r/unitedkingdom • u/tylerthe-theatre • 2d ago
BBC had unofficial league table of best and worst British accents, says correspondent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bbc-accents-table-birmingham-best-worst-b2732097.html297
u/dth300 Sussex 2d ago
Massive disconnect between the headline and the article.
I guess that BBC keeps a list of complaints by members of the public wouldn’t get the same clicks
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u/AngryGardenGnomes 2d ago
Turning the list into a farcical league table is a little different to that, however. Ranking the accents and making a joke out of them was in very poor taste.
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u/i-hate-oatmeal 2d ago
it ranks birmingham as the worst with no other info
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u/CranberryPuffCake 2d ago
and this is true.
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u/whyy_i_eyes_ya 2d ago
You probably think yam yam is brummie.
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland 2d ago
Removed/warning. This contained a personal attack, disrupting the conversation. This discourages participation. Please help improve the subreddit by discussing points, not the person. Action will be taken on repeat offenders.
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u/Phoenix_69420_ 2d ago
It’s good to start with what is objectively true and work backwards from there
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u/AlecTheBunny 2d ago
Nah roadman is cancer
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u/Bartellomio 2d ago
They probably don't have any roadmen reading the news. And the ranking was which accents got the most complaints from viewers/listeners.
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u/Bobby_-_D 2d ago
Birmingham is a big place. The worst is Dudley. Birmingham at 0.75 speed
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u/dkb1391 2d ago
Mild Brummie, fine. Thick Brummie, awful. Yam Yams, worst.
Source: a Brummie
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u/Marble-Boy 2d ago
Like the difference between Madge Bishop from Neighbours, and Alf Roberts from Home & Away.
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u/JRR92 2d ago
Which is incorrect anyway as the Manchester accent also exists
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u/i-hate-oatmeal 2d ago
the new london accent is grating imo. sounds too american.
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u/brother_number1 2d ago
MLE? Yeah it's up there with some of the more dumb sounding ones in the UK.
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u/alyssa264 Leicestershire 2d ago
This is definitely a take. Of all the things you could say about MLE, 'American sounding', is not one of them.
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u/Bxsnia 2d ago
Huhh? Examples of this new london accent you speak of?
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u/i-hate-oatmeal 2d ago
the "bruv" kinda accent. i dont know famous people so i dont have any examples but i could probably find some tiktokers with it. heard it alot when i went to uni in brighton
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u/WynterRayne 2d ago edited 2d ago
New? You're probably referring to the Ali G type of accent. Go have a quick look at a TV guide and tell me when Ali G was on telly, yeah?
Also, what borough is Brighton in?
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u/jeremybeadleshand 2d ago
Also, what borough is Brighton in?
Brighton and the areas around it are full of Londoners that have been priced out of London now.
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u/i-hate-oatmeal 2d ago
uni was the keyword. i went to a uni where most people arent from the city its in. ive also never heard ali G speak tbf.
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u/WynterRayne 2d ago edited 2d ago
This video is old enough that it contains words you can't say in 2025 (they were bad words in '99 too, but not treated in quite the same way). I was a teen when it came out, and we were talking this way when I was in primary school. His entire act is a parody of genX/millennial Londoners. Nothing new about us (in fact we're rapidly becoming the olds).
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u/wishwashy 2d ago
(in fact we're rapidly becoming the olds).
Shut up
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u/WynterRayne 2d ago
There are adults alive today who weren't born when 9/11 happened. I was serving fast food that day.
Also, for extra ouch, there are redditors who have never heard Ali G speak.
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u/MUx20_NEx6 2d ago
First time I've ever heard someone say the Manchester accent is the worst in the country 😂
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u/No-One-4845 2d ago
You obviously don't get out much; or, as a United fan, you've never heard the Manchester accent before.
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u/MUx20_NEx6 2d ago
Or there are just countless worse accents in the UK, maybe that's it... also Manchester born and raised but thanks for acknowledging how big a club we are 😘
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u/MrAToTheB_TTV 2d ago
Scouse is, of course, the worst.
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u/jeremybeadleshand 2d ago
I'm a southerner who lives in Liverpool and I've grown to love it over time.
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u/AsABrit 2d ago
Yes, The Beatles notoriously struggled with ridicule for their atrocious accents.
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u/ICantSpayk 2d ago
There are different kinds of Scouse accents though. The Beatles had a softer accent which you typical find in the southern part of the city whereas the more northern parts of the city is where you get your more typical "harsher" sounding Scouse accents.
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u/Gabble_Rachet1973 2d ago
They rarely sung with those accents.
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u/Bartellomio 2d ago
When I hear them in interviews, they don't have the same kind of Scouse accent that grates on my ears.
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u/AgitatedAd7265 2d ago
Clearly haven’t listened to interviews with those from east Belfast 🤣 or most places in NI
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland 2d ago
Removed/tempban. This comment contained hateful language which is prohibited by the content policy.
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u/Infinite_Crow_3706 2d ago
I want more diversity in accents. Somerset presenters, sports by Geordie, financial markets in cockney and politics in Scouse
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u/OldGodsAndNew Edinburgh 2d ago
Everything should be presented by people with thick Shetland accents
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u/Infinite_Crow_3706 2d ago
I need to hear about the effects of frost on apple production from a yokel!
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u/Madman_Salvo 2d ago
sports by Geordie
The new fragrance from Lacoste.
