What accent do you really hate? and which one you love?
David: I see your words in print yet I can actually HEAR them at the same time in full Geordie flow! Just reading the Geordie brings them to life and I feel like I'm gannin along the Scotswood Road. :-)
Adam: in that case you need to stop going to pubs. A cringeing Adam cannae be a pretty sight. What's wrong with the Norfolk accent? A guy told me that Norfolk people are called either swede bashers or dumplings and for some weird reason over the border in Lincolnshire they're called yellowbellies. Makes you wonder why.....
David R, if you're the one who posted your own accent and your Canadian one, I thought you had a very nice accent!
It's true, the media love to pick on people -- I remember watching a BBC broadcast on the 4th of July celebrations in D.C. where they randomly grabbed some man out of the crowd and asked him to name the two sides involved in the US Civil War. He was obviously terribly nervous about being on camera and he started to blurt out "the north and the south" (which is the simplified version), and then tried to "correct" himself by saying, "I mean -- the Union and the Confederacy--"
Poor guy got all flustered and even though he was 100% correct, they made him look like a complete idiot, and you could see that smug little smile on the reporter's face.
"Adam: in that case you need to stop going to pubs. A cringeing Adam cannae be a pretty sight. What's wrong with the Norfolk accent? A guy told me that Norfolk people are called either swede bashers or dumplings and for some weird reason over the border in Lincolnshire they're called yellowbellies. Makes you wonder why..... "
I don't think there's anything wrong with it. It just seems strange to me to have people in a local pub speaking with a different accent.
It's difficult to explain. I hate different British accents on the TV all the time and I don't really notice. It's just normal. But when I hear a different UK accent in and around Bolton, in real life, it's weird. I can't explain it. Listening to a Southerner speak on the TV - that's normal. Listening to a Southerner speak as you're in the same room as in - it's just strange.
"I hate different British accents on the TV all the time and I don't really notice. "
That should be: "I hear different British accents....."
Why are the folks of Lincolnshire known as Yellowbellies? No-one knows for sure, though there are a few theories -
What on earth is a Yellowbelly?
For years, anyone born and bred in the county of Lincolnshire has been known as a Yellowbelly.
Quite why is a cause of much debate, as you will see...
The Royal North Lincolnshire Militia
The building on Burton Road, Lincoln that is now home to the Museum of Lincolnshire Life was once the barracks of the Royal North Lincolnshire Militia. The officers of this regiment would wear bright yellow waistcoats on the battlefield. This made it easier for their men to spot them (let's overlook the fact that it also made them rather obvious targets...) and also earned them the name Lincolnshire Yellowbellies.
Newts and frogs
There is, apparently, a breed of newt common to the fens that has a bright yellow underside. So now you know.
Should you not be very partial to newts Marion Christy, a yellowbelly herself, was always told that it was frogs that had the yellow bellies and were rather partial to the damp conditions of the undrained fens.
Farmers
During summer the farmers would often work without their shirts on (the saucy devils). As they tended the fields they would be bent over, and get a lovely suntan on their back. Their fronts however would be in the shadows the whole time and so would stay white. The reflection of the corn is said to have given a yellow hue to their bellies.
Mail Coach
The mail coach that ran from Lincoln to London had a yellow undercarriage. Upon it's arrival in London it is said that the locals would call out "Here comes the Lincolnshire yellowbelly". Geoffrey Alan Wildman assures us that this is the real reason, although he tells me that the coach went from Lincoln to York.
Sheep
The traditional breed of sheep in the county is the Lincoln Longwool. As the name suggests, it's fleece was, well, long. It looked rather like the sheep in question had a bad perm. These sheep would often graze in the fields of mustard that were once a common sight around Lincolnshire. As their shaggy coat dragged along the ground it would pick up pollen from the mustard flowers and give them, you've guessed it, a yellow belly.
Here, some members of the public give their theories -
Julie Eyett
According to some members of the Sealed Knot Society the term 'yellow bellies' refers to Lincolnshire troops in the civil war fighting on the side of the parliamentarian forces whose officers wore broad yellow sashes around their waists in battle
Simon Reeks
I was taught at school in Boston (many years ago!) by the late G Edward Campion who was a renowned "Lincolshire expert", particularly related to folk tales and dialect. He believed that Yellow Bellies were specifically from the Fens and got their name from a particular yellow fungus that was liable to grow on the belly in damp (fenland) conditions.
