Survey/Intro

[Al Bundy's Eyes]

Its a play on the Black Country accent Ms D. “You are,” becomes “yo am,” which becomes “y’am,” My dad had a broad Black Country accent and my grandad’s was even broader. I once took a girlfriend to meet my Nan and grandad when I was 17/18. She was from Slough. She could understand my Nan (she was Scottish) but she could barely understand my Grandad. So if my Grandad had said “you’re going to the shop,” it would have come out as “yam gooin’ to the shap.” That’s why we sometimes get called yam yams by Brummies.

Y'awright yam yow?

I particularly like the West Bromwich peculiarity of using "yim" for "your/you". Bit more generational now as the language changes though.

[Ms Diddles]

Its a play on the Black Country accent Ms D. “You are,” becomes “yo am,” which becomes “y’am,” My dad had a broad Black Country accent and my grandad’s was even broader. I once took a girlfriend to meet my Nan and grandad when I was 17/18. She was from Slough. She could understand my Nan (she was Scottish) but she could barely understand my Grandad. So if my Grandad had said “you’re going to the shop,” it would have come out as “yam gooin’ to the shap.” That’s why we sometimes get called yam yams by Brummies.

Ahhhh! Good answer, Herlock!

I'd never heard that before.

Thanks!

[Losmandris]

What on earth is a Yam Yam, Herlock / Tristan?

I've never heard that before.

Hi Mrs D,

Its a term people from Birmingham use to describe people from the Black Country (The old industrial area around the city). Basically due to the Black Country Accent the phase 'Are you' sounds like 'Yam' so when someone asks 'are you alright/ok?' it sounds like 'Yam alright'. Its a bit of a derogatory term, so its probably best not to call someone from the area itself a yam yam (and please Herlock Sholmes I was not by any means calling you one!) but lots of people from the area do call themselves a yam yam (myself included) in that kind of self depreciating way. Funny when I am in Birmingham my innate Brummie accent comes out and when I am in the Black Country somewhere from deep within my genes (or possibly having spent days at my Grannies house as a little one) I speak with a twang of a Black Country accent. I love it! And love being back in the Black Country, though with my Grannie long gone now and my wife and I in France, the opportunities are few and fair between now. Its a wonderful place full of wonderful people and rather the importantly the home to the worlds finest and I mean finest ales, Bathams Bitter.

Gosh I miss that stuff!

[Losmandris]

Hi Mrs D,

Its a term people from Birmingham use to describe people from the Black Country (The old industrial area around the city). Basically due to the Black Country Accent the phase 'Are you' sounds like 'Yam' so when someone asks 'are you alright/ok?' it sounds like 'Yam alright'. Its a bit of a derogatory term, so its probably best not to call someone from the area itself a yam yam (and please Herlock Sholmes I was not by any means calling you one!) but lots of people from the area do call themselves a yam yam (myself included) in that kind of self depreciating way. Funny when I am in Birmingham my innate Brummie accent comes out and when I am in the Black Country somewhere from deep within my genes (or possibly having spent days at my Grannies house as a little one) I speak with a twang of a Black Country accent. I love it! And love being back in the Black Country, though with my Grannie long gone now and my wife and I in France, the opportunities are few and fair between now. Its a wonderful place full of wonderful people and rather the importantly the home to the worlds finest and I mean finest ales, Bathams Bitter.

Gosh I miss that stuff!

Sorry! Just caught up after posting my response!

[Ms Diddles]

Hi Mrs D,

Its a term people from Birmingham use to describe people from the Black Country (The old industrial area around the city). Basically due to the Black Country Accent the phase 'Are you' sounds like 'Yam' so when someone asks 'are you alright/ok?' it sounds like 'Yam alright'. Its a bit of a derogatory term, so its probably best not to call someone from the area itself a yam yam (and please Herlock Sholmes I was not by any means calling you one!) but lots of people from the area do call themselves a yam yam (myself included) in that kind of self depreciating way. Funny when I am in Birmingham my innate Brummie accent comes out and when I am in the Black Country somewhere from deep within my genes (or possibly having spent days at my Grannies house as a little one) I speak with a twang of a Black Country accent. I love it! And love being back in the Black Country, though with my Grannie long gone now and my wife and I in France, the opportunities are few and fair between now. Its a wonderful place full of wonderful people and rather the importantly the home to the worlds finest and I mean finest ales, Bathams Bitter.

Gosh I miss that stuff!

Thanks Tristan!

That's interesting.

I very much doubt that I would be able to tell the difference between a brummie and a black country accent, so everyone from that region is now a Yam Yam to me (although not in an insulting way obvs)!

Will research this Bathams bitter.

