Scouse accent. Is it a bit exaggerated?
Discussion
A simple observation and theory really, but when you look at old clips of the Beatles talking for example, all of them seem to talk in a Lancashire - like drawl.
Fast forward twenty years to Brookside and we have full on scouse - a term I'd never heard of before Brookie. Has it always been there, or has it kind of evolved over a short time?
I was in the Lake District recently and I got talking to someone who lived in Liverpool for years and he tended to agree with me when I put this to him.
Discuss.
Yours, a midlander.
Fast forward twenty years to Brookside and we have full on scouse - a term I'd never heard of before Brookie. Has it always been there, or has it kind of evolved over a short time?
I was in the Lake District recently and I got talking to someone who lived in Liverpool for years and he tended to agree with me when I put this to him.
Discuss.
Yours, a midlander.
and I think certainly exaggerated to some degree in recent years much like mockney / cockney.My dad is from Liverpool and has no "Scouse" accent at all, though he moved to Surrey when he was 9 and has lived in the SE since then.
But then, I've never actually been to Liverpool to hear it first hand, but I've never met anyone who has such a thick accent that it is not understandable to my rich, deep, Sussex-bred ears.
Surely most of it is all to do more with the colloquialisms and dialect specific to the area, more than then actual accent itself?
But then, I've never actually been to Liverpool to hear it first hand, but I've never met anyone who has such a thick accent that it is not understandable to my rich, deep, Sussex-bred ears.
Surely most of it is all to do more with the colloquialisms and dialect specific to the area, more than then actual accent itself?
Shakermaker said:
My dad is from Liverpool and has no "Scouse" accent at all, though he moved to Surrey when he was 9 and has lived in the SE since then.
But then, I've never actually been to Liverpool to hear it first hand, but I've never met anyone who has such a thick accent that it is not understandable to my rich, deep, Sussex-bred ears.
Surely most of it is all to do more with the colloquialisms and dialect specific to the area, more than then actual accent itself?
The propensity for in-breading doesn't help with the enunciation, though.But then, I've never actually been to Liverpool to hear it first hand, but I've never met anyone who has such a thick accent that it is not understandable to my rich, deep, Sussex-bred ears.
Surely most of it is all to do more with the colloquialisms and dialect specific to the area, more than then actual accent itself?
Depends on the area of Liverpool I suppose. I have lived on The Wirral for around 20 years and there is an accent over here (typically referred to as posh scouse), but if you go to the rougher less affluent areas the accent is as harsh as you'd find in the deepest estates of Liverpool.
Im sure there is some socio-economic reason for poorer areas having more noticable accents but I dont know it. Perhaps its a just a group echo chamber kind of thing where it gets harsher and harsher dependant on company. I know when Im surrounded by scousers my accent harshes up a little.
The only time I ever hear a super deep accent is from a dense bird, a thick as f
k scally lad, or from a group of pissed up people.
Im sure there is some socio-economic reason for poorer areas having more noticable accents but I dont know it. Perhaps its a just a group echo chamber kind of thing where it gets harsher and harsher dependant on company. I know when Im surrounded by scousers my accent harshes up a little.
The only time I ever hear a super deep accent is from a dense bird, a thick as f
k scally lad, or from a group of pissed up people.Edited by Falsey on Tuesday 20th September 11:15
Falsey said:
Depends on the area of Liverpool I suppose. I have lived on The Wirral for around 20 years and there is an accent over here (typically referred to as posh scouse), but if you go to the rougher less affluent areas the accent is as harsh as you'd find in the deepest estates of Liverpool.
Im sure there is some socio-economic reason for poorer areas having more noticable accents but I dont know it. Perhaps its a just a group echo chamber kind of thing where it gets harsher and harsher dependant on company. I know when Im surrounded by scousers my accent harshes up a little.
Good answer. Im sure there is some socio-economic reason for poorer areas having more noticable accents but I dont know it. Perhaps its a just a group echo chamber kind of thing where it gets harsher and harsher dependant on company. I know when Im surrounded by scousers my accent harshes up a little.
Scouse is definitely spreading, or at least the cod, plastic scouse is. I'm originally from Widnes and twenty years ago the woolyback accent was dominant. Now it's brookside-scouse everywhere. Mind you, Joey Barton also has a combined curry house and champagne lounge in Widnes, so I've no idea what's going on there.
Falsey said:
Sensible stuff.
Pretty much bob on there. Edited by Falsey on Tuesday 20th September 11:15
Having grown up in one of said s
thole areas, I can wholeheartedly agree. I have friends back there who I struggle to understand (I moved away in the early 1990's). You find it pretty much everywhere that the strongest accents tend to be from the more deprived areas, Lack of travel and speaking to people with different accents probably causes a spiral of scallyness to occur.John and Paul were from the nicer areas of the city and did all the talking for years.
