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Dialect snobbery reinforces power in the British class system — Media Diversified

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Jacinta Nandi discusses how dialect snobbery relates to classism in the UK and how we should be proud of how we speak even if it’s not “received pronunciation”. Back in the olden days, i.e., the early 2000s, when I still wanted to become a stand-up comedian, my friend and I were going to an open-mike […]

Dialect snobbery reinforces power in the British class system — Media Diversified

4 thoughts on “Dialect snobbery reinforces power in the British class system — Media Diversified”

    1. Every nation has its dialects and in too many places, the dialects then become way of “looking down” at poor or rural people by those who pretend to be better…

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    2. Yes I am aware, the remark with the Beatles was just meant for fun, sorry! 😉
      I am also guilty of it. There is a very wellknown British historian and archeologist, who is a selfmade man and has a terrible accent from the London suburbs, sometimes nearly not understandable (different words sound the same). So at first I had problems taking him seriously, which I knew was wrong. In the meantime I am able to distance myself from these thoughts. It is something one grows up with, and it is really terrible. I had to suppress my own dialect, which, by the way, sounds awful, to be taken seriously. My mother insisted that I should speak “properly”, meaning the dialect wasn’t proper language.

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    3. Local prejudices are everywhere. Here too, if you have a distinct accent, you get judged somehow just of the accent. Misplaced caution over people judged “different.” When I learned Spanish, I was taught by a Spanish teacher who was an Hispanic from Texas. So other Spanish speakers assumed I was from Texas. Grin.

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