 An accent is a snapshot of a person's history but not everyone sees them positively, with one in four people saying the way they speak has been mocked at work. Northerners and Midlanders bear the brunt of the ribbing, and received pronunciation – the 'standard' form – is seen as the most prestigious way to talk, according to the Sutton Trust poll. Here, our writers reveal how they feel about their own distinctive regional twangs... Clare Fitzsimons, South Tyneside With parents from South Tyneside but growing up in a pit village in the middle of County Durham, not far from Middlesbrough, my accent has always been something of a mish-mash. To the untrained ear, maybe Geordie. To a Geordie, perhaps Mackem? To a Smoggie (that's Boro to those who don't know), could be slightly posher Durham? The reality is that it's all of the above but, as I soon discovered after moving to London 20 years ago, to most people it's very simply just 'Northern'. Clare Fitzsimons says her accent has always been something of a mish-mash ( Collect) Or for those who've occasionally ventured beyond the Watford Gap, 'north-eastern'. I've lost count of the amount of words, phrases or pronunciations I've come out with that have been met with a smirk, a frown of utter confusion or, fairly regularly, a guffaw. A random conversation involving garden gnomes for instance. Apparently to southern ears this sounds like 'norms'. It turned into such a standing joke I now have a decent-sized (though not actually wanted) collection of gnomes, despite not even having a window box, let alone a garden. I constantly joke that after 20 years you'd think my accent would have got less strong, yet it never has. Though I have learned){kind=link}
Mirror staff share their experiences of being mocked for their accents after a Sutton Trust poll found that one in four people have been seen in a negative light at work because of the way they speak
An accent is a snapshot of a person’s history but not everyone sees them positively, with one in four people saying the way they speak has been mocked at work.
Northerners and Midlanders bear the brunt of the ribbing, and received pronunciation â the “standard” form â is seen as the most prestigious way to talk, according to the Sutton Trust poll.
Here, our writers reveal how they feel about their own distinctive regional twangs…
With parents from South Tyneside but growing up in a pit village in the middle of County Durham, not far from Middlesbrough, my accent has always been something of a mish-mash.