BBC English

Here's Jonners famous giggling fit
Weekend video: Brian Johnson

If you enjoyed that, you might as well listen to Jonners explaining his Gaffs.
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Shiney,
Just to be picky! You'd have to be born within the sound of Bow Bells to be genuine Cockney. But you probably know that.

I know the Cockney accent has spread far outside Bowbells reaches, me to and I'm an Essex girl. Cockney, now with a slight Manx twist to it!

What gets me is when people tell me I've got an Essex accent. I haven't, the real Essex accent sounds very much like the South West accent, Somerset, Dorset etc. which I'd much rather have!

 

I think that probably depends which bit of Essex you're talking about, Sheal. My Dad came from Ilford and I don't remember any trace of Somerset in his voice!

 

Clare, you have to go further east. Colchester, Ipswich and Harwich, where you'll still hear it. I lived in Colchester before moving here to the island although I was reared in the Southend area.

 

Sian Williams is a Londoner of Welsh descent. So is English. Huw Edwards is another along the lines of Carole Vorderman. Both, thankfully, are now based in England.I have to stick up for John Humphries as he is another Newport boy, and, of course, Evan Davis has the most famous "Albert" piercing in broadcasting history.

 

Thank you for that fascinating piece of information, Dai.

Huw Edwards sounds pretty Welsh to me. Does he have any interesting piercings?

 

Huw Edwards is indeed Welsh, but as I said, he is, thankfully, now based in England. Evan Davis`s piercing is well documented, so nothing to be shocked about.:D

 

I told you not to read the Daily Mail.

 

Sorry Clare.:o:o:DOH:

 

The lady at a local Chinese takeaway has a very interesting accent, having learnt English as a second language in an area where most people sound (approximately, at least) cockney. 'Noble House' comes out as something like 'No-ball Ar*e'.

 

You can tell the Chinese take away lady that China is "coming up" and so is East London (although in this last case it will be a much longer process!) since everything goes around...

 

Having use their 'BBC English' for decades, it was only relatively recently that the organisation realised no-one (apart from them) actually spoke in 'Elexaaarndra Pelace' mode. That, combined with research which showed that people with 'posh' accents were seen as elitist or 'snobby', was presumably the thinking behind their decision to employ people with 'regional accents'. I can only assume they then looked for the most deprived areas of the country and, having identified Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Hull etc., and parts of Scotland, promptly set about recruiting almost exclusively from these areas, with a few from other regions thrown in, no doubt in the name of being an 'equal opportunities' employer. By the same token, I'm guessing it won't be long before newsreaders start waving their arms around, sticking their fingers out at odd angles and peppering their bulletins with 'Yo bros. Cotch down cos we got some right dry, heavy stuff fo sho aiiiightt?'

I'd just be happy if they stopped saying 'different to' and 'h-aich'. Much as I dislike him, there's one thing upon which I must agree with Jimmy Carr 'This isn't an accent, this is how it should be pronounced'

 

I think we should all try to speak and write as clearly as possible. However, whenever some pedant contacts the Beeb complaining about a split infinitive or a minor grammatical sin, I tend to shout: 'Go get a treetreetree life!'. Ungrammatical, but immensely satisfying.