If it's the world's finest ale, it's something that I need to know about. Now!

[Herlock Sholmes]

Thanks Tristan!

That's interesting.

I very much doubt that I would be able to tell the difference between a brummie and a black country accent, so everyone from that region is now a Yam Yam to me (although not in an insulting way obvs)!

Will research this Bathams bitter.

If it's the world's finest ale, it's something that I need to know about. Now!

Birmingham - think Ozzy Osbourne, Black Country - think Frank Skinner or Lenny Henry.

If you want to test if someone’s a Brummie ask them to say the word ‘year.’ They’ll pronounce it ‘yur.’

[Ms Diddles]

Birmingham - think Ozzy Osbourne, Black Country - think Frank Skinner or Lenny Henry.

If you want to test if someone’s a Brummie ask them to say the word ‘year.’ They’ll pronounce it ‘yur.’

You see to my untrained ear, Osborne, Skinner and Henry all sound pretty much the same. (Sorry!!)

I would be unable to differentiate.

It's just lack of familiarity, I guess.

Similarly English people often can't tell the difference between Glasgow / Edinburgh / Inverness / Aberdeen but I'm pretty tuned into that having lived up here for so long.

[Fleetwood Mac]

You see to my untrained ear, Osborne, Skinner and Henry all sound pretty much the same. (Sorry!!)

I would be unable to differentiate.

It's just lack of familiarity, I guess.

Similarly English people often can't tell the difference between Glasgow / Edinburgh / Inverness / Aberdeen but I'm pretty tuned into that having lived up here for so long.

There is a noticeable difference between the Black Country and Birmingham accent, providing you've spent a bit of time down there.

The Black Country accent is more melodic, a bit of a sing-song accent, whereas the Birmingham accent is more flat. But then again, I'm talking more Wolverhampton and I'd imagine there's a difference the closer you get to Birmingham, e.g. Sandwell.

As for Scotland, the accent you can't understand will be Glaswegian. Anyone listening to Kenny Dalglish being interviewed in the 1980s would have been thinking: "what?".

[Herlock Sholmes]

You see to my untrained ear, Osborne, Skinner and Henry all sound pretty much the same. (Sorry!!)

I would be unable to differentiate.

It's just lack of familiarity, I guess.

Similarly English people often can't tell the difference between Glasgow / Edinburgh / Inverness / Aberdeen but I'm pretty tuned into that having lived up here for so long.

I had a friend from Durham who was forever being called a Geordie and he always said that the two accents were nothing like each other, but they were to everyone not from that area. Unless you’re from a particular area many accents can sound the same or very similar. My Nan was from Rosyth but I just heard her accent as Scottish so there’s no way I could distinguish those accents that you mentioned.

[Ms Diddles]

There is a noticeable difference between the Black Country and Birmingham accent, providing you've spent a bit of time down there.

The Black Country accent is more melodic, a bit of a sing-song accent, whereas the Birmingham accent is more flat. But then again, I'm talking more Wolverhampton and I'd imagine there's a difference the closer you get to Birmingham, e.g. Sandwell.

As for Scotland, the accent you can't understand will be Glaswegian. Anyone listening to Kenny Dalglish being interviewed in the 1980s would have been thinking: "what?".

Yeah, F.M!

I must admit that I can spot a North East accent fine, but can't differentiate between geordie, maccum (spelling?!) and Durham accents at all.

I've lived in Glasgow for thirty years, so have no problems understanding it (even Kenny Dalglish!!).

I can now do a fairly convincing Glasgow accent if the mood takes me, but am told that I actually still sound much more English (ie people can understand me!!!)

Edit: Sorry, I mixed up my post a bit. I thought it was you that had mentioned Durham / Geordie accents, but it was actually Herlock. D'oh!

[Ms Diddles]

I had a friend from Durham who was forever being called a Geordie and he always said that the two accents were nothing like each other, but they were to everyone not from that area. Unless you’re from a particular area many accents can sound the same or very similar. My Nan was from Rosyth but I just heard her accent as Scottish so there’s no way I could distinguish those accents that you mentioned.

See post to FM.

I'm guessing that as an east-coaster your nan would have finished many sentences with "ken" then?

My basic guide to Scottish accents:

Cuddly, quaint and lyrical - Highlands & Islands.

Like that, but slightly less pronounced - Inverness.

Like a Scottish fisherman - Aberdeen

On a continuum from Miss Jean Brodie (Morningside) to Trainspotting (Pilton) -Edinburgh

Pretty unintelligible with frequent swearing - Glasgow.

[Herlock Sholmes]

See post to FM.

I'm guessing that as an east-coaster your nan would have finished many sentences with "ken" then?

My basic guide to Scottish accents:

Cuddