Accent origins

[cushla]

You had to be born within the sound of Bow Bells to be considered a cockney.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

How many accents can you hear on "Downton Abbey"?

[Fear&Whiskey]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

How many accents can you hear on "Downton Abbey"?

Quite a few including the odd Irish accent now and again but as there are so many northern accents in the downstairs employees I can't really isolate the accents by character too well.

I think some of the characters even have a kind of slightly grand, posh Yorkshire accent whilst others could be anywhere from Lancashire to Yorkshire and in the Christmas special Scotland was well represented.

The only accent I have yet to hear is probably the Geordie, the scouse and the Norfolk or even South West region accents. But maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention.

[Fear&Whiskey]

Originally Posted by cushla

You had to be born within the sound of Bow Bells to be considered a cockney.

Cheapside in the City Of London is where the St-Mary-Le-Bow Church http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary-le-Bowis located and apparently the bells could be heard as far away as Archway at one time.

People often confuse eastenders with East London. They always play the Eastenders theme tune when West Ham play but the ground they actually play in (if you are going to nitpick) isn't in the East End at all it is in Upton Park which is about as about as East End as Chiswick is West End. It is fair to say alot of eastenders support West Ham but the truth is support was more evenly split between Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham than football history traditionalists like to pretend.

Bethnal Green all the way to Hoxton and the Shoreditch High Street and the areas bordering the city to the East are where the real East End is and this is why these accents were noticeably more distinguished than the accents that you'd hear in other parts of London.

I have many friends with London accents but I certainly wouldn't call them cockneys. Big difference. Not even some of the accents I hear from Essex would I describe as such. Too whiny and too over-pronounced. Just my opinion but the East End from South-East London to the North and the East London areas bordering Islington is where you used to hear the most distinctive cockney accents.

You still do in pubs here and there but obviously not as frequently these days.