I, for one, object to all these Saxons speaking like Normans. Where do they think they were born? Evreux? It's disgusting.

its just the standard south london accent now adays.
its a mixture of cockney, south london, jamican and some asian influences

Innit.

All you southerners should know that at some point in the past your ancestors switched from short to long vowels. {Grarse not grass} This radiated out from London, but became fully established only in the south. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

Plus ca change..

FWIW, if it even occurred to you to try to do so, you often couldn't guess a kid's race just from his accent.

Well I still don't think it should be blasphemy, just saying Jehovah.

dont chat shit bruv, its safe mate. ya get me?

They do it because they are ****ing idiots

Would shit themselves if they were in one of those US cities gang neighbourhoods

Spoke to some Geordiechavs before but could not understand a word they were saying … not sure if they were imitating some "cool dudes" but definitely not Queen's English. Also there are many local black kids trying on those rappers "cool" slang … LOL!

Anyway most just want to look cool.

😆

you often couldn't guess a kid's race just from his accent.

Agreed

(after a bit of LOL at "his")

But you can definitely fix his/her socio/economic/cultural class

I don't care whether someone is black, Asian, Chinese etc etc

So long as they are not criminal, noisy, ignorant, stupid, Sun-"reading", tattooed, pierced, weapon-dog-owning, Eastenders-watching people

So long as they are not criminal, noisy, ignorant, stupid, Sun-"reading", tattooed, pierced, weapon-dog-owning, Eastenders-watching people

racist

i'd be pleased if my own kids talked like the black kids I know. great diction, good grammar, and very polite.

oldside, seen.

i'd be pleased if my own kids talked like the black kids I know. great diction, good grammar, and very polite.

You live in Africa and the black kids say, "Yes, Bwana. No, Bwana. Yes, Bwana." ?

Hmmn, I'm far more annoyed by the amount of rational adult British people who insist on writing and speaking like Americans.

See – 'swap out', 'can I get' , '9 through 5', 'no fly zone', 'firefight', etc, etc.

A £50 fine for the first offence and public flogging for subsequent transgressions…..

I realise that language evolves, doesn't mean that I have to agree with it 🙂

Black kids do not speak in a particular way. You're racist.

You're an idiot or a council employee.

Why can't you be an idiot and a council employee ? 😕

……sounds like an idiotic comment to me.

Do you mean in an African or Caribbean accent I would presume is the correct way of asking your question you just make yourself sound racist. I work with a lot of people from different nations but most you could not tell their colour unless you’re with them. Anyway keep your gutter talk for the other forums you visit or at BNP meetings which I am sure would go down well.

I don't think anybody posted this yet? You might find it interesting…

Multicultural London English

Rusty Spanner I'm with you all the way. "Sucky" and "based out of…" are two that I've noticed in ST – and I'm not really stoked on either of them.

Rusty Spanner I'm with you all the way. "Sucky" and "based out of…" are two that I've noticed in ST – and I'm not really stoked on either of them.

Wow, like, er, me neither dude. That bites the big one….etc etc 🙂

Replacing something in common usage with with the American equivalent, just because some idiot thinks it sounds, like, cool, is sadder than flared undies maaaan.

The world is changing.
Did I give my permission? No I did not. Kindly put everything back to how it was, thanks. 😀

A £50 fine for the first offence and public flogging for subsequent [b]transgressions[/b]…..

Speak English for Christ's sake. Why do you insist on writing and speaking like French people?

Touche, Konabunny 😀
Hoist by my own petard, etc, etc…..

I never said it was fair or rational, just that I don't like it!

I think English has been Anglicised far too much ……………did the Saxons have f-all to say then ?

Good point Ernesto 🙂

A very good read:

The Story Of English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bhTxvzrUFo

Your language/dialect is a product of your environment. If you hop on the number 86 bus through moss-side, you'll find all the white and black kids speak exactly the same. Like they've just arrived from Kingston via Baltimore.

I was on the bus the other day and two old Jamaican blokes were having an animated (well as animated as you'd expect two old Jamaican blokes to get) discussion about the relative merits of various Reggae bands. Is there a more pleasent accent to listen too? Its a joy on the ears

Bit off topic, but what I just can't believe is the amount of people on here that think the past tense of BUY is BROUGHT 😕
I am not religious, but when people say ' O my God ' it makes me feel very uncomfortable.

Hang on then. Jim Davidson, (chalky white) racist or ahead of his time.

The language thing baffles me, when I visit my wifes family I can't understand a thing they're saying, not due to the accent but the language, let alone do the weird hand shake thingy. Very different from the Black kids I knew in the sixties, I remember my mate getting a 'clip round the ear' for letting his West Indian accent slip out in company.