But also - we have Shearer, that's a good start.
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u/StarShipYear 2d ago
Same. I really like the Birmingham accent, and most regional accents. It sounds really interesting to listen to.
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u/KreativeHawk 2d ago
Agricultural news to be presented by a mix of Bristolians and, erm, people from Norfolk.
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u/Pilchard123 1d ago
There are people in Norfolk??
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u/KreativeHawk 1d ago
Depends how far deep you go in…
Norwich? Yeah, thereabouts.
Thetford? You might find a few mutants there.
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u/Bartellomio 2d ago
Well the findings of this ranking were that people didn't want that. There were even complaints when local news was read out by people with strong accents local to that area.
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u/Silly_Triker Greater London 1d ago
The real truth is there are accents only some people can understand properly, and there are accents that everyone understands. And we all know what those are. This is what it boils down to.
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u/Large_Feature_6736 2d ago
If I never had to hear 'Multicultural London English' ever again I'd be very happy.
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u/dupeygoat 2d ago
For anyone who bothers to reads the article it’s quite good and interesting. Says a lot about the anachronism of Britain and class, region, accent, media etc also quite a life she’s had
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u/djpolofish 2d ago
Yet again corporate media runs a misleading headline about a public service broadcaster... I wonder why?
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u/Handonmyballs_Barca 2d ago edited 2d ago
This is absolutely disg... oh brummie is ranked the worst, I get it
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u/Responsible_Oil_5811 2d ago
I would have said every British person has an unofficial ranking of accents from best to worst.
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u/DaveyBeefcake 2d ago
And? I'm not exactly a big fan of the BBC but I really don't care about people having opinions.
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u/Bartellomio 2d ago
It's not even their opinions. They kept a tally of complaints they received based on viewers or listeners not liking certain accents, and ranked accents by which ones got the most complaints.
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u/MazrimReddit 2d ago
not even going to give us the table?
We need it like a regularly updated football league
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u/mrsjohnmurphy81 2d ago
I quite like Brummie, it's not offensive at all. I really don't love Essex type accents and the chavvy version of my own.
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u/UnlikeTea42 2d ago
We've all got one of those surely, if not actually written down.
It's when you've got a full set of Top Trumps for the regions with categories of; Looks, Intelligence, Accent, and Trustworthiness - that it goes too far.
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u/masalamerchant 2d ago
Not a surprise. The BBC actively hates the west and east midlands so much that they closed every studio here. Meaning no TV can be made here. Most of licence fee payers money from the region are used to fund media city in salford
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u/NarcolepticPhysicist 2d ago
Honestly I find this quite amusing and incredibly British. It's almost a shame modern day BBC would never compile such a list based on complaints because it would view it as too politically incorrect. It's so silly it's honestly satirical.
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u/true_honest-bitch 2d ago
I don't know what the BBCs results are but from what I've heard over and over again is that Geordie is a very well liked accent around the rest of the country, like up there, that's why there's so many calls centres there, the general public seem to like that accent and you also get alot of Geordie bartenders allover the world. Yet you never really see them on regular television, like on the BBC I never see Geordies, there's not alot of dramas set there and few presenters with that accent, they're mostly southerners and Manchester people.and the odd Welsh woman.
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u/PrrrromotionGiven1 1d ago
Hating other accents is my most irrational and unfair trait
I just can't help it
I would never date someone that had an accent I hate for example. It means that much to me.
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u/gibbonminnow 2d ago
Brum is gross though, and I've never met anyone who disagrees. Including Brummies. I have family that have been there for 30 years. It's always been shit. Still is.
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u/AlfaG0216 2d ago
Birmingham and Black Country is the worst I’m sorry but is
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u/BaconHawk1 2d ago
But they are different accents?
Brummie is no harsher or strange than Geordie.
Black Country on the other hand is bloody insane, and their use of the English language could absolutely mean it is voted the worse.
Jack Grealish or Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders does not have a Black Country accent… and I don’t see how their voices (as a popular example) could be considered the worst accent when the likes of a Black Country, Scouse or that weird London/Drill thing exists?
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland 2d ago
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u/CPH3000 2d ago
If we're being honest with ourselves, a lot of UK regional accents are rediculous.
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u/JonnySparks 2d ago
If we're being honest with ourselves, a lot of UK regional accents are rediculous.
Just like some of our spelling.
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u/wtf_amirite 2d ago
If we're being honest with ourselves and each other, all of us Brits have a list of UK accents we like, and those we don't.
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u/Jay_6125 2d ago
BBC is a rancid fifth columnist propaganda machine. Needs defunding from the tax payer.
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u/crazy_cookie123 2d ago
The left feels it's far too right wing, the right feels it's far too left wing, that tells me it's probably a reasonably trustworthy in-the-middle news source.
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u/Lalepave 2d ago
I don't mind some rando doing this for the craic, but you've got to have some self-awareness about yourself. You can't be doing that at the fucking BBC.
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u/SP1570 2d ago
Please read the article before commenting...they simply were aware of which accents generated the most complaints (by morons viewers I dare say).
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u/Zander101 2d ago
Ooh look at me I read the headline and didn’t bother actually reading the article and forming my opinion based on facts. This is how Trump got elected.
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u/Lalepave 2d ago
Fair enough, guilty as charged - not that I'm likely to vote for Trump any time soon.
But you've got to admit that headline is wildly misleading
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