How to get rid of my "plummy" accent??

Scroll to see replies

The Red Brick universities in the North of England are full of plummy sounding southern people. I wouldn't worry about it.

Reply 21

rajandkwameali

is the university this person goes to full of chavs, or people who are envious of higher class people?

Reply 22

Hot Sauce

Like people have said, your accent will change a bit when you're up North. But you sound down to earth so I think people's initial judgements of you will subside once they actually listen to what you say rather than what you sound like, so don't worry.

Reply 23

john87

I hate that ****in private school middle class posh accent

sorry

Reply 24

john87

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??

use this to record your accent so we can all lol @ how posh you are

http://vocaroo.com/

Reply 25

Einheri

Most southern accents sound posh, it's a fact of life.

Reply 26

.Theory

Original post by TheSownRose

I'll give most of Cambridgeshire ... but Peterborough is definitely above The Great Divide.

I'm from Peterborough and am pretty sure that I'm not northern :tongue:

Definitely don't sound like it. Although most people here don't pronounce the letter t, so that's kinda weird...

Reply 27

Cyclone33

lol Alot of British people can't do an American accent properly. DUH.

Reply 28

Sovr'gnChancellor£

Original post by lafeeverte05

Well the one I recorded with my friend is on her mobile so I don't know how I could get that up here. And I could record it on my iPhone but again, I don't know how to translate it from a file to a link. I'm not really technilogically advanced haha.

But yet you are posh.... :holmes:

P.S. 'Twas a joke! :h:

Reply 29

Sovr'gnChancellor£

Original post by rajandkwameali

is the university this person goes to full of chavs, or people who are envious of higher class people?

Higher class?? There are many people who sound posh and are not rich etc - the same can be said of many who are exceptionally well-off but do not retain a posh accent... Even some chavs may retain exceptionally well-off parents.... don't mean to be pedantic, but just saying... :h:

Reply 30

Mm_Minty

Excessively hang around your northern friends an an attempt to pick up an accent or northern phrases.
Imagine it...you'll be chatting away in your "plummy" voice and then suddenly say "Well I'm off down t'road!" :awesome:

I love northerners

Reply 31

py0alb

Original post by Bunkd

Birmingham lies solidly on the other side of that sacred line :yep:

Pretty much anything above Cambridge is a no-go area

The line should go just south of Birmingham and Leicester, then diagonally up to the wash. That way you still get posh places like Stratford/ Leamington/ Cheltenham/ Norwich in the South, but any further north and people start to say things like "eh up me duck" and "ah bist mon?".

Reply 32

Dogatonic

Watch loads of The Only Way Is Essex turned on really loud and listen carefully. Or watch X Factor on Youtube and intently study Cheryl Cole. Nobody will be able to call you posh any more.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 33

Scubar

thank you

it's a gift I know

but the day is still young, give me a minute and I'm sure I can come up with something even worse

Reply 34

Installation

Original post by RamocitoMorales

The Great Wall of England,

It can be seen from space.

Hah, the South gets Birmingham. Unlucky.

Reply 35

kerily

Start saying your 'a's short. It's not so hard to do!

I also don't think the people warning you are that far wrong. I live near Hull (it's lovely :awesome:

) and while nobody's going to mug you in broad daylight just because you sound a bit southern, I'd be quite scared if I was getting a takeaway at 11 at night and I happened to be ordering with a very posh accent. People are likely to give you a bit of banter, and some people take that too far if you look/sound rich, posh, and like you're from Elsewhere. Not that that's right, just that it's how some people behave.

Reply 36

The Procrastinator

I went to stay with a friend in Southampton a few years back and the kids there were fasincating with my northern accent....and they said I was posh...wtf?!

Reply 37

whitediamondsinthesnow

I moved from London to Wales when I was 11, and my accent is fairly "posh" (i.e. I was taught to be well-spoken!)
Everyone took the piss when I first moved but then you get used to the, and I hate to use this word, "banter". It's not going to affect your life, you'll just get teased a bit! Nothing to worry about :smile:

Reply 38

Richiboi

drop your long a's. Glass not Glarse, Bath not Baarth yah, that sort of thing, its incorrect. You wouldnt say Plarstic instead of Plastic now would you? (And if you do, LOL). Im from Cheshire, and other northerners would consider my voice to be posher, but its just the same accent but more spaced and clear. Daniel Craig sounds similar when he isnt playing James Bond. :P

Reply 39

TheSownRose

Original post by py0alb

I know which one you mean, but every time I hear Stratford without the '-upon-Avon' added, I think of the one in London ... and we certainly don't want that.