Regional Accents

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

As an Ayrshire man my favourite Caithness versatility word is pronounced Fleur.....

1.Fleur(floor)
2.Fleur(a Flower)
3.Fleur(you bake bread with it)

The three fleurs as I call it.........classic!!!!!

[JAWS]

Dialect is dependent on the accent for authenticity as it would be a bit naff if I tried to speak in the Caithnessian dialect(though I must confess that I do...sometimes). However, I have been doing some investigating with my own 'native' dialect and found that 'blether' is also from Cumbria as well. It must have something to do with the Norse influence.

Rheghead, I must agree, and that's why I hate the thought of loosing such things, Having beel brought up in Lancashire I too have noticed a few words in common with Caithness "blether" being one of them. Had it been lost in the past I would never have made, like you, the Norse link. Preston is at the first point at which the Ribble can be easily crossed by bridge. Below that is either wide sandbanks or marsh. One or two of the settlements along the Ribble inlets have names ending in "wick" so the Norse influence is obvious.
People in Lancashire, Cumbria and Caithness all have a blether wi' wun anuther. There may be slight differences in pronunciation but the origins have to be the same especially as there are huge areas in between where they'd wonder what on earth bletherin wer'.

[Rheghead]

People in Lancashire, Cumbria and Caithness all have a blether wi' wun anuther.

OMG I've just had a scary thought, I might have a thousand times removed cousin that might be a weeker!!

[canuck]

Dialect is dependent on the accent for authenticity as it would be a bit naff if I tried to speak in the Caithnessian dialect(though I must confess that I do...sometimes). However, I have been doing some investigating with my own 'native' dialect and found that 'blether' is also from Cumbria as well. It must have something to do with the Norse influence.

After about 3 weeks in Caithness, and once I had figured out what some of the expressions meant, I noticed that I was using them quite freely. But because they were new to me I was also speaking them with the Caithness accent. I was so concerned that people would think that I was making fun of them that I consciously stopped using them. And I feel poorer for it because I love the Caithness accent.

But I have kept a few words in my vocabulary - craic of course and blether. I won't forget "going down a bomb". The first time I heard that my reply was, "I didn't think that I had done that badly." I was hearing "bombed out." And there was the time that I was misquoted in the newspaper. I knew that I had not said what was printed because it was not an expression I would use. Then I realized that the journalist was translating my original words for his readers.

[JAWS]

OMG I've just had a scary thought, I might have a thousand times removed cousin that might be a weeker!!

Help! I'm emigrating! What a scary thought.

[wickerinca]

OMG I've just had a scary thought, I might have a thousand times removed cousin that might be a weeker!!

Rheghead...........seems you need do a bit of research. WBG could be a blood relation!!

[Rheghead]

WBG could be a blood relation!!

Now that is scary

[willowbankbear]

Rheghead...........seems you need do a bit of research. WBG could be a blood relation!!

Who is WBG?

[wickerinca]

Who is WBG?

Weeboyagee.................Rheghead's Gaelic teacher

[DrSzin]

People in Lancashire, Cumbria and Caithness all have a blether wi' wun anuther. There may be slight differences in pronunciation but the origins have to be the same especially as there are huge areas in between where they'd wonder what on earth bletherin wer'.

Dinna be daft min! People blether all over Scotland.

Canuck, I've encountered the "bomb" problem, but in reverse. I too was bamboozled.

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

Dinna be daft min! People blether all over Scotland.

Canuck, I've encountered the "bomb" problem, but in reverse. I too was bamboozled.

True DrSzin, us Scots like to blether,about anything and onything.It's what makes us the Scots that we are.You can meet a Scot anywhere in the world and the first thing you ask is "Where in Scotland are you from?"9 times out of ten you go "aw I know where that is."Scotland forever!

[connieb19]

True DrSzin, us Scots like to blether,about anything and onything.It's what makes us the Scots that we are.You can meet a Scot anywhere in the world and the first thing you ask is "Where in Scotland are you from?"9 times out of ten you go "aw I know where that is."Scotland forever!

Us Scots blether...no that's no true...lol

[JAWS]

Dinna be daft min! People blether all over Scotland.

I know the border used to be fairly fluid but I never knew it got so far south.
The only other thing I can think of is that on one of the excursions south by Scots Hooligans to sort out English Yobbos that some of them stayed.
Unless it was from the time when the good Burghers of Preston ventured out, many centuries ago, to confront the Scots Army. With all their bravery, the said good Burghers were glib enough to talk the Scots into going round the town instead of burning it as they usually did.
Perhaps we learned from that how to blether with the Scots in their own dialect instead of shouting abuse at them in English!
Very versatile is Preston Folks when they're in danger of running short o' bog roll!

Seems you Scots have more in common with the Northern Tribes of England than either of us realised.
Them Armstrongs and Elliots have a lot to answer for. Not to mention them Stanleys and Percys from south of the Border.
If they weren’t fighting them across the Border than they would fight them ont' same side o' it.

[Sporran]

I hope that regional accents and dialects survive. As an "atomic" brought up in the Pennyland estate in Thurso, I was exposed to accents and dialects from all over the UK, and it made life interesting. Although I never had a Caithness accent myself, I still like to hear it, and I also enjoy listening to the accents and dialects of my relatives in Aberdeenshire and Lancashire. I think it would be boring if we all sounded the same!

[JimH]

Does that mean My scouse accent is good enough

[canuck]

JimH, your scouse accent is great!

I am far from being a linguist, but I think that there must be more to accent than "hearing" it. For months my sole activity on caithness.org was "reading". The news and the forum posts were insights into continuing life in Caithness. About a month ago I jumped into conversation to be part of the fitness club. Within a week I noticed that the bit of accent which I had aquired while in Scotland but quickly lost in Burlington, was back. I do hear Scottish accents on a daily basis, so I wasn't making big leaps into nothingness, but it was through participation in the conversation of the forum that the accent was reclaimed. It must be the uniquely Scottish phrases which are triggering it. Some people write in a style that reads like the accent and I am sure that pulls it out as well. The point is that the accent re-emerged not from just hearing it or reading it, but from being engaged in conversation even if just back and white conversation.

[Sporran]

Does that mean My scouse accent is good enough

Yes, of course it does Jim! The Scouse accent must be one of the most well liked English accents in the world, thanks to the Beatles!