inverness

[KD Burke]

I frequently listen to the BBC World Service while commuting. It's a wonderful opportunity to hear, and attempt to analyze accents. Just the words "World Service" are spoken in so may wonderfully interesting ways.

The typical "BBC Presenter" received pronunciation version is something along the lines of wuhld suh-viss.
That may be followed by a woman with an Irish accent which sounds like wear-ald sair-viss.

[Downunder Kilt]

I find fascinating , the american silent H of the word herb yet the h is sounded in the name Herbert and the word herbaceous

[The Q]

I was quoting 'The Singing Postman', a music act that won Oportunity Knocks back in the 60's I have many happy childhood memories of Great Yarmouth and love the accent and dialect. I remember now that the program was about a UFO incident.

Not quite right,
Allen Smethurst the singing postman got his break by having his demo tape being played on Ralph Tucks regional Wednesday morning show 1964. After several records on Tucks record labels he was picked up by EMI and thence to full fame.
A Lancastrian by birth of a Norfolk mother he spent much of his childhood in Norfolk. But most of the songs were written while a post man in Grimsby Lincolnshire.
Sadly he didn't cope with the fame and his career only lasted about six years he gave up due to alcohol in 1970 and died in A Salvation Army hostel 2000

[freddie]

Quite right. It's funny how time plays tricks on the mind! Sad to hear about his demise.

[Ian.MacAllan]

. . . We natives tend to not have much of an accent, . . .

No one has any accent in his home town.


.

[ctbuchanan]

I grew up in the small town of Norfolk, Connecticut which we always pronounced Norr-fuk. It was routinely the coldest town in the state in the winter because it was up in the Berkshires (Berkshears). We always knew when the weatherperson on the local station was new because they would pronounce it Nor-foulk.

And as for the habit of dropping 'r's in New England, that is only an eastern (coastal) New England thing. On the west side of the Connecticut river every 'r' is enunciated strongly. I have often read that the western half of Connecticut is an area with literally no accent of any kind.

Sorry I missed this thread when it first started.

[MacKenzie]

I grew up in the small town of Norfolk, Connecticut which we always pronounced Norr-fuk.

Interesting. Growing up in the Tidewater area of Virginia, Norfolk, Va. was pronounced "Naw-fuk" or "Nor Fork", the latter sounding like two distinct words.

[ctbuchanan]

Interesting. Growing up in the Tidewater area of Virginia, Norfolk, Va. was pronounced "Naw-fuk" or "Nor Fork", the latter sounding like two distinct words.

My brother was stationed there in the Navy (go figure) and we always heard it as the Nor-Fork.

Dialects are strange.

[RectaPete]

Interesting. Growing up in the Tidewater area of Virginia, Norfolk, Va. was pronounced "Naw-fuk" or "Nor Fork", the latter sounding like two distinct words.

"Nor-fork" just sounds strange to my English ear. It's "Nor-fuk" just about everywhere in the UK. Likewise, Birmingham is not "Birming-HAM" as most Americans say, but "Birming-UM". Stories about an American tourist asking where "LIE-cess-turr" is appear to be an urban legend...

[The Q]

Perhaps I should let people know of this site,

http://www.norfolkdialect.com/

Unfortunately I don't know of a similar site for Inverness, but there are plenty for the Gaelic.