Your comments

maggie, northumberland.
I have spent years trying to get rid of my northumbrian accent which I hated; and have almost succeeded. However, the point that annoys me the most today is the misuse of and americanisms introduced into UK English. If you are nauseous it means you are loathsome or odious, if you are nauseated you feel like vomiting. BBC please take note.

Jim from Worcs
I was born & brought up in Redditch for the 1st 23 yrs of my life & had an accent (kind of country bumpkin brummie)so strong that noone in Brum (15 miles away) could understand a word I said. After spending 5 yrs in London, 2 yrs travelling & 2 yrs living in Brum my accent has reverted to a kind of soft Brummie with a hint of mockney. Most people in Redditch have a distinct accent to people living in Bromsgrove which is only 4 miles away. The further towards Gloucstershire that you travel in Worcestershire, the more 'west country' people sound. I work in Birmingham & most people think I sound 'posh' which coming from a Brummie is something of a compliment. People from the Black Country (Yam Yams), in my opinion, have the worst accent in the Midlands, go for a beer in Dudley & you will see what I mean...........

Chris, Manchester / Sheffield
I currently live in Manchester, but grew up just South of Sheffield. I never consider myself to have any accent at all, yet others tell me I've got a broad Yorkshire accent. If that's the case, then I'm proud of it - I like where I come from and am very proud to be from Yorkshire. When I go back to Sheffield and speak to my friends I use many different words and phrases that I wouldn't use in Manchester, such as "Ay up", "areiht" and "thee / tha". I don't like the Manc accent - I find it quite harsh to listen to.

Jonathan Jones from Nacogdoches, Texas
I am from a small town in Texas and I ain't got no accent, I just write with one! Seriously, I believe the typical pronunciation and idioms used by most people from my hometown can be considered the antithesis of received pronuciation. In fact, many of them are probably awestruck by the sophistication of George W.'s vocabulary and oratorical skills.

Mike DuBois from Minnesota (USA)
having the ability to communicate effectively using different accents should be seen as a valuable commodity. If one can mimmic a certain style of speach as well as understand it, you are on the road to becoming a more well rounded human being. just because someone "sounds funny" does not mean that their words are any less valuable. the world will be a more peaceful place when it learns to communicate effectively with all of its inhabitants

Sarah from Oxford
It is interesting that many people who say they speak R.P. don't consider it to be an accent. An R.P. accent is not supposed to give away a person's geographical origins, because it is aquired at public school, university, elocution lessons etc., nevertheless, it has a southern phonology and sounds strongly southern to northern English, Scottish and Irish English speakers. Some speakers will talk about their speech becoming more 'neutral' when they aquire an R.P. accent, but R.P. only sounds neutral to other R.P. speakers. The idea that R.P. is more correct or clearly enunciated than other varieties of English is also inaccurate. Scottish English, for example, maps more closely to English orthography than R.P. does, because it is a more conservative variety. If people understand R.P. better than other accents, then it is because speakers of English throughout Britain and abroad are exposed to the accent through television and radio, but it doesn't really have any greater claim to being the correct way to pronounce English than any other English accent.

John Tuck, North Wilts
I realise that my voice marks me out as a country bumpkin, but in correspondence the Wiltshire accent is not detectable and I know I am perceived differently by those with whom I correspond from those that I talk to face to face

Belinda from Bristol
The pronumciation of pronunciation Depends on the pronunciation of the pronouncer If the pronouncer pronounces pronunciation properly The the pronunciation of pronunciation is pronounced!!

Martin Boland, Manchester
I got into a conversation with a group of people I was passing while out walking in Leicestershire we were only speaking for a minute when one of the others asked if I was from Wigan. I'd love to know how people can distiguish all the subtle differences between town accents in the north west nowadays!

Nichola, Aberdare
i moved to s.wales from relatively accentless northampton 7 years ago and most people whether english or welsh cannot tell that i am english. even though i am still very much english on the inside and outside, my voice seems unable to remember i was ever there! is it because i barely had an accent before, or because the welsh accent is so strong? who knows?!

Gordon from Dundee
One of the people could not understand the series "Cracker" because of the accents and stated that "subtitles would have been useful". Is this person a speaker of English? Only two people in Cracker had regional accents - Robbie Coltrane (toned down soft Scottish) and Christopher Ecclestone (generic northern)! The programme on TV that needs subtitles is Eastenders!

