Rich Accent vs Chav

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Finshaggy

Finshaggy

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I was talking to someone from the UK the other day and we had a kind of weird discussion. The difference between British accents, now I know their are tens or even hundreds of different dialects of UK English, but we discussed what can be called the "Main two", and that is "The accent of the upper class, or people who pretend to not be lower class" and "Chav". Chav is more like when they're like "Oi, yeew betuh get on wif it." and the rich accent is where they are like "Did you enjoy your biscuts?" "Quite". So more like the Harvard joke voice. But the point we got down to in this discussion is "What accent do American's prefer?" and the person for the UK was surprised to hear that American's would RATHER talk to a chav. Not necessarily the ones that talk so horribly you can't understand, but as an example, American's would rather hear the accent of Russel Brand VS Daniel Radcliff. The higher class accents really just have more chance of being made fun of when the person leaves, because American's will joke around by saying "Quite" and "Indubitably" and things like that.
 
Moebius

Moebius

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On my trip to the states people kept asking me to say things. Evidently amused by the pronunciations of an articulate Englishman. ... I proper 'hammed' it up for them. and derived much enjoyment from the attention. ;-)

Silly I know.

As far as American accents go; On a chick I like the brooklyn accent or a southern belle type accent sounds rather nice to the ear.
 
Granny weed

Granny weed

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Finshaggy said:
I was talking to someone from the UK the other day and we had a kind of weird discussion. The difference between British accents, now I know their are tens or even hundreds of different dialects of UK English, but we discussed what can be called the "Main two", and that is "The accent of the upper class, or people who pretend to not be lower class" and "Chav". Chav is more like when they're like "Oi, yeew betuh get on wif it." and the rich accent is where they are like "Did you enjoy your biscuts?" "Quite". So more like the Harvard joke voice. But the point we got down to in this discussion is "What accent do American's prefer?" and the person for the UK was surprised to hear that American's would RATHER talk to a chav. Not necessarily the ones that talk so horribly you can't understand, but as an example, American's would rather hear the accent of Russel Brand VS Daniel Radcliff. The higher class accents really just have more chance of being made fun of when the person leaves, because American's will joke around by saying "Quite" and "Indubitably" and things like that.[/QUOTE
Well i'm from the UK and I don't speak like either of the accents you describe, the chav language as you call it is spoken by ignorant people who have been poorly educated or who are white and think they are black we have a lot of those types over here. As for the second accent we refer to that as posh language, spoken by the very educated such as doctors or lawyers. Then theirs the way the majority of the UK speak like I do not posh not chav just normal! Then you have all the different accents such as cockneys, brummies, scousers jocks, geordies the list is endless and of course the UK is also full of people from other countries now so we have quite an assortment.:o
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Moebius

Moebius

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Another funny thing is how quick the English will drop Americanisms when visiting the states and re-adopt their colloquialisms.

For instance; In England they'll be using words like 'YO' and 'Wassup dude' but when in America they'll say' How do you do?' and 'Good Afternoon' with perfect diction.

It can go the other way, a British plummy voice can attract the wrong type of attention too.
 
Moebius

Moebius

Well-Known Member
Granny weed said:
Finshaggy said:
I was talking to someone from the UK the other day and we had a kind of weird discussion. The difference between British accents, now I know their are tens or even hundreds of different dialects of UK English, but we discussed what can be called the "Main two", and that is "The accent of the upper class, or people who pretend to not be lower class" and "Chav". Chav is more like when they're like "Oi, yeew betuh get on wif it." and the rich accent is where they are like "Did you enjoy your biscuts?" "Quite". So more like the Harvard joke voice. But the point we got down to in this discussion is "What accent do American's prefer?" and the person for the UK was surprised to hear that American's would RATHER talk to a chav. Not necessarily the ones that talk so horribly you can't understand, but as an example, American's would rather hear the accent of Russel Brand VS Daniel Radcliff. The higher class accents really just have more chance of being made fun of when the person leaves, because American's will joke around by saying "Quite" and "Indubitably" and things like that.[/QUOTE
Well i'm from the UK and I don't speak like either of the accents you describe, the chav language as you call it is spoken by ignorant people who have been poorly educated or who are white and think they are black we have a lot of those types over here. As for the second accent we refer to that as posh language, spoken by the very educated such as doctors or lawyers. Then theirs the way the majority of the UK speak like I do not posh not chav just normal! Then you have all the different accents such as cockneys, brummies, scousers jocks, geordies the list is endless and of course the UK is also full of people from other countries now so we have quite an assortment.:o
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Before calling 'Chavs' uneducated and ignorant, you should pay more attention to your own grammar, spelling and punctuation. It has totally undermined your point.

