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It gets mocked, but its a glimpse into the past...
http://hubpages.com/education/The-Black-Country-Last-Haven-of-the-Mercian-Tongue
Also related http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34832781
Err the black country accent is very different to the Brummie accent!!
Common mistake by an outsider. 😉
You all sound the same to the rest of us
You?
You?
Yow
You?
I think he meant to say "Yaouw" 🙂
[edit]
Beaten to it. With those speedy translation skills you should be working for the UN
I have family from the Black Country and they sound totally different to the city brummies
Sling yer ook lads! 😉
Common mistake by an outsider.
Not one they'd need to make for us to spot um though. Can smell um cor we.
I've seen the burial sites where those that called a yam yam a Brummie & vice versa ended up
Yow do know much about accents dun ya
That reminds me of the best joke ever said in a Brummie accent..
What's the difference between a buffalo and a Bison?
You can't wash yer hands in a buffalo...
IGMC. 😉
I've seen the burial sites where those that called a yam yam a Brummie & vice versa ended up
😆
The M5 is like a modern day version of Hadrian's Wall. There may be very few miles between them, but confuse them at your peril!
Totally different accents, I can understand Brummie but Black Country is in a different league
You all sound the same to the rest of us
A cor stondeht! Amya saft?
Avalissen why dowya?:
Brummies am slow an sing-song en theh? Butchowkonunderstondem corya?
Naew .... yowovalissen to our aunteh illery frum Colley Gate - 'er aewun kids dow naew worrez sayin! Erz like a glade under a dowah. Er spakes quickan'er diaerlekt is bostin.
Funny growing up in the Black Country, the rate of diction and depth of dialect often changed from town to town, sometimes (perceptibly) from street to street.
Brierley Bonk, ferinstance:
Modern accents are very different to those of 100 years ago, before TV, radio and mass-travel diluted them.
A German academic recorded British prisoners of war and colonial troops held in captivity on German soil between 1915 and 1918.
The recordings are here and make fascinating listening:
http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Berliner-Lautarchiv-British-and-Commonwealth-recordings
Burn it. Let the fires of purity devour it and it's ashes poured off the edge of the world
IMHO
Fastest way to tell a brummie from a black country accent is when you say laugh. Brummies say larf. Black country say laff
As a certified Yam Yam it always make me smile that so many accents and pronunciations differ in such a relatively small area. I am based around Darlaston and Wednesbury yet struggle to tune my ear to the Gornal accent, very often it sounds almost German to me.
The Walsall insistence on putting a "U" in words with "OO" in is also very distinctive, School becomes Skewul and Food becomes Fewud.
Thames estuary for all when I am President. Enough of these ninny nonks
Thames estuary for all when I am President. Enough of these ninny nonks
Do you mean the Thames Estuary accent? or are you advocating the reintroduction of ducking stools?
Get in the ****ing estuary!
I spent the first nine years of my life in Rubery at a time when many of the people worked in Longbridge. I reckon having an "English accent" is less of a handicap in any mainland European country than having a Brummy/Black Country accent in England outside the Midlands conurbation.
first nine years of my life in Rubery
waseley side or beacon side?
. This.ot one they'd need to make for us to spot um though. Can smell um cor we.
Brummie accent to me is warm and friendly. It says I am home.
Yow [s]do[/s] [i]day[/i] know much about accents dun ya
FTFY
34 Grange Crescent, so Waseley side. Gannow School.
R.
My Dad could have entire conversations with different pronounciations of that letter.
As a certified Yam Yam it always make me smile that so many accents and pronunciations differ in such a relatively small area
this used to freak me out when I was growing up in Cheshire - you have Runcorn scouse, then proper Liverpool scouse, then Manc and then general Northwestern - all quite different accents but within 30 miles of each other. I've no idea where the dividing line is on the map between Liverpool and Manchester but it's got to be there somewhere given the massive difference in language.
Then again, you go into the Lake District and it takes a few minutes (a couple of hundred yards walk) to go from Near Sawrey to Far Sawrey 🙂
Carry on a bit further North from the proper black county, Cannock Chase is the dividing line from Yam Yam to oatcakes book me dook.
My Dad could have entire conversations with different pronounciations of that letter.
I know exactly what you mean. A couple of late old boys I used to be the same. Great blokes the pair of them.
An interesting article for those interested in what areas are commonly considered Black Country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/content/articles/2005/03/15/where_is_the_black_country_feature.shtml
kimbers - MemberIt gets mocked, but its a glimpse into the past...
And you think the fact that the Anglo-Saxons apparently sounded like Lenny Henry when they spoke isn't worthy of mocking?
I think it's hilarious!
I suspect the Normans were in fits of laughter every time they heard the locals speak.
this used to freak me out when I was growing up in Cheshire - you have Runcorn scouse, then proper Liverpool scouse, then Manc and then general Northwestern - all quite different accents but within 30 miles of each other. I've no idea where the dividing line is on the map between Liverpool and Manchester but it's got to be there somewhere given the massive difference in language.
The reason you get such a variety is because both Liverpool and Manchester had big influxes of populations - Liverpool from Ireland and Manchester sucked in lots of rural lancashire and yorkshire populations during the industrial revolution (and Manchester also effectively became a port because of the Ship Canal). So both those accents have been altered by incomers. St Helens and Wigan in the middle have never had the same influx so they are seemingly very different to both Liverpool and Manchester rather than a blend of both, but are really what everyone round there used to sound like.