Gareth Owen - One of the shires
I try to speak RP, I'm better on the phone!? I have a slight southern/west accent. I have a Scottish (Fife) mum and a Welsh (Swansea) dad, so I have always been used to accent variations. It is interesting to know that in Scotland they call the police polis (said completely diferently to everywhere else in Britain). The accents of the Welsh have a clear shadow of the original British language (Welsh), with certain sounds over emphasised. The Germanic sounds are clearly recognisable in the Essex/London accents. I think it is amazing that you can travel across our great land and hear varying dialects every 20-30 miles. Personally I prefer posh sounding ladies and can't stand ladies with northern accents however good they look/behave. 'Tally ho' or should that be 'latters'

Geraint, Wales
There have been far too many instances when I have been conversing with English people that I have been ridiculed to the point where people have stopped listening to what I'm actually saying and are blatantly laughing in my face because of my South-West Walian accent. By and large, this behaviour has come from otherwise reasonable, intelligent human beings. Personally, I find that level of ignorance staggering and I refuse to take it lying down.

Gavin Greig from Dundee
There are distinctive Scottish accents that you rarely hear in the media - to the extent that some people had difficulty believing that Cameron's Orcadian accent was real on Big Brother 2003. It would be nice to hear Aberdonian, Western Isles, Orcadian and Shetland accents a little more frequently.

Mark in Spain, from Essex
My mother speaks RP. A brave claim, but consider the circumstances. She was born in Prague in 1936 and emigrated to England with her German- and Czech-speaking mother in 1939. They were refugees at the country home of a philanthropic aristocrat in Shropshire, she was isolated from school, playmates and all regional, social and normal educational influences. No TV, of course, little radio, and no English to inherit from parents. She learnt English from the aristocratic lady and an English teacher contracted by her. I, on the other hand am from Essex. Enough said.

Clive Milano (Originally Manchester)
The use of a raised tonal inflection on the last word or syllable of a sentence used to imply a question in British English. With Australasian and Californian English speakers, on he other hand, this tonal emphasis has no particular significance, i.e. it doesn't imply a question or invite confirmation. However, the habit seems to be becoming very widespread amongst British English speakers. Why on earth should this be happening?

Sandy Robson from Glasgow
I really, honestly, don't have an accent...and yet I am often complimented on it! I think, though, that some might confuse diction with accent, and this should be the crux of the argument. People will ask where my accent originates and I will tell them, in all candour, that I don't know. I once tried to tell the truth: that I'm from Glasgow. But the ensuing debate was just not worth it! The fact is that I learned at a very early age to adapt my speech to the audience: for my mother's family, being Belgian, I learned simply that slowing down and eliminating the glottals meant the difference between being understood or misunderstood! So, in spite of my very humble beginnings (of which I am neither proud nor ashamed), I find the argument over accents rather timewasting - if there is to be some debate, let it be over what is most comprehensible to the majority. With English as the International Language, we have a responsibility to speak it to the best of our ability - using the correct grammar, certainly - with the simple purpose of being most widely understood.

Niall from Edinburgh
Is anyone else an 'accent chameleon'? I find that my accent very readily adapts depending on the people I am speaking to. I used to impersonate people a lot when I was wee, but now I find that my accent drifts all over the country without me really realising. I worry about this as I recently read an article that said people whose accent changes are shallow.

Ella, from London (brought up in Lincolnshire)
On moving to London I was mocked (in a nice way!) for my east midlands use of 'u' in 'bus' and 'a' in 'path'. I have friends who made a conscious decision, on leaving Lincolnshire, to ditch their rural accent. One of these friends became a doctor and felt it easier to fit in and be respected in a medical and academic environment with an RP accent, and another has set up a 'sin box', into which she pays a pound every time she says 'a' instead of 'ar'! Unbelievable! I love to hear a Northern Irish accent because it reminds me of my best mate. I am sure that people's perceptions regarding the quality of accents is based on their experience and prejudices of speakers from that group.

