1976: LIVERPOOL accents | Word of Mouth | Voice of the People | BBC Archive 

hahah! great anecdotes - and name :D

@@TheJohnRowley Thanks! I was in London a few years ago, walking down a fairly posh street in the west end. I saw this big, burly guy coming my way. He made a bee line for me and I thought … now what. He marched over very purposefully and without any preamble said in as broad a a scouse accent as I’ve ever heard 'Is der an ale house round here like?'. I was probably the only person in the street who would have understood him and we went and had a few bevies and a laugh and a joke.

@@aloysiussnailchaser272 Hahaha! Nice! It's things like the use of words like 'Alehouse' that give the scousers so much charm. I was in Liverpool for a couple of days a few years ago and three times in three different places I overheard someone talking heatedly and saying something that had happened and then '...and now YOU'RE TELLIN' ME...' something or other. So for example 'I've taken the bus all the way down here draggin the kids with me and now you're tellin me the museum's closed?' The first time it was a feckless young father and his exasperated spouse and she was proper cross. But the other two times I realised that the outrage they were expressing was a sort of mock outrage - they were enjoying the drama of it, you could tell they weren't really angry :D I love it. I use it all the time with my old mum since because she is from Liverpool. And I've another overheard conversation I loved. A young woman at a fruit and veg stall and an older man wearing a suit but in a wheelchair rolls past. She says to him, "Morning Harry, you're dressed up nice today", and he replies warily, "What are you after?" and she says, "Yer money of course!" she says and laughs loudly :D Even the heroin addict outside a sainsburys was kind of charming. I asked him if he wanted anything from the shop and he said, "Just some jellies". I had to ask him what he meant by jellies! (jelly babies/gummy sweets)

@@TheJohnRowley I wouldn’t be so sure about yer man's jellies. It’s slang for drugs of some kind.

@@aloysiussnailchaser272 I think you're wrong there and I'll tell you why. I didn't understand what he meant by jellies and told him so and he replied - 'you know, jellies, jelly babies'. Heroin addicts can't or don't want to eat a lot of regular food I think. I'd told him I'd buy him something in the shop - a sandwich or something but he wanted jelly babies (gummy sweets) so that's what I bought him, i also bought him a croissant and a banana but i dont know if he was able to eat these.

I hate the bbc. Liars.

Nice, but you say it like it's a bad thing, I am proud of the working class. We don't need to be hidden away so southerners find it palletable ;))

​@@jamesbyrne9312I get your sentiment but the programme shows smashed windows and boarded up houses. That's not a northern thing.

@@biegebythesea6775 That's irrelevant. I am talking about the people. There is poverty throughout the UK but the south acts like the north is some far away land.

​@jamesbyrne9312 I'm Portsmouth born and bred, my old man was born in Bootle, he used to say the cities were very similar, tough dockyard area, full of working class people who looked after each other, definitely don't look down their noses at Liverpool if you're from Pompey.

@@daveericson8447 thanks, yes true.

Welsh always seems to be forgotten about with the accent and Liverpool in general. Over 100,000 Welsh moved to Liverpool in the 19C and early 20th C for work. Road names were named after Welsh places and Welsh chapels were all so built. Not to mention the most common surname in Liverpool in the Welsh surname Jones.

I feel your pain there. I'm an American from the south, and people make fun of us a lot. I absolutely refuse to change my accent, and that's a hill I'm willing to die on! 😠

@@Mick_Ts_Chick The southern American accents are the best. I really like the Georgian accent especially, i think there is just something very honest about them.

@@bootlegpete7984 Thank you. I lived in GA for a year and a half. Lots of the accents are very similar to ours in NC, but some are like the typical tv or movie accent where they say r like ah.

The first black guy to speak was my partner of 18 years Manny Uchegbu. RIP . His brother is next to him also speaking Delroy Burris RIP.

​@@sueprince5597 Thanks so much for responding to my comment Sue, it's really nice to put names to the faces of your partner and his brother, it's sad to hear they are no longer with us, RIP.

R.I.P Manny and Delroy. 💔💔

@@sueprince5597 ooo!! Was he part Igbo?? I'm Igbo!

@@Laura-sg6ss , yes. His father was Igbo from Olu (?) Nigeria. Also called Emmanuel.

Feelings mutual , I know some sound Glasgow lads .

We moved to Australia from Kilmarnock 30 years ago. One thing that struck me recently was the rise of that really strange 'posh' Scottish accent (Kevin Bridges is forever taking the piss out of it). I'd never really heard that until recently.

@@neilr4867 The one people cannot stand is the Glasgow Uni accent. No matter where in Scotland you come from Wether it’s Glasgow, Aberdeen, Fife or even abroad. They all have the same phoney accent it’s a mixture of Posh Scottish( whatever that is lol) American with the word like thrown into sentences every other word, and an English accent. We in Glasgow cannot stand it it’s laughable and fake and is as Glaswegians see through it. Every Uni student speaks the same no regional dialect. Phoney and pretentious.