I'm saddened that Widnes has been losing it's accent. Runcorn will be next.
I still love the place, but I'm always happy to get back to the shires.
Falsey said:
Depends on the area of Liverpool I suppose. I have lived on The Wirral for around 20 years and there is an accent over here (typically referred to as posh scouse), but if you go to the rougher less affluent areas the accent is as harsh as you'd find in the deepest estates of Liverpool.
Im sure there is some socio-economic reason for poorer areas having more noticable accents but I dont know it. Perhaps its a just a group echo chamber kind of thing where it gets harsher and harsher dependant on company. I know when Im surrounded by scousers my accent harshes up a little.
The only time I ever hear a super deep accent is from a dense bird, a thick as fk scally lad, or from a group of pissed up people.
My understanding (I read/heard this somewhere, I am not an authority on these things) is that in the distant past there was a Scouse-light accent (which is what you hear the Beatles talking) and a super-Scouse accent, which has taken over. Im sure there is some socio-economic reason for poorer areas having more noticable accents but I dont know it. Perhaps its a just a group echo chamber kind of thing where it gets harsher and harsher dependant on company. I know when Im surrounded by scousers my accent harshes up a little.
The only time I ever hear a super deep accent is from a dense bird, a thick as f
k scally lad, or from a group of pissed up people.These broadly corresponded to the indigenous protestant population (Scouse-Light), and the Irish descended/influenced population (Super-Scouse).
In the same way that Estuary English has triumphed over some rural South-Eastern accents, Super-Scouse beat Scouse-Light.
In a word - mostly.
I'm from Liverpool and have a lot of family in different areas within. When I hear people on TV who are talking in harsh, over exaggerated Scouse I wince. I can't stand it, it just isn't necessary but the accent is infectious. When I'm with my 'more Scouse' family my accent changes unknowingly.
I grew up in what was a fairly nice area and it was only really the scallys (people who thought they were tough and caused trouble) who spoke with a harsh accent. I always thought this was because people in the real working class areas, who had to be tough to get on with life, had an accent like this. So they aspired to be 'tough' even though they were brought up well in, a nice area, nice house etc. and the accent made them feel this way I guess however they spoke in an even harsher way than what they were trying to copy - probably trying to prove they were really tough... Of course their scally mates followed them on this path.
I think this aspiration caught on in surrounding areas and has become more of the 'norm'. Living on the Wirral now I see young kids, from very nice areas, trying to speak Scouse - they can't quite do it which makes it even worse but why are they doing it? Because they want to appear 'tough' when talking?
On top of that once more money started coming into the city people started moving. People who were in the poorer areas moved into the slightly nicer areas with their accents and because it is an infectious accent over the years it has just caught on more and more, especially with the next generations.
I do the love the dialect though, we have a great words and sayings. Anyone from Liverpool is proud to be from there, and rightly so, so perhaps that is what may take it up a notch when they are speaking to non-Liverpudlians or when they are on TV? Just to prove they are a real Scouser.
I'm from Liverpool and have a lot of family in different areas within. When I hear people on TV who are talking in harsh, over exaggerated Scouse I wince. I can't stand it, it just isn't necessary but the accent is infectious. When I'm with my 'more Scouse' family my accent changes unknowingly.
I grew up in what was a fairly nice area and it was only really the scallys (people who thought they were tough and caused trouble) who spoke with a harsh accent. I always thought this was because people in the real working class areas, who had to be tough to get on with life, had an accent like this. So they aspired to be 'tough' even though they were brought up well in, a nice area, nice house etc. and the accent made them feel this way I guess however they spoke in an even harsher way than what they were trying to copy - probably trying to prove they were really tough... Of course their scally mates followed them on this path.
I think this aspiration caught on in surrounding areas and has become more of the 'norm'. Living on the Wirral now I see young kids, from very nice areas, trying to speak Scouse - they can't quite do it which makes it even worse but why are they doing it? Because they want to appear 'tough' when talking?
On top of that once more money started coming into the city people started moving. People who were in the poorer areas moved into the slightly nicer areas with their accents and because it is an infectious accent over the years it has just caught on more and more, especially with the next generations.
I do the love the dialect though, we have a great words and sayings. Anyone from Liverpool is proud to be from there, and rightly so, so perhaps that is what may take it up a notch when they are speaking to non-Liverpudlians or when they are on TV? Just to prove they are a real Scouser.
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