Catherine orginally from Sutton Coldfield
As part of my English degree a couple of years ago I conducted a survey which asked people from around the UK opinions of their own and other people's regional accents. Being from the Birmingham area myself I expected the Brummie accent to be top of the list as the most disliked accent due to its continual criticism and the negative connotations the media often associate with it portraying people from the region as 'slow or stupid'. This obviously has an effect on people from the area themselves as I found they were quite negative and/or embarrassed about their own accent. However amongst the 'non-Brummies' I surveyed I am pleased to say that the Brummie accent was not the most disliked accent (er it came 2nd!) In fact the 'cockney' accent was voted the worst and the reasons attributed to this were accents such as that of Jade Goody from Big Brother and certain characters within Eastenders. Personally I think it makes life more interesting to have diversity within accent and dialect but I can understand that sometimes accents have to be modified in order for others to accept or understand you within different social settings.

Jenni Bradbury from Newcastle
I know what you're thinking, Geordie!! Well, you're wrong! I was born in Essex (gasp) and yet I still speak with a relatively neutral tone (some would say posh :) ), but since I've lived here, I've begun drifting into a more brusque tone with my friends, so I think it depends on your social situation.

Alison from Singapore
I come from North East Wales and my town used to have a very strong dialect of its own. I get sick of people telling me that I don't sound Welsh. I was born and brought up in Wales and therefore, by definition, my accent is Welsh. It's just not Soth Walian according to the stereotype.

Alyson Brown
I moved from Newcastle geordie land when I was 7 to Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire so my accent is a bit mixed up!! Personally I don't think I have any kind of accent. I have just come back from America where people were coming up to me in the shops and saying wow I love your accent, will you talk to me.....are you from Austrailia!!

Kate Cloherty from Barrhead,Glasgow
In my opinion as a 13 year old an accent is what makes you recognize someone, everyone's accent is unique because people live in a selection of places at different times of their life. In my opinion the Dublin accent is the the most pleasent to listen to.

Kevin from Hull
Growing up I didnt think I had an accent as Hull is an insular place and not many outsiders come there. I've lived all over England and indeed the world as an adult and I now am aware how unique the Hull accent is. If I hear anyone on speaking on TV or if I am on holiday somewhere I can easily distinguish a Hull accent from the rest of Yorkshire because we use 'ar' where 'i' should be. eg. A pint of mild becomes A parnt of marld. Also the the letter 'O' becomes 'err' eg. No becomes Nerr.

Des from Hull
My accent changes depending on where I am. I used to live in the North-East, and whenever I go back there, my Geordie accent gets much stronger. It disappears again on the jouney back to Yorkshire, somewhwere on the A19!

Sarah from Birmingham
As someone originally from Hampshire I do feel like people treat me differently because of my RP. This is especially true as I want to get into presenting and it actually seems like the only presenters who are hired have regional accents unless they present the news. It's obviously a good thing rather than a bad thing as it means that people on tv and radio are more representative of the community, but a bad thing for me!

Felicity, Carlisle
I totally agree with Jemma from Bournemouth. I'm 38 and I still feel awkward about meeting new people as I have become so used to being judged by my so-called 'posh' accent (even though I speak with Yorkshire 'A's). I feel I have to make an effort to convince people that I am not easily offended, prudish, wealthy, etc.

James, Glasgow
Eyeeed juss lie-eek too say dat, eyeeeve been livvin wiv a scally from Liverrpooool for quite a bit, but I'm actually from the Midlands (note absence of phonetic spelling, as I think the accent (erroneous usage?) is rather non-descript.) I currently reside in Glasgee, where my folks are fee, bott am nawwww gonnae be pat orf by peeeepulls preconceptions aboot wot colloquialisms av picked-up fee others, nawww?

Tony Robinson from Cheltenham
I was brought up in the services, my father and my grandfather before him being in the RAF, with my family roots in Essex and Hampshire. Having a mixture of playmates from not only the whole of the country but many from other parts of the world, I have always considered my accent to be rather neutral. Although as with most people a little bit of unconscious mimicry goes on. When I was about nine, my father having been posted to the wilds of Lincolnshire, I attended an old fashion Church of England school run by an elderly couple. To my great embarrassment I was made to stand up in front of the school to read passages out loud to show how it should be pronounced. Much to the disappointment of the Head Mistress, who was also the music teacher, a good speaking voice did not translate to a good singing voice. Years later, having travelled the world myself in the RAF and settled in Cheltenham, I was working in Norfolk when a man next to me said, "Your from Cheltenham". Someone who didn't know me from Adam and came from Gloucester recognised an accent I never knew I had. In these days of mass communication it is sad to see the English language being battered by the storms of political correctness and the ever advancing tide of Americanism. Be proud of your accent but don't slip into bad habits, language is really what makes each of us special.