C'moan, get aff.....

I'm trying to remember how people from Glasgow say "but". They have a certain way of using "but". Can anyone explain how it's used and give a few examples?

Didn't they used to say Liverpool was the Ireland of England given so many lived there?

@@AmeeB-oo1lr Same here. My parents are both from Liverpool, and my DNA is 30% Irish (both my dad's dad and dad's mum are of Irish ancestry). My surname is Regan, which is an Irish name, although none of us have any ancestors in living memory who are Irish. It's common to have Irish ancestry in Liverpool, because of the major Irish migration there in the 1800s. I think it's why the city has such a unique flavour of its own. Think "we are Scouse, not English", it's the Irish roots. My dad is from Toxteth but did kinda lose his accent. But I do find it interesting how what the gent calls the "south side" greeting - saying "Arite laaa", became the dominant slang in all of Liverpool. The "North side" greeting he mentioned, "ay fella", in an almost Irish accent, you never hear that in Liverpool anymore. La is everywhere, lol. So I do think Liverpool is losing its Irishness, which is sad, but understandable.

that's true mate, and there's an explanation for it - check out the video "the year that killed rp" by doctor geoff lindsey on here, he explains how the cultural revolution of the 1960s killed the old "aristocratic"accent of the british upper class and of course, the bbc. long story short, james bond and the beatles had regional accents, it was suddenly cool to be working class but stuffy and uncool to be upper class, so rich kids grew up trying to sound less posh, fast forward 60 years and no young people have the old accent anymore!

Love this story. I used to work with this guy with an ear hole piercing and we used to put his cigarettes in the hole and see how many we could squeeze in lol!

I used to be a telephone operator (here in America) and a call came in from Scotland and I had no idea what the man was asking me for.

Scottish accents are my favorites. 😊

I always had problems when watching "Taggart" on the Telly

Half of Liverpool have Irish ancestry

They also say filum

​@@biegebythesea6775surely you mean fillum!😂

That area was the only area in mainland Britain to repeatedly elect an Irish Nationalist MP. That went on until the 1930s I think.

​@@davidmundowyahoo7839So what's the difference between "filum" n "fillum?" Just a L! Lol

Amazing how the South End accent has taken over now. Because nobody says "ay ay fella" or sounds much like the gent with the glasses any more. His is like the older Liverpool accent, a bit softer spoken than the modern Scouse accent, more gentle and Irish sounding. More like the Paul McCartney or John Lennon did in the early days.

Gorgeous! I have a feeling he suspects one of the reasons "the men think he is going to cause trouble"

I believe he was interviewed on some documentaries I've seen here on RU-vid about Liverpool / Toxteth in the 1980s.

Yeah I think it interesting that they interviewed Olive from On the Buses.

I can relate to that as well I’m from the Isle of Man and our accent is very similar to the one you described

Yes

Yep and it was Mike Badger who was in the original band and thought of the name.

​@@bennymalonedidn't know that!

Yes

@@X-4-2-TV theres not many blacks there

A lot of black families in Liverpool are not from the slave trade. Many I know are descended from African seafarers who settled in Liverpool.

@@X-4-2-TVreally? My family is from Liverpool and would proudly call themselves English. If you brought up to my dad he’s actually more Irish than English he would start getting very mad. He is English and he won’t consider himself anything else.

Thats due to their own ignorance not any fault of ours. Americans are taught to be ignorant of other countries as they are conditioned since school to worship their country as the best on earth which leads to them seeing other countries as fairground attractions that should cater for them - look at how most usually say 'europe' as if it is one country.

​@@Richard-od3gcblack PEOPLE not "blacks"

LOL..".they were like can you understand him I was like of course it was hilarious". Now you're talking like a Californian (me)- we have a bad habit of inserting the word, "like" in too many sentences😄

That’s wild to me. I think it’s easy to understand. I mean my dad is a scouser but I can’t hear his accent. There was a couple things in the video I didn’t understand but that might just be my bad hearing. I can understand this just as well as a Glaswegian accent and I’m from Glasgow.

or every other word is lad@@Embracing01

Americans are quite a sheltered bunch

I never noticed it but a couple years ago I heard an American say that British people sound American when they sing and they’re totally right. Most people take on an American accent when singing and it’s so strange. I wonder why it is. Annoyingly, I don’t have an American accent when I sing and my accent makes my singing sound worse.

​@@rachelcookie321 Well some groups sounded English when they sang, like Herman's Hermits.

@@rachelcookie321 The Animals. Eric Burdon was from Newcastle but sounded like an American boy from the South.

@@HueyRocks23 I have since worked out why it is this way. A lot of modern music genres originate in America so an American accent is just kinda part of the genre. Like it would be weird to hear reggae not in a Jamaican accent. Genres that originate from the UK often have British accents attached.

I’m a scouser and I still say he’s got a cob on 😂😂

@@Ka54 I have'nt said that in 40 years.