Your language/dialect is a product of your environment.

Interesting. My nephew and niece go to an expensive public school. They and all their friends sound like they have all come out from Brixton until Mummy and Daddy turn up when they revert to the 2010 version of RP. In my very limited experience then (and believe me it is limited) it is a yoof thing and will disappear when the next street culture filters up to the middle classes.

There was a chap/chav on the Today programme a week or two ago talking about his dog in response to a report about dogs being used as attack weapons – as opposed to knives, guns etc. I had to go back to iPlayer and listen to it several times simply because I could not understand what he was saying. I don't know whether he was white, black, Asian or anything…. I just could not understand his banter! I guess it shows how removed I am from "real life" living and working in Suffolk! On the other hand, if one of the old Suffolk boys went down to Brixton, I expect they would be unable to understand him/her either.

sputnik – I am not religious, but when people say ' O my God ' it makes me feel very uncomfortable.

me too, and "for gods sake" and "thank god for that" what utterly stupid things to say 😯

EDIT; we might as well get a religious angle in the thread too, along with the racism… but don't mention the war 😉

Apropos of nothing,

I live in an area with a relatively high Asian population. With a few exceptions who think they're Tim Westwood, most speak English with a Lancashire accent. It's what I've grown up hearing and it sounds 'normal' to my ears.

I was in South Wales a few years ago, went into a corner shop and, true to stereotype, it was run by an Asian bloke. When he spoke he had a thick Valleys accent. It surprised me for a moment, because I was subconsciously expecting him to sound like me.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, other than I guess that accents are heavily influenced by environment. You speak like your family, your peers, your geography.

There's a difference, I think, between a natural accent and an affected one. I've no idea in the OP's case whether or not the lads were putting on an accent to sound 'cool,' but there's every chance that they speak like that because the people around them do also. Maybe.

TBH, I have a much bigger issue with people typing like retards.

when people say ' O my God ' it makes me feel very uncomfortable

"for gods sake" and "thank god for that" what utterly stupid things to say

Why, out of interest?

We say a lot of stupid things when you stop to think about it, the language is steeped in history. When was the last time anyone was actually 'hoisted by their own petard' for example?

Have you ever listened to Test Match Special when the West Indes are playing? Tony Cozier (like Michael Manley, the Jamaican ex prime minister) has white skin but the heaviest Carribean accent you will hear.

this has been going on for years. nearly all, white teenage subcultures are white kids emulating black ones.

i suggest you read some hebdige.

look, accents occur naturally, i've got a brummy twang, i don't put it on it just comes out, the same goes for scouse, geordie, scots, mancs, cockney, caribbean etc etc.

my point is that these goons are not speaking in there natural tongue, they're putting it on. i'm not saying it's right or wrong, i just find it laughable.

look, accents occur naturally, i've got a brummy twang, i don't put it on it just comes out

where did it come from. parents/ peers/ schooling a mixture. its not genetic that's for sure

thomthumb –
look, accents occur naturally, i've got a brummy twang, i don't put it on it just comes out

where did it come from. parents/ peers/ schooling a mixture. its not genetic that's for sure

ain't got a clue, good question that we should put to the stw experts. why do we have accents, not trendy put on ones but the everyday ones that everyone, young or old talk with?

My nephew and niece go to an expensive public school. They and all their friends sound like they have all come out from Brixton until Mummy and Daddy turn up when they revert to the 2010 version of RP.

I think you're just proving the point that ways of speaking are products of environment, aren't you? They're "code switching" to the environment and what image they want to convey: reet cool and street to their friends, water in Majorca to their parents. The question is which one is their "real" way of speaking – if there is one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching

ain't got a clue, good question that we should put to the stw experts. why do we have accents, not trendy put on ones but the everyday ones that everyone, young or old talk with?

It's a case of repeating what you hear… I guess you pick up an accent and a dialect as a kid really… that's why your accent can change if you move region when you're young but not so much as you get older..

If mockney gangster is how all the kids are speaking at school then that is how you will speak too..

s'all about da pickneys dem innit..

this has been going on for years. nearly all, white teenage subcultures are white kids emulating black ones.

i suggest you read some hebdige.

I don't know who or what 'hebdige' is, but there was a great quote in Glee along these lines the other week:

"She's black. I'm gay. We MAKE culture".

dick hebdige pretty much an authority on subculture. and a very interesting read. subculture or resistance through rituals would be a good place to start (the second being perhaps more relevant to this thread).

Language spreads by osmosis. It moves from a less dense to a more dense medium.

I thought that they did it because they wanted to sound ridiculous.

It's hilarious to hear da yoot dem here in Devon trying to sound young, black and disillusioned but occasionally drifting back into pirate 😆