Claire from Leicester
I was born and raised in Leicester, but my accent is not all that strong. It fades altogether when I am at work as I am a receptionist. I really like all the regional accents and dialects that we have, especially the words like "jitty" or "okey" that mark us out as Leicester. I also like the Brummie accent, mostly because I now associate it with some amazing nights out amongst very friendly people..

Sue, Solihull
Don't you think that its fantastic that accents can appear to change so much across the generations? There have been so many comments about how younger people speak (mostly negative criticisms) yet I think its amazing that sections of society are still developing their own linguistic identities despite the potential influences of tv etc. Personally, I was born near Birmingham but seem to have grown up with a 'posh' accent. However, a few years spent living in Gloucester during my late teens means that my accent seems to slip when I've been drinking and I tend to start asking for 'ciderrrrr'!!

Laura Jennings from London, originally rural Essex
When I was growing up I was DESPERATE not to have an Essex accent, but going to an enormous sixth form college from a small private girls' school meant that I was ridiculed for sounding posh. Recently I was actually quite startled to hear myself speak on film, I sound much more RP than I realised (maybe that's what a Cambridge education does for you!). I think I still have traces of an Essex accent, the Londonified ugly one that is commonly perceived as "Essex", not the soft and lovely rural one that a few old people in my home village still speak.

Janette from Dublin
I love 'real' accents, whether they're regional or a mix created by your life: where you've lived, who your friends are, where you work. The only things I don't like are Estuary English, because it usually sounds fake, and that rising questioning note that people sometimes use at the end of a statement, because it makes people sound like they're asking permission for their opinions. Very annoying! Modern RP, with a slight regional colour, seems to me the most appropriate for news broadcasting.

Marie from the US (all over) currently in Malaysia
I was born in the southern US, grew up near NYC, then lived in Michigan for 5 years, before moving to Malaysia to teach English. No one can ever guess what country I'm from, and I rather like it--I think it gives me a chameleon's ability to comfortably go where I like. I must confess ignorance of each of the UK dialects, but have noticed a difference between the accents of east coast and west coast Australians. Has anyone else?

Matt Bates from Nuneaton
Northern Irish & Glaswegian are the hardest to understand. Rab C Nesbit! I rest my case

Alexandra McCallum from Australia
I absolutely love hearing accents from all over the world and have to force myself not to 'pick them up' when i'm talking. It's great for practical jokes though! Speaking a different accent (or a different language) you seem to display a different part of yourself, It's as if the world shifts just a bit and everything around you changes. That's why our accents are so important, they represent thousands of different perspectives and histories. Australian regoinal accents aren't anywhere near as distinct as in the UK because European Austtralian's didn't live in the same areas for hundreds of years. Just as well people come here from so many countries to make things a bit more interesting. Murri English (Aboriginal from my area) is deadly (great) too.

Bernie from Paris
Zee only accent for listening and enjoying is zee French way of speaking...It is most nice. Not like zees Eengleesh nonsense. Vive la France!

Rhian, Oxford
I think regional accents are great and it's especially nice to hear more of them in the media. I have a strong Mid-Wales accent and am often complimented on it. The worst thing it when people who have an accent deliberately try to lose it; your accent is part of who you are!

Carrie, Aberdeen (originally Surrey)
I find the comments regarding preconceptions about RP vs regional accents tend to be true. When I first arrived here I found many people assumed I was 'posh' and cold. I couldn't understand everything the locals said as not only can the accent be broad, but the local slang is a language of its own. I don't have much preference with regard to accents, I think regional variance can be charming, but I do prefer people to speak 'properly' (ie make grammatical sense) so I can understand! I don't see any issue with presenters using regional accents in the media, however, I would prefer less lazy English - I don't think it's a good idea as it reinforces a poor use of language, particularly to impressionable children who may believe it will give them more 'street cred'. I tried it myself as a young teen, and like many, correction was attempted by the Folks. When I grew up I learned that people take me more seriously after dropping the attempted Estuary English. Nowadays I find myself unintentionally exaggerating my Southern English RP accent in the company of foreigners...

Amanda Miles (Southampton Hampshire)
I am from Southampton, Hampshire. I am pleased to confirm I do not have an accent, ok, maybe a slight bit hampshire like at times!!

