N1cky

I have come across 1 person who says I sound posh, I think people in LA are just rude though and can understand me but choose to be picky

Where in Yorkshire are you from Zargof? I have the misfortune to have a Wakefield accent, probably one of the worse around

helwardman

A Wakefield accent is pretty grim
My accent is a mixture of Dewsbury and South Cumbria and people over here have a hard time believing I come from anywhere other than Scotland or Australia

cindyabs

Occasionally, I've been asked here where we-meaning DH AND I are from. I can understand why they would ask about him, but me, er not so much.

Anyway, I answer, he's from old England and I'm from New England.

tamms_1965

We tell people DH is from Kentucky.

Dewey

A former neighbour in Greenwich was a well spoken middle class young man from Jamaica and he used Axe (ask) and Flim (film), I learned such words come from Jamaican Patois and are used by speakers of Jamaican Standard English (although he was discouraged by his parents who thought it low class). In contrast a Trinidadian friend now living in CA speaks perfect RP (with a very sexy baritone) and uses no Patois, so this must be a Jamaican thing. There are significant Jamaican expat communities in Miami, New York City, Toronto, Hartford, & here in Washington, D.C, so it makes sense some African-Americans pick up and adopt Patois words.

helwardman

There's quite a bit of "axe for ask" type stuff going on here in South Louisiana.
Some of the broad Cajun accents can be pretty difficult to understand.

When I was working offshore earlier this year, a guy on the platform listened to me talk to someone else for a while then asked me if I was from "up north". I think he meant New York rather than Yorkshire.

cindyabs

LOLOLOLOL!!

Dewey

Googlin' it appears axe is in fact used in Trinidad Patois. One site suggests it's used in Scouse dialect so maybe it has a much older etymology, perhaps brought to the Caribbean by Liverpudlians and from there via the South into African American vernacular English?

chartreuse

Yes, also St Lucia etc. Not an indicator of social class or education.

This reminds me of a time, a year or two ago, when I was in a pub in Hammersmith. I'd stepped outside for a smoke and saw this young, white kid walk up to another smoker and ask for a cigarette - in a cod "black gangsta" accent.

The man replied "That depends, why are you talking like a n****r?", then looked up to see about 15 to 20 black people walking past!

cindyabs

Except- I had a friend from LA born and bred, who was white and used axe.......

Also oysters is another one, she used to pronouce it oys churs.

Dewey

This etymology dictionary suggests ax for ask was a common dialect variation in old/middle English, so maybe it's another example of where some American's have kept older versions of words than we have.

cindyabs

I thik that's true, it's just survived more in some areas more than others. Goodness knows we have some funny old expressions back home.

zargof

I'm from East Yorkshire, Driffield, a small town about halfway between York and Hell... err... I mean Hull. There are times I've regretted leaving Blighty, but I've never regretted leaving Driffield.

chartreuse

I think I've been to Driffield. Pub called the White Horse, gas-lamps, live music?

Bill_S

Yep, a lot of islanders in Toronto. Years ago I worked with a guy from Trinidad (he pronounced it Trin'dad) When he wanted to mess with you he'd switch to an island patois that was undecipherable.