Scottish Accents/ Dialects

[johnnydun]

29 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

I remember my best pal when I was wee was a lassie whose family were Shetlanders.  She was born in Elgin but fucked off up to Shetland for a year when she was about 8 or something and came back speaking about weird words for apples (pirry montes or somesuch?) and the likes.

We also had Desmond Ward who arrived from Lerwick in second year at high school.  The only c**t that could understand him was Keith Plant, and Australian. 

I read that as "when I was a wee lassie". 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

3 minutes ago, johnnydun said:

I read that as "when I was a wee lassie". 

Pervert.

[Zetterlund]

1 hour ago, invergowrie arab said:

The High was it? That explains everything

No sir, #johnnies boy here.

[LongTimeLurker]

13 hours ago, Aim Here said:

It's not that big. The distances you're talking about are maybe, what, 15-20 miles (about as far apart as Edinburgh and Livingston), ...

Much the same as Alloa, Falkirk and Stirling that have distinctive accents in the central belt as people have explained elsewhere in the thread. If you went back 50 to 100 years a lot of people would not have travelled that distance very often, so accents could easily be very localised. In the present day that is fading and accents like the Glasgow one have become dominant over a larger area than previously.

[scottmcleanscontacts]

People from the east of Scotland speak like children, often at a pitch discernible only to dogs. And that frightful inflection.
Still makes me wince every time I'm at Tynecastle and hear someone describe a pass or tackle etc as 'shokahn'. Speak properly, please.
People from west central Scotland do not have accents. We just pronounce words properly.
 

Not entirely true but completely understand what you are getting at. I think it's more prevalent probably in parts of Fife, Edinburgh and even places like Falkirk - even though one wouldn't normally associate Falkirk as being in the east.
Any further north than Fife that accent generally starts to disappear though.

[H Wragg]

Mrs Mathematics' maw has that weird "err" sounds for some words. Staring up the stair is sterring up the sterr.

That's common for those of an Irish Catholic descent, if she fits that bill?

This isn't all to do with Scottish accents, but worth a wee listen. I've been in Stonehaven a few times en route to Pittodrie, but this was the the first time I learnt that's it's known as 'Steenhive'.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07rgybq

[mathematics]

10 minutes ago, H Wragg said:

That's common for those of an Irish Catholic descent, if she fits that bill?

This isn't all to do with Scottish accents, but worth a wee listen. I've been in Stonehaven a few times en route to Pittodrie, but this was the the first time I learnt that's it's known as 'Steenhive'.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07rgybq

Catholic, yes. Not sure about the Irish but though, I think she’s half french.

[BillyAnchor]

13 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Much the same as Alloa, Falkirk and Stirling that have distinctive accents in the central belt as people have explained elsewhere in the thread. If you went back 50 to 100 years a lot of people would not have travelled that distance very often, so accents could easily be very localised. In the present day that is fading and accents like the Glasgow one have become dominant over a larger area than previously.

Makes sense on so many levels.

[milton75]

On 27/01/2020 at 12:28, Hedgecutter said:

Despite there being loads of Scottish presenters, I think Storm Huntley might have the only Weegie accent heard outside of Scotland these days, and even then it's limited to a tiny part of Channel 5 daytime TV. 

Otherwise, only East of Scotland type accents are tolerated outside of Pacific Quay. Speaks volumes. 

This seems a bizarre suggestion as I had always been aware that there was a general grievance in other parts of Scotland that media affairs from the country were so heavily skewed to the West, and the perception I was given was that the rest of the country was badly under-represented in terms of exposure. Is that wrong?

I can't speak for TV presenters as I can't think of a massive amount of Scottish ones on the wider BBC etc., but in terms of actors all most of the Scottish ones I can think of come from Glasgow and surrounding towns. Sean Connery and Ken Stott are the only famous Edinburgh actors that spring to mind.

A pal from Dundee claims this is because the acting/drama schools are in Glasgow, so when kids are sent to them even if they start with a different accent they end up adopting some West Coast one. No idea if this is true or not though, as I don't know where drama schools are.

[Hedgecutter]

42 minutes ago, milton75 said:

I can't speak for TV presenters as I can't think of a massive amount of Scottish ones on the wider BBC etc., but in terms of actors all most of the Scottish ones I can think of come from Glasgow and surrounding towns. Sean Connery and Ken Stott are the only famous Edinburgh actors that spring to mind.