Phil, York
I think I find the Celtic accents the most pleasant -- probably a function of having grown up in North Wales. To hear a proper North Walian accent is a real joy to the ear! Having grown up having half of my family in York, I've also grown to appreciate the Yorkshire accents; likewise East Anglia. On the other hand, despite spending a long time in Leicester, I really can't stand that accent. I find it worse than Birmingham, which in any case is frequently caricatured. Long live regional accents -- at least, the nice ones!

Jennifer Mera living in Madrid
I'm an expat Brit who has lived in Madrid for nearly 30 years. I find well-spoken people a pleasure to listen to no matter where they come from and think that the use of swear words instead of adjectives a lazy and uncultured way of speaking.

Mike, Melksham
When I moved to Portsmouth from the North West, I had to have an interpreter, as I found that my accent was inpenetrable to the locals. I'm proud to have a regional accent, but not to the extent where I thicken the accent up just to be a professional Northerner, after 20 years away from my home town. Accents also influence the written word, such as the modern preoccupation of 'an' prior to a non-vowel word such as 'an hotel' or as above in the main article 'an received' (para. 5), which is just lazy estuary, and to be honest annoys me more than the way people speak.

Tara from Derbyshire
I find RP comical and quite fake-sounding. I love hearing people's natural accents and the lingual quirks we all have, depending on where we come from. I'm from the Peak District, and although my strong accent attracts raised eyebrows in places like London, I think its the nicest accent in the world! (Well, I would, wouldn't I?!) I love the deep, rolling sound of the Derbyshire accent and all the strange colloquialisms my family use: 'mardy', 'nesh', 'sithee', 'gee'oor', 'mester' instead of mister, and so on. The only downside is ignorant people presuming you must be thick, common and poorly-educated if you have a strong accent and use dialect. In fact, I have a PhD; its very insulting to have Southerners and RP speakers be shocked that I have brains and am sophisticated, just because I say 'cowd' instead of cold... Still, as my family would say " Ne'er mind, Lass"!

Oliver, UK
I am a student at Edinburgh University, but am originally from Bournemouth and have a pretty standard southern RP accent. People at university assume that I have been privately educated because of my South Coast pronunciation, which is incorrect. I can sometimes distinguish between the Edinburgh and Glasgow, and I think Glaswegians tend to speak in a more slurred way which makes them harder to understand. I agree that some Edinburgh accents sound really great (especially to Americans, it seems), but I just can't understand the woman who cleans my room! Having said that, I much any Scottish accents to those of Northern England, which really grate me. Perhaps I am prejudiced, but I cannot stand their pronunciation of vowels and words such as "bath" and "laugh", etc. As comedian Jimmy Carr said: "I'm from the home counties, so I don't have an accent. This is just how words sound when they're pronounced properly."

Marc from Sweden
Although i used to live in the 'Black country' (West midlands) for a period of two years and found the people extremely warm and welcoming i found the Accent one of the worst i had ever heard in the Uk, to the extent of even TV programmes use the 'Black country accent' if they wish to portray the character as 'stupid', In my experience, this is most certainly not the case but i feel this accent has been 'Stereo typed'.

Helen from the Wirral
I have lived my whole life in the Wirral, and as such have a wirralian accent. As we live over the water from liverpool the accents are very similar and if we are ever abroad it is easier to say we come from Liverpool than the Wirral which most people (even in Britain!!) have never heard of. Here we speak quickly and when abroad we are often mistaken for being Dutch as our accent can be quite gutteral. I also find when talking to people with strong accents that I tend to pick up thier accent quite easily, which is fine as long as they don't think you're taking the mick!!!

Al Paton leeds
My Family are from an Armed Forces background, and as a result i've moved 33 times in my life, mainly within the UK. One effect of this is a strange accent. You can split where we lived roughly as 2 thirds down 'sowf' and 1 third 'up norf'. Accents ARE VERY IMPORTANT. Always being the new kid at school, the minute i opened my mouth stood me apart from all the other kids so i'd actually try to pick up the local accent ASAP: to blend in. The irony (as stated by previous contributors) is that to foreigners they cannot tell local dialects apart. My Dad is Scottish and my Mum a geordie, and yet to a Yank they both sound the same (just as a Texas drawl sound pretty similar to a Brooklyn accent: but not to an American whern the differences are massive). Being 'proud' of your accent, in my mind, is a bit odd :why should you be? It's only the way you sound. I don't see much difference between someone saying i'm proud of my yorkshire accent and someone saying i'm proud of my white skin! In the scheme of things they count for nothing except to small minded people who never leave the comfort of the local area and NEED comforting (and their accent does this for them). Having said that: sticks and stones....

