The Ulster accent

[Desmond7]

Sorry boys but youse have to see yer man and you would have missed him in Skindles. Moderators. I justify this post under the utterly false pretense that this is an examination of how Ulster accents could be difficult to understand for English officers in WW1.

So there.

If youse are easily offended (and that) .. slide on. I was on the floor.

[corisande]

an examination of how Ulster accents could be difficult to understand for English officers in WW1

Barry the Blender is not a "proper" Ulster accent, his is pure "Malone Road", and as such could be understood by any English officer

[SiegeGunner]

I've never seen this character before, and can't say I exactly warmed to him - but his sidekick Thomas has undoubted star quality.

[truthergw]

Hilarious Des. That strangling to death sounds real scary and the kick in the leg should be taught to our troops without delay. I worked beside a Belfast lad who was known universally as Jock. When I asked him why, he explained that the English lads thought he was Scots! A Belfast accent you could cut with a knife. Mind, they couldn't tell the difference between a Glaswegian and a Dundonian so I suppose telling an Irishman from a Scot was a step too far. To keep on topic, well kinda, I would think that the class accent and the regional accent combined, would mean that officers woul rely on NCOs to translate if necessary. Fortunately, men seldom need to talk to an officer and they would have no difficulty with his standard public school accent. When appearing on CO's orders, all a man needed was Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir. He wasn't going to believe you anyway. The MO probably did have to make an effort, just in case the man was not a malingerer.

[archangel9]

God help us all

[squirrel]

It's a cracker so it is - it started my operation scar aching from laughing.

And yes, some Officers would have had difficulty in understanding OR's from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and parts of England, just as the OR's would have difficulty in understanding some of the Officers. It is just the way things were and still are.

[truthergw]

It's a cracker so it is - it started my operation scar aching from laughing.

And yes, some Officers would have had difficulty in understanding OR's from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and parts of England, just as the OR's would have difficulty in understanding some of the Officers. It is just the way things were and still are.

This is a light hearted thread and not at all the place for controversy but I do believe the difficulty would be almost all one way. Most officers would have talked with a close approximation to what came to be known as BBC English. That was used mainly because it was known to be understandable to any English speaker. Received pronunciation would be used in the public schools which supplied the officers and even Scots or Irish officers would conform to the norm. We know that Haig, for instance had a slight Scots accent which became more evident at times of strain. I very much doubt if Sir William Carson sounded like our Kung Fu fighter.

[corisande]

Most officers would have talked with a close approximation to what came to be known as BBC English.

I am not that sure that your premise is true with Irish Regiments, particularly Irish volunteer battalions.

My grandfather was an officer in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and he certainly had an Irish accent. Without having put a figure on it, I would have said that the majority of RDF officers were from Dublin.

[west coast]

truthgrow,

you do mean sir edward carson i presume. he would have had a very public school accent i guess ,him being from dublin and highly educated in trinity etc, i personally didn`t find 'barrys' accent as strong as some i [ulster] i have come across.

cheers ,mike.

[corisande]

The funny thing is while I was growing up in Belfast, I never thought I had an Ulster accent.

But when I went to live in England, I found they could scarcely understand a word I said !

Nowdays my accent has softened over time and living outside Ireland, and it is what they call "posh" in Belfast. But it does not take long to lapse back into the real thing after a few minutes talking to a "native"

[truthergw]

West Coast, Edward it is. I will stand in the corner for the requisite time.

Corisande. How your Granda talked to his young grandson might not have been how he talked to soldiers under his command, particularly when giving an order.

[Desmond7]

For info

I am led to believe that Barry the Blender and his mate Thomas (better known as geteefuh) are natives of Ballyclare - which also boasts the Blayyclare Comrades Football Team (formed by ex-servicemen after WW1).

His accent is a weird mixture of McCooey (Belfast), Culchie (everywhere outside Belfast) and Los Angeles Ulsterese.

Thomas is pure Cuchie (like, hi, boyso)

One also understands that the Blender's 'Bakebook' (Bake as in 'I hut him a dig in the bake') page features a huge petition demanding he switches on Belfast's Christmas Lights.

As for the officers, I tend to agree that they would have been BBC English speakers ...

[corisande]

For those outside Northern Ireland, has a Vade Mecum of Belfast slang

[loganshort]

At the latest London pals meet up 70% of my Scottish accent was understood, the 30% that wasn't was when they asked me for another £10 for the kitty!

[truthergw]

At the latest London pals meet up 70% of my Scottish accent was understood, the 30% that wasn't was when they asked me for another £10 for the kitty!

Be careful. Three of them have had intensive ' how to listen in Scottish' lessons.

[loganshort]

mr B's experience in the London Scottish should help with that!

In "Letters from the Trenches" Harry Lamen writes about the Scottish Men and not understanding a word what they say. You would think it easier nowadays with exposure to accents from all parts of the UK in programmes on television but thank goodness you can still determine what part of the country you are in by the local's accents.

[irishmen1916]

You would want to hear a west Cork or Kerry accent.

[truthergw]

You would want to hear a west Cork or Kerry accent.

What Des calls a Culshie. I worked on the sites with them in London.

' Jazis, heesh a horsh, dat won.'

Ganger deciding to keep one of his labourers working on the lump for another week anyway. At least thats how it sounded to my East Coast of Scotland ears.

[James Blonde]

Slightly off-topic but, Culshie I believe is a corruption of a Southern Irish term Culch(t)ie,

which is a common description of anybody born outside of the "The Pale"

which is now Dublin, anybody born inside "The Pale" is known as a Jackeen, to those outside

Culch(t)ie is a corruption of the place-name for the village of Kiltimagh in County Mayo and

the belief that it was the original home of the Culchie,

which is a derogatory term for a country bumpkin, according to a new entry in the Oxford Dictionary.

Please see:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiltimagh

Connaught Stranger.

[Desmond7]

This one is even better. I cried and spluttered so much my wife came to see if I was all right ... the slabbering about Stephen Seagull and Stephen Hawkins is just magnificent.

[archangel9]

For info

I am led to believe that Barry the Blender and his mate Thomas (better known as geteefuh) are natives of Ballyclare - which also boasts the Blayyclare Comrades Football Team (formed by ex-servicemen after WW1).

His accent is a weird mixture of McCooey (Belfast), Culchie (everywhere outside Belfast) and Los Angeles Ulsterese.

Thomas is pure Cuchie (like, hi, boyso)

One also understands that the Blender's 'Bakebook' (Bake as in 'I hut him a dig in the bake') page features a huge petition demanding he switches on Belfast's Christmas Lights.

As for the officers, I tend to agree that they would have been BBC English speakers ...

Stop please

[west coast]

a short while ago here in oz i watched a uk/bbc ? production and the english actors were subtitled because of their strong accent. i`d seen it before with irish and scots but not with english,

mike.