As for white people thinking they're black, that's absurd and ignorant. ... and literally untrue.
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Finshaggy

Finshaggy

Well-Known Member
Moebius said:
On my trip to the states people kept asking me to say things. Evidently amused by the pronunciations of an articulate Englishman. ... I proper 'hammed' it up for them. and derived much enjoyment from the attention. ;-)

Silly I know.

As far as American accents go; On a chick I like the brooklyn accent or a southern belle type accent sounds rather nice to the ear.
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Now that would be an exception. If you were the one saying the funny things in your accent, then it wouldn't be bad talking behind your back, just repeating what you said :)
 
Finshaggy

Finshaggy

Well-Known Member
Moebius said:
Another funny thing is how quick the English will drop Americanisms when visiting the states and re-adopt their colloquialisms.

For instance; In England they'll be using words like 'YO' and 'Wassup dude' but when in America they'll say' How do you do?' and 'Good Afternoon' with perfect diction.

It can go the other way, a British plummy voice can attract the wrong type of attention too.
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That happens anytime cultures clash :lol:
 
Finshaggy

Finshaggy

Well-Known Member
Moebius said:
Before calling 'Chavs' uneducated and ignorant, you should pay more attention to your own grammar, spelling and punctuation. It has totally undermined your point.

As for white people thinking they're black, that's absurd and ignorant. ... and literally untrue.
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Agreed. I'd imagine "Chav" is like the difference between the Louisiana Platantion lady accent, like the girls in the fluffy dresses VS the Bayou people who live on shrimp and alligator. It's not about education, it's about how relaxed your role in society was as you were brought up.
 
Moebius

Moebius

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Finshaggy said:
That happens anytime cultures clash :lol:
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NO .. I'm not talking about culture. Theyre very similar anyhow.

I mean, if you sound like Carlton from 'the fresh prince of bel-air' and you're in the wrong neighorhood, well ........


edit:

Carlton wasn't English was he? .. It was Geoffrey 'The butler'. lol
 
Moebius

Moebius

Well-Known Member
Finshaggy said:
Agreed. I'd imagine "Chav" is like the difference between the Louisiana Platantion lady accent, like the girls in the fluffy dresses VS the Bayou people who live on shrimp and alligator. It's not about education, it's about how relaxed your role in society was as you were brought up.
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Precisely.

so when I hear 'Granny weed' characterize a group of people like that, it urks me a tad.
 
Finshaggy

Finshaggy

Well-Known Member
Moebius said:
NO .. I'm not talking about culture. Theyre very similar anyhow.

I'm mean, if you sound like Carlton from 'the fresh prince of bel-air' and you're in the wrong neighorhood, well ........
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Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And by culture I meant like American and UK clashing, it's kinda like White & Black or White & Mexican clashing. Like, I've seen a Mexican in California with tats all over, turn on some girly techno because he was in a room full of white kids. If it would have just been me and him, we would have listened to rap. It's just a weird thing that happens when cultures clash. It's either based on what you are taught when you are raised, or what the media shows you... But for some reason everyone has cultures they do weird things for.
 
Finshaggy

Finshaggy

Well-Known Member
Moebius said:
Precisely.

so when I hear 'Granny weed' characterize a group of people like that, it urks me a tad.
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It's just because when people with money look at people with less money they don't understand why the person can't get more money themselves. But it doesn't always just work like that. Money isn't just available to everyone, but everyone doesn't realize that.
 
lahadaextranjera

lahadaextranjera

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Oh golly! I say! I do believe that the foreign ear is more receptive to the Oxford English accent as opposed to Essex Chav. Look up TOWIE on YouTube for a perfect example of a Chav!
 
Finshaggy

Finshaggy

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There are some places you just can't go though. I've been in a neighborhood where I got robbed just for looking for weed to buy, and they said they thought I was an undercover cop. But then I went back to the same neighborhood with 2 black people, one from the neighborhood one not, and they sold us weed. But the whole time I felt like the dude was going to pull a gun on me, and I could hardly understand a word he was saying, and I'm usually the black-white translator if need be (not like a straight up translator, just like when the white person looks confused be like "It means reggie" and hearing through mumbles and stuff like that)
 
Dr. Greenhorn

Dr. Greenhorn

Well-Known Member
Finshaggy said:
There are some places you just can't go though. I've been in a neighborhood where I got robbed just for looking for weed to buy, and they said they thought I was an undercover cop. But then I went back to the same neighborhood with 2 black people, one from the neighborhood one not, and they sold us weed. But the whole time I felt like the dude was going to pull a gun on me, and I could hardly understand a word he was saying, and I'm usually the black-white translator if need be (not like a straight up translator, just like when the white person looks confused be like "It means reggie" and stuff like that)
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:lol:......
 
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