What's the difference between a buffalo and a Bison?
That's excellent. My neighbour is a brummie, his wife is South African (and our dentist) - what a melange of accents their kids must have 🙂
general Northwestern
Objection!
I reckon it's all to do with where you're from. It's a lot easier to tell local accents apart when you hear them regularly; the further from home you go, the less granular you get. We can tell Lower Postlethwaite from those bastards in Upper Postlethwaite but would dismiss our neighbouring countries' accents as Welsh or Scottish and lump great swathes of entire continents together as American / Indian / Australian.
I was born in Dudley, lived around Brierley Bonk and Stowerbridge most my life and I can't understand broad Black ****ray fowk. My partner at work is a proper old school Dudley lad, can't understand a word he says. Truth be told I hate the sound of both brummie and Black Country accents (though not as much as I hate scouse!)
There are so many varieties of Black Country though, Dudley is totally different from Wolverhampton fer instance
Lovely video posted on previous page, a few of those pubs still stand
this used to freak me out when I was growing up in Cheshire - you have Runcorn scouse, then proper Liverpool scouse, then Manc and then general Northwestern - all quite different accents but within 30 miles of each other. I've no idea where the dividing line is on the map between Liverpool and Manchester but it's got to be there somewhere given the massive difference in language.
30 miles?
People in the Black Country can barely understand what someone from 5 miles away is saying! From Stourbridge to Kingswinford is a notable change, by the time you've got to Gornal it's practically indecipherable. Then a short hop up the road to Wolverhampton and the language is totally different again!
People from West Brom though... It's less speaking, more like Machine Gun fire of various random incomprehensible words and letters! I was doing a lot of work with some people off the shop floor in a factory in West Brom a few years ago, the only people I could genuinely understand were those of Asian origin as their accents were nowhere near as harsh!
I'm from Worcester FWIW, and to go north of Stourbridge I'd say a translator is required at least until you get the other side of Wolverhampton...
34 Grange Crescent, so Waseley side. Gannow School.
Waseley road here 1975-83
Swede eater then 🙂I'm from Worcester FWIW,
By the sounds of this we should all tek some pieces down the cut and meet up for a ride and some bostin fittle
That reminds me of the joke:
A kid was crying at the side of the cut in Tipton. A copper came along and asked "Why are you crying?". The kid said "my mates fell in the cut". Quick as a flash the policeman jumped in the canal and dived for ten minutes, eventually he climbed out and said "sorry kid, I tried my best but I think your mate has drowned". The kid said "Not my mate! My meat (mate) out of my sandwich".
The dividing line with the Liverpool accent and Manchester/Lancashire/Cheshire accent is pretty much the M57. With exception of Kirkby, everything the other side of the Motorway sounds like proper woolybacks. Witness Widnes and St Helens to see just how different they sound just a couple of miles outside the city.
Regional accents have to be maintained, it's such a shame a lot have become diluted these days. There also is a huge amount of snobbish stigma attached to some truly wonderful dialects.
I blame the wannabe middle classes 😆
My mother has some good freinds from Dudley, they come over to stay with me occasionally on their way accross to France. It's like having Hyacinth Bucket to stay.. For some reason it's all dumbed down perceived English yet when they let rip amongst themselves it's like poetry.
That's what I think of regional accents, when two like tongued get together it's like moving poetry..
Beautiful
People in the Black Country can barely understand what someone from 5 miles away is saying! From Stourbridge to Kingswinford is a notable change
True. An by thetie-yim yermin Pens-God-Nett all yowmearin' is "Ar! Ar. God-ar!
Even Pens God Nett has gone upmarket these days.(Apart from the shooting a while back)
It's now known as Ponsnaye.
Lower Gornal on the other hand is still full of scratters. 😉
TBF I think the only truly Blackcountry places left are Cradley Bonk,Owd Ill and the paradise island of Tipn.
That's what I think of regional accents, when two like tongued get together it's like moving poetry..
Beautiful
Regional accents are important and part of our culture. I love them.
when two like tongued get together it's like moving poetry..
Mrsstu is a prime example of this. She lived her younger years in Macclesfield but can't do a Macc accent to save her life. Until she starts talking to her brother or dad. Then i have no idea what she's saying. 🙂
Regional accents are important and part of our culture. I love them.
Agree wholeheartedly. And I say that as an RP speaker. My daughter is growing up in West Lancashire so is in the heart of the Wigan/Scouse collision.
Regional accents are important and part of our culture.
Quite right. It helps at a stroke to distinguish us what speak the Queen's English from the lower common classes.
... us what (sic) dun spake the Queen's English from the lower common classes.
FTFY 8)
Me old mon cud tell which un them pictewereque fishing villages of the Black Country yow were frum just accent. Some of the words are very local and are said so fast you would have trouble keeping up.
I love all of the different language that was used in all of the different industries. Most of the industries are gone, but some of the language still gets used.
general Northwestern
Anywhere past Cheltenham is the North as far as I'm concerned!
Born and bread 2 miles outside a 'Dugly' in Netherton.
Love it at it ar.
Some if my fav Black Country jokes...
One day Ayli looked over his garden fence to see his pal Aynuk digging a hole.
" Wot yow dewin arr kid "asked Ayli
" Arm burryin the goldfish ay I " Aynuk replied.
" Its a bloody big ole fer a fish ay it" said Ayli.
" Well its in yower cat ay it" said Aynuk !





