Do accents, twangs or little things said by people from different areas grind your gears like they do mine?

[Cockneycarl]

I love people from all walks of life as diversity and difference is the spice of life, but i can't for the life of me ever get to grips with the way country folk talk, the way they say "Summat" instead of something, the way they say "T" instead of The and yesterday i was standing in trafalgar square and actually heard someone say with a slow drawl "we had the BESTEST time didn't we" ARRGH! "Bestest"? I actually asked him where he was from and he told me and i thought i will seriously avoid ever going to that place if they all talk like that, lol.
What accent or the way people talk from the uk really enrages you?

[gazzawazza]

I really can't stand the scouse accent, whereas a mate of mine thinks it's the sexiest in the world! Hate the geordie accent, don't like cockney or estuary English.
I do like Irish accents and cornish/south-west accents, and I also like to hear people speak when they pronounce their words so well, like Richard E Grant, but I hate really plummy, posh, ok, yaa accents.
When I was young my own accent used to be quite a thick, Middlesbrough accent which to outsiders sounds really common. Yet even though I only moved a few miles I know it has become quite different, sort of watered down over the years to a more non-descript accent (which is still recognisable as being from the North-east if you know what I mean!)

[naomi24]

It’s difficult to change the way we’re taught to speak and swapping ‘f’ for ‘th’’ – as in ‘fort’ for ‘thought’ has to be one of the most difficult aspects of speech to remedy. Anyone remember Sue Lawley? She, apparently, had a broad northern accent, but after listening to some people talking at a bus stop, took herself off to the public loos for twenty minutes and emerged speaking ‘The Queen’s English’. I don’t know what she did in the public loos - but that’s what I read somewhere anyway.

[birdie1971]

I don't find any accents unpleasant. I love the fact that in this country you can drive for just a few miles and hear accents that are completely different from your own. I think regional accents are splendid things that should be cherished as part of our valuable cultural heritage.

I once saw a great clip on some TV out-take show. It was a celebrity chef from somewhere up-north (can't remember which one) who was doing a piece to camera and said, “... In this castle, King Henry....”. His speech was abruptly cut off by some unseen chap behind the camera who reminded him that the word 'castle' is pronounced, “carrstle”. The chef's curt reply was, “... It's castle*, you southern ponce...”.

* for those not familiar with northern accents, 'castle' sounds like 'hassle'.

[FredPuli43]

Scottish QC adressing the Court of Appeal on water rights. He pronounces 'water' as 'watt-ah'

Judge: "What was that ,Mr McDonald"

"Watt-ah, my lord"

" Ah.In this Court we say 'water', with one T "

"Aye, my Lord, and in Scotland we say 'manners' with two Ns"

[chi-chi66]

I cannot understand why some southerners, I think it's mainly from London
area's, cannot pronounce 'drawers'.....always it's drawrers..

[slinkycat]

Well said Birdie, reading through the posts I was going to say much the same, I love to hear all the different accents when we travel round the country.
The only one that ever really grated was Saff London, (apologies to Tigger!)until I heard it spoken by a lovely lad on an Egyptian cruise last year. His girlfriend was Polish with a strong South London tinge to her accent and between the two of them I got over my dislike of the accent!
Btw Birdie, castle is correctly pronounced to rhyme with hassle, I'm from the Midlands not the North!