Roy Pell
My grandfather was born and bred in North Lincolnshire, was a Sergeant in the Lincolnshire Regiment in the Great War and a Lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Home Guard in the second war. He told me when I asked as a boy in a quite matter-of-fact way that 'yellowbelly' derived from the facing colour of the Lincolnshire Regiment and I'm sure this would be born out by the National Army Museum records. This was confirmed to me in later life by my uncle who was in the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in the second war. My Great-grandfather, also a yellowbelly, worked the land all his life and never mentioned the suggested agricultural origin. The stagecoach idea of Londoners being responsible for the name seems preposterous - pictures show that many coaches had yellow undercarriage. I suggest some of those Londoners who shouted may have been old soldiers who recognised the stagecoach as coming from Lincolnshire - the home of the regiment with yellow-fronted tunics they had fought alongside.
Nathan Parkes
I was always lead to believe we were called yellow bellies because we have no defined accent, although why that would be relevant is beyond me
harriet
i was always led to believe that people from lincolnshire were called yellow bellies because they were cowards. but why cowards were nick-named yellow bellys i don't know !!
Mandy Waldron
I was taught at school that the term Lincolnshire yellowbelly was related to the Yellow waistcoat worn by ******** who's picture symbolised Lincolnshire. Can't remember if it was a specific person's name or a general image of a gentleman farmer, I only remember having to draw him.
Rik cullen
it goes back to the times when armies of lincolnshire used to wear yellow tunics as breast plates and hence the other armies from the north ie yorkshire would turn tail and retreat bringing about the phrase yellow belly as in scared
Beth Somers
I was always told that "yellowbelly" was a referance to the extensive over use of opium in Lincolnshire at some unspecified point in history!
Alfred Erles
Before the draining of the Fens, there existed a disease very similar to maleria. This was caused by the mosquito & still, stagnent waters in the area. The symptoms were non fatal but gave severe belly cramps. Locals consulption of Opium was very common amongst farmworkers who believed rubbing it onto the belly area cured the ailment. This process caused yellowing of the skin. Hence Yellowbelly. I know of this as my great-great grandfather held a diary which was passed down to him by his grandfather. It,s all in there, mystery solved!
Gordon Sharp
My grandfather maintained it went back before banks and building societies, when money was a rare commodity in the fens. The yarn is that to protect their monetary interest, the Lincolnshireman would sleep with his money, presumably gold at that time, resting on his stomach. The theory being that if anyone were to try to remove it - the stomach being sensitive - the owner would wake and prevent its removal. It would seem this custom was peculiar to Lincolnshire and hence the myth was born.
Stephen Harrowing
I have read and been told it's Because of a Farmer and his rather overweight daughter. Being very overweight no one wanted to marry the daughter, so the farmer decided to use an incentive. To the person who would marry his daughter he would give as many gold coins as would cover her stomach as she lay on the ground. Hence 'yellow belly'.
news.bbc.co.uk
***Listening to a Southerner speak as you're in the same room as in - it's just strange**
Interesting sentence construction, Adam. An example of Boltonian education? Hey pal...you need to get out more and extend your territory.....and avoid pubs full of Southerners and Norfolk dumplings.
Is Bolton one of those places where they confuse the use of teach with learn?
I like Australian accents, and I can't help but love a lady with a New York accent. I don't know what it is about Australian accents, I just think they sound cool. The Crocodile Hunter might be a reason as to why I think this, since I use to watch him all the time. In fact, I can even do a pretty good Australian impersonation myself. Now it's not perfect, because I kind of mix the "A" sound with that of a British person, but I'm working on it. To people in the U.S. though, they think it's like ... perfect. I even tricked a few people into believing I actually was Australian ... which I found hilarious. And for the New York accent ... I'm not sure about that one. A dude with a New York accent isn't as cool sounding, as it is with a girl. Still, it's one of my favorite accents, when used by a lady of course.
The accent I hate? Probably a real heavy Southern accent. It just really gets on my nerves. If it's not real heavy, I have no problem with it. But when it is heavy ... I can't stand it.
The Southern American accent is fascinating in a way.....it may be the American equivalent of the Brummie (Birmingham) accent in England. That is, if the Southern accent has the piss taken out of it as does Brummie over here. In case it's not realised, "taking the piss" means making fun of.
How does "taking the piss" or "taking the micky" translate to American vernacular?
Most ordinary colloquialisms, and especially street slang, in everyday informal speech can be construed as crude I suppose....it depends on your sensibilities. Delicate flowers prone to prudishness are free to turn a deaf ear though and tune into Radio 4...but even there, switch off when it's time for Play for the Day....get's pretty hairy scairy now and then.
French men speaking in English or anything...they always have that sexy accent!!!
:o)
How does "taking the piss" or "taking the micky" translate to American vernacular?
Not sure. Teasing? Making fun of someone? Being a dick? Cutting them down to size?
Making fun of someone. Common expression in English-speaking countries.