The racism has faded? Lol. Not likely. It will have changed shape but you need to ask black people whether or not there is still racism. You won't see it because racists will be on their best behaviour in front of you.

@@biegebythesea6775 Yes you will get stupid ignorant racists everywhere and people who are but will not say. Yet our society has Changed For The Better, many more people understand racism now, and have nothing to do with it ... People and society changes over time for the Better. I can look back look back from the early 1970s onwards and see the progression of anti racism.

"Cob On" is still around, my kids mum who's scouse says it all the time. I'm from Wigan and I had never heard that phrase until I met her, and now I even say it.

I remember August 2022, good times......

Also looks a bit like the guy in Lock Stock

And what they had to say is so sad. Nothing has changed…..

I read that scouse was a mix of Lancashire, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and Norwegian accents... I think we might have a mongrel accent?! 😂

Yes, some sounds heavily influenced by the Welsh language.

@@senorra941 There was a massive influx of Welsh into Liverpool, a lot of the street names around Dingle have Welsh names. Also there was a lot of Welsh Churches here too and there is still a Welsh speaking society that people can go to and learn the Language.

100,000 Welsh moved to Liverpool for work in the late 19th Century and early 20th century. The Welsh eisteddfodd has been held in Liverpool 3 times as well. Not to mention the most common surname is Jones. Wales always seems to be forgotten tho unlike the Irish.

Nah….Is not him, but can see resemblance .Am sure Alan Igbon was from Manchester.

Liverpool in the 70s and 80s was brutal for black Liverpudlians. They were so accurate about not seeing black people in town (the city centre.) You'd rarely see non-white people working in shops and Black Liverpudlians were very reluctant to go to Anfield and Goodison given the unhidden racism on display. Pubs and clubs had well-known 'colour bars' in operation and as for the Police...

Really? I think my family from Liverpool all sound exactly like this. The accent hasn’t seemed to change to me.

There are different accents within Liverpool

Some of the younger scousers try and be "professional scousers" and over do the accent on purpose, especially from North Liverpool. They are just annoying.

Wow ... that's going back a long time ago ...😀

More than one as well. 😂

Have you even been to liverpool? because one look at the city would disprove that notion. Its a pretty common thing in liverpool to be more proud of their irish heritage than being proud of being English. There is also more republic flags in that city than there are union jacks. The one thing they do not like however is considering that it isnt just irish that influenced them - particularly welsh, they havent fully accepted how welsh they actually are yet.

Well this video proves it. These old scousers have an accent that is half way between Irish and modern scouse.

Never heard anyone get defensive, scousers are proud of their Irish ancestry.

Liverpool is commonly known has the capitol of Ireland

Brendan Behan had no time for the Liverpool-Irish, they didn’t treat him very well apparently..

You will never know your native language until you know a second language.

Really? I can understand every English dialect I’ve heard so far in my life. I’m not very good with accents, they all just sound the same to me. I think it might be because I grew up surrounded by a lot of different accents so my brain is used to having to translate them all. I’m surprised you say it’s hard to understand more than 5 though, I can definitely understand way more than 5. I’m not fluent, I don’t know all the different words people use but I can usually guess from context.

Some of them put it on, especially the scotty roaders and round by Everton’s ground. I live in Liverpool and hear it first hand. 😆

@@Eleventhearlofmars it sounds like they are in pain the way they speak.

@@pattskatoey3139 😂 sometimes they do , there’s a fella who does impressions of Steven Gerrard and Jamie carragher and he makes all mad squeaky noises when he does them and sounds like he’s in pain. 😂

I’m from the north end of Liverpool , we’ve a different accent from the south end of the city . There is several variants of our accent depending where you are in Merseyside.

Yes it’s annoying mostly with young lads, everything laaa or lad.

There is a significant Welsh input into the Scouse accent.

Yeah I agree there. Scousers today do tend to pronounce words like that. It's like they've got flem in their mouths and trying to spit it out or they are choking on something.

That’s because it’s a new accent. It’s only been around 100 years roughly.

I don't know why white people say they never came across any racism. Why would you? They get us when we're alone. We're only immune or safe when around white people.

they were posh

@@Answersonapostcard Ringo, McCartney and Harrison were working class through and through. Lennon was a bit more middle class.

Sometimes the Beatles sounded more like they were from Birmingham than Liverpool lol.

They came from a more middle class, suburban part of Liverpool, away from the docks

the beatles will have sounded like this when on thier own together but infront of cameras they have a bit of a telephone voice so the accents softens

Why?

@@nadezhda4867 look at the video lots of slum housing that was knocked down and rebuilt

Yes mate post WW2 was a shithole for most places. Especially Liverpool because of its docks. It was the second highest hit city in the UK, from the German blitz. With the lack of funding from the self centred southerns, it had a very hard time getting back to its great self. Don’t blame the north. Blame the south.

It's not. At 3:47 it's Manny Uchegbu RIP my partner of 18yrs.

Yes, different regions in England have different accents.