Unless it's low-budget Scottish films that feature the usual recycled cast of  Peter Mullan et al., they'll have a false (probably Americanised) accent, hence you'll rarely hear any Glaswegian accent, other than perhaps Billy Connolly who was well known before any film career.

Rattling off the Scottish presenters allowed to speak outside of Scotland that I can think of:    Andrew Neil, Carol Kirkwood, Kaye Adams, Hazel Irvine, Sarah Smith, Kirsty Young, Jill Douglas... none of which have anything resembling a West Coast accent that is largely limited to BBC Scotland, based in Glasgow.  This could be why:

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/8675120/Glaswegian-and-Brummie-accents-sound-more-stupid.html

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/2188857/glasgow-accent-least-sexiest-irish-accent-sexiest-on-british-isles/

 

A TV exception I can think of is Lorraine Kelly, who just recently told us this of course:

Quote

“I had been working as a researcher at BBC Scotland and been told by the big boss that I would never make it in TV because of my Glasgow accent"

https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/lorraine-kelly-i-was-told-i-couldn-t-make-it-in-tv-due-to-glaswegian-accent-1-5012596

Edited February 3, 2020 by Hedgecutter

[johnnydun]

On 02/02/2020 at 20:34, H Wragg said:

That's common for those of an Irish Catholic descent, if she fits that bill?

This isn't all to do with Scottish accents, but worth a wee listen. I've been in Stonehaven a few times en route to Pittodrie, but this was the the first time I learnt that's it's known as 'Steenhive'.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07rgybq

The locals call it Stoney, pronounced Ston-nay.

Edited February 3, 2020 by johnnydun

[The_Kincardine]

On 30/01/2020 at 23:05, Theroadlesstravelled said:

Regional accents are a form of class warfare in the UK. Speak in a Scottish accent in places in England and they'll immediately think you're a thick Jock bumpkin looking for a hand out at the job centre. 

Not sure how I missed this post of shame but what a rid neck.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

On 01/02/2020 at 13:41, Zetterlund said:

 

Is the Swallow Circle acceptable?

Probably at Dundee High FP rugby club drinking sessions.

[Ylf]

People from the east of Scotland speak like children, often at a pitch discernible only to dogs. And that frightful inflection.
Still makes me wince every time I'm at Tynecastle and hear someone describe a pass or tackle etc as 'shokahn'. Speak properly, please.
People from west central Scotland do not have accents. We just pronounce words properly.
 

lol

[effeffsee_the2nd]

The thing you have to remember is that the older generation were simply not allowed to speak in their childhood acquired accent on tv and radio, thats a new thing. Last year my partner met up with a woman around 60 who had been on radio scotland a few times and had had a career in media, she sounded exactly like kay adams despite coming from a council flat in renfrew, furthermore normal people from grangemouth don’t sound like Kay Adams either . That is a learned accent

[Hedgecutter]

14 hours ago, The_Kincardine said:

Not sure how I missed this post of shame but what a rid neck.

Tbf to him, a link I posted just a couple of posts before yours says "People from Glasgow & Birmingham are wrongly judged to be less intelligent and capable because of their accents, researchers have found".

He evidently has a point, regarding the 'thick' bit at least.

[Boostin' Kev]

I can't bring myself to listen to anyone further west than Linlithgow. 

[The Moonster]

I was down at my girlfriends parents house at the weekend, in Irvine, so I had my usual deciphering to do as the conversation was going on. At one point Richard Ayoade pops up on the telly and the conversation went:

Her dad: "I don't like him"

Her mum: "Who?"

Her dad: "That dorkie wae the glesses"

In case you're wondering, "dorkie" is not an innocent term for a "dork" or "geek" and her dad is a massive racist.

[deadasdillinger]

So thanks to P&B, I've known for a while that Dundonians are weirdos who call roundabouts "circles"

But this week on holiday in Piperdam, just outside Dundee, I heard a new one...

Was buying the wee man pancakes from the Asda cafe when the girl serving asked "Do you want me to cozy the pancakes?"

Naturally, I looked at her like she had two heads and said "What?", at which point her and her colleague repeated: "Cozy them. Cozy the pancakes."

Apparently it means warm them up. 

Is this another weirdo Dundee thing?

[Eednud]

21 minutes ago, deadasdillinger said:

Cozy them. Cozy the pancakes."

To which you should have responded “Cozy. Fanta, 2 tea”.      Eh’ll get meh coat.