Kate from Glasgow in Wigan
I have a strange accent. I am from Glasgow, however because I spent alot of my younger years in America,I have a mid atlantic accent, though predominantly Scottish. I get compliments on my accent, however i wish I ad £1 for every time I was asked "Where are you from"

Susan Bailey, Stevenage
Accent don't mean anything - it's how you are to other people that counts. Mind you, am I the only one who has to watch Rab C Nesbitt with subtitles on so I can understand what's going on?!!

Helen, Canterbury
While RP seems generally accepted as the "proper" way to speak, lazy pronunciation is deplorable, especially in those who are involved in communication services like radio, TV and teaching. How many times to we have to hear "ejewkashun", "ishoos", "immeejutly", "medsin" and "The Departmen' of Trade Nindustry" before broadcasters tighten up their act? It's also up to parents and teachers to speak clearly and correctly, as there is a bit of the parrot in all of us, and if all we hear is lazy, mumbled, mispronounced speech, that's what we tend to reproduce.

david in Hampshire
I'm now used to the Hampshire 'burr' or Southampton 'Saff-amton'. But yeaterday I heard a voice from my youth, Shropshire. I was back using it for the rest of the day. I'ts rural but the rolled R's come from somewhere back of the nose, As if learnt from a bull. Distinctive enough for Henry Higgins to place.

Emma, E Yorks
I was born and raised in Hull by a Belfast mum, and my accent changes totally depending on who I'm speaking to. At times iit's consciously (my grandad could never understand me as "English)and then at times it's automatic. I recently went over to Belfast with a load of Hull friends for an ice hockey match, and found myself switching between the 2 from person to person. I don't see either accent as preferable, but as a kid it just made sense to speak like everyone else. I don't see why American English is seen as so bad. It's an evolved version of English that has existed separately on a different continent for hundreds of years, so why should it be seen as inferior?

Rigy from Manchester
I completely dislike my accent and mancunian way of speaking along with the likes of burnley,blackburn,all outer manchester towns. i hate to say but scouse is rich and strong.

Christine Macdonald Staffordshire
How you speak affects people's assumptions about you. I was born, brought up & went to scool & university in Glasgow.I dont talk like Rwb C Nesbit but I do have a Scottish accent. When I went to work in Aberdeen I was told not only that I didn't sound as if I came from Glasgow but that I didn't "look like I came from Glasgow!" Since I moved south of the border, people think I must be from Edinburgh!!! (What a thing to say to a Glaswegian!)

H.A.D. Ford
I worked as an ecologist in Newcastle in the early 80's and had to ask permission from farmers to work in fields at Druridge Bary Northumberland. I was intrigued by the fact that as a southerner, I could not understand a word of what the farmers were saying, but I could understand their wives. I always assumed that this was because the wives listened to the radio at home and their accent was influenced by the BBC. In north wales in a similar project covering the Lleyn peninsular in 1975 I was surprised by the number of Welsh farmers who had no english at all and who had to find someone else to translate between us.

Michael Feeny in London
All British regional and class dialects sound absurd. As English spreads globally, the risk is that the British will be perceived as a nation of country bumpkins.

Dez, from Cheltenham
After returning home to the Black Country after my 1st term at university in Cheltenham, a friend kindly told me that I had lost my soft brummy twang and gained a cockney farmer tone, perhaps that how you describe a west country brummie?

Eric Clayton from Birmingham
We say we're proud of our regional accents but the fact is the odds are stacked against those with bad grammer and strong accents, one of the few quotes I recall from my schooling in the post war years was the Headmaster saying 'To speak correctly is money in your pocket' Have times really changed that perception? I suspect not.

Helen from London
I think that a new dialect is developing among teenagers/school kids. The mix of cultures seems to have created its own 'teenage' speak which is incomprehensible to those above school age & sounds ridiculous. While a multi cultured society is a good thing, losing sight of 'proper' English is not.

Mike from Manchester now in Australia
For Southerners wheres the "R" in Bath.