After uni I worked a short while in a British Gas call centre, and later on the information desk outside the library at the National Maritime Museum. The dialect that kept stumping me was Glaswegian. Hadn't a clue what people were saying. Strangely I could follow Rab C Nesbitt on the tele, but when it came to real life I was reminded of scratching my head over an Oor Wullie comic book or Irvine Welsh novel. A bit embarrassing to say the least, particularly when someone was asking a question. I would have benefited from an exchange with someone in the British Gas Uddingston office, even a tutorial would have helped.

Now the steel toe capped boot is on the other foot, so to speak, and I'm the one who sometimes can't make himself understood (only in fast food restaurants for some reason). It doesn't help that when I invariably fail I begin to mumble, then stumble...my wife steps in when I reach the muttering stage.

Nowt wrong with a Yorkshire accent! I'm a Yorkshire lass and proud to be!

I'm going to adopt using Nowt again, see how much that confuses people

I honestly thought I had 'lost' or at least acclimatized my accent, but at the Dr's office on Monday, I was asked lots of questions, I asked the nurse, did you not get the paperwork I filled in? everything you are asking is in that? She said, oh yes, I have it right here, I just like listening to your accent!

I'm going to treat this with the utter contempt it deserves!

I reckon if you work on it, you can throw them into utter confusion!

I grew up in Hillbilly Co., Ohio and a lot of follks said "axe" instead of "ask." They also said "libary" instead of "library" and "lectrid" instead of "electric."

Question for all the Brits.

I basically grew up bilingual. In school, and sometimes at home too, I was taught how to speak proper dutch, but at home (most of the time) and in the streets I only spoke the regional/local dialect. I do know that I speak dutch with a regional accent. There's no mistake possible to tell where in the Netherlands I'm from when I speak proper dutch. But there's not a single person in Holland who would have even the slightest trouble understanding me.

How is that in the UK? I figure you all spoke the local or regional dialect in the streets, and probably at home too. But what where YOU taught at school? Was there any emphasis at speaking proper english? Did the teachers in school make any effort to get you to lose your (broad) accent?

Just curious. That's all.

I grew up in the NW, near Manchester, I don't think there is a 'broad' accent there? But I don't ever remember having any kind of lesson in school for 'elocution'

Toon, how different is your regional dialect from 'proper Dutch'? Is it as different as Swiss German from High German? I don't think there is so much regional dialect in Britain. Accents, yes, and expressions, which would not be suitable for written English in school.

No, we certainly didn't have anything like that, however I think it was quite common in the Grammar and Private schools at one time (not sure about now).

When we moved from Yorkshire to Milton Keynes the school arranged for my daughter to have elecution lessons, as she couldn't say L, she would say yemon instead of lemon. They were curbing her Yorkshire accent at the same time.

Everytime I went to the school, someone would ask me to say 'bath' 'cos its so funny.

Just proves you don't have to move far for people to take the p out of your accent

Probably, yes. I think most dutch people, especially those that grew up in the central and northern provinces would have an incredible hard time understanding me if I were to speak my dialect. They might get the gist of what I'm talking about, but there are simply too many different words to get it all.
And then there's the fact that we just murder the "proper" pronunciation. We give it such a twist that words might sound completely different, even though it's basically the same word as in dutch.

There was no effort made to teach RP in our school. However, one should bear in mind that, in England at that time, it could be problematic to consider dialect separately from class. So, for example, attempting to learn RP might be regarded as getting above oneself, even by teachers. As such, it would be discouraged.

Who was the BBC News presenter, black gal, no spring chicken back in the late 80s/early 90s that sounded more posh than HM?

A bit overdone I always thought.

Moira Stewart?

Guer-i-yas