborough is definitely above The Great Divide.(Original post by Bunkd)
Birmingham lies solidly on the other side of that sacred line
Pretty much anything above Cambridge is a no-go area -
Re: How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??
Don't change your accent. It sounds like it's quite nice from what you've said
If you go to uni up north, it will be fine! If you try and fake one, then that's where people will think you're a weirdo.
And after a year or so you'll probably get a bit of a northern accent mashed in with your own anyway
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Re: How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??Lincolnshire, too.(Original post by TheSownRose)
I'll give most of Cambridgeshire ... but Peterborough is definitely above The Great Divide. -
Re: How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??indeed, the north-south divide is officially a line drawn from the Severn to The Wash...(Original post by Bunkd)
Birmingham lies solidly on the other side of that sacred line
Pretty much anything above Cambridge is a no-go area -
Re: How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??Honestly, the people who have told you that you'll be mugged or mocked are being really immature.(Original post by lafeeverte05)
I didn't realise that I had a "plummy" accent until I was on my gap year in America and met several Brits generally from the Northern side of the UK. Living in the South, the people that I'm around pretty much sound like how I sound in my ears. But I've dreams of going to Liverpool for university, and my newly-made friends(from the North) are telling me that I will get "mugged" or taken the piss out of all the time. I don't really believe that's true, but I didn't realise that my "accent" could be such a bother/noticeable to some people. I personally find Northern accents and the North in general beautiful and fascinating, but apparently I'm better off just studying in Oxford.. as stereotype puts it. Some people even think that my accent is "put on" or think that I'm "trying to be posh" because apparently "your accent is just too posh to be genuine". I didn't really notice this, or heard this until I came across people with "regional accents". (Sorry for the overusage of inverted commas. I'm getting a bit carried away lol). Anyway to make a long story a bit shorter, my friend recorded my voice and made me listen to it, and I have to admit that it really does sound quite ridiculous. I sound just awful, like the snootiest voice you could ever hear. If that's how I sound to other people, I really would like to change it. I mean if it was someone else talking, I'd think they were looking for a serious beating. That's how bad it is. Problem is, I'm not really good at immitating accents. I can't even do an American one properly, and that's supposed to be the easiest accent there is!! Any advice??
At uni, people have a bit of banter about accents, but tbh no one is immature enough to mock someone for having an accent. People don't go to uni to pick on people they go to get a degree, make new friends (regardless of accent) and have fun.. -
Re: How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??
I'm from Scotland, but having two very English parents meant I grew up with a bit of a "plummy" accent that used to get called posh when I was younger. However, over time and spending time with more Scottish people it's really not like that anymore. I dunno what it is, a bit of both :L and I used to have a proper Leith accent when I was a toddler. I get told I sound Scottish when I go to England, and that I sound a bit English when I'm in Scotland, can't win.
Anyways, my point is that if you go to uni in the north, it'll probably naturally subside a bit anyway. Don't worry about it :L and don't try and change it for the sake of it. Anyone taking the piss is clearly a bit of a prat.Last edited by catrinaribena; 10-01-2011 at 01:28.

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If you go to uni up north, it will be fine! If you try and fake one, then that's where people will think you're a weirdo.