THE BATTLE OF THE BROGUES | "Yea but no but, yea but no but..." | Vicky Pollard, Little Britain | Does the West Country lilt send you weak at the knees or do you find yourself rushing to cover your ears? | TAKE PART IN OUR ONLINE VOTE |
We all speak with an accent whether we like it or not, and some accents have traditionally carried more sex appeal than others. So does the West Country lilt send you weak at the knees or do you find yourself rushing to cover your ears? Inside Out puts our accent's sex appeal to the test. Love it or loathe it the West Country accent is highly distinct, instantly
recognisable and in the past has been used to portray some unfortunate
television characters. Little Britain's "yea but no but聟", Vicky Pollard does little to add sex appeal to the accent, whilst many sketch shows rely on the West Country tones to portray an array of "local yokels". "We've got our tractors and we drink cider," remarks one West Country lady. "I suspect if you were to speak like Vicky Pollard, you'd be classed dumb, lower-class and not very intelligent," suggest another member of the public. True to your roots | "It's not just a case of throwing away your accent - it's throwing away your roots." | Colin Pillinger |
Many members of the West Country public voiced similar fears that a strong accent will lead to discrimination, yet space scientist Colin Pillinger disagrees. "It's not just a case of throwing away your accent - it's throwing away your roots. "Science people are only interested in what you say, not how you say it." Not all West Country success stories agree. Author Derek Robinson who has made his career writing about the West Country accent ironically chose to lose his own. "Unless you're planning to discover whether there's life on Mars, drop the West Country accent straight away," he advises. "It may sound hypocritical, but it works." But will an accent really hinder your prospects? Inside Out puts the West Country accent to the eligibility test. Best in the WestSet in the West, 成人快手 drama Casualty is no stranger to the West Country
accent. So Inside Out invites actor James Redmond, who plays psychiatric nurse Abs in the series, to help conduct an experiment. | Gary Owston gives James some pointers to speaking posh |
James prepares to pit the West Country lilt against the home counties chirp to discover which accent holds the greatest appeal to the opposite sex. Brought up in Bristol, actor James has already perfected the West Country tones, but in order to speak "The Queen's English" as well as Her Majesty, James enlists the services of The Bristol Old Vic. Gary Owston is a specialist in teaching accents to students at the Old Vic Theatre School and sets to work on James' RP. "You do have to practise, it's not something you can think about,"
explains Gary. With a selection of rhymes designed to help James annunciate those all important vowels, James leaves the Old Vic with the ability - he hopes - to pass himself off as "posh". Blind-folded dateWith his own West Country accent and his newly perfected received pronunciation, James is pitting the accents head to head by speed dating with a difference. | Which accent will the blind-folded women prefer? |
Whilst there are 12 women taking part, there is only one man - or two if you count the accents. Will the six blind-folded women who meet West Country James rate him as highly as the six who meet posh James? The women meet James one at a time and all ask the same set of questions. To the first six women, James replies in his West Country brogue, to the second group - in his RP voice. The women are asked to rate their date with marks out of 10. West to the testDespite giving identical answers, the women respond quite differently to the two accents. In his West Country accent, one woman doubted he had had many dates before. "He seemed sort of friendly, but I don't think he's dated many people." | 12 blind date women, but only one man... |
"The Bristolian accent put me off a bit," admits another. And his suspected profession? According to one woman, "a plumber or a workman of some kind." Power of poshIt is a bit of a different story when it comes to "posh James". "He sounded quite well spoken, quite well dressed and quite wealthy." And this is reflected in the overall scores. Whilst the West Country James receives a score of 35 out of 60, posh James is the winner with 42 out of 60. Not the most scientific experiment admittedly but has it altered James' mind about his accent? "I think I'll keep my West Country accent for Casualty, but in other circumstances, I may just use the posh one聟" VoicesThe 成人快手 is carrying out a huge survey of how we speak called Voices. If you'd like to get involved click on the website or call our freephone number 0800 056 6787 for more information about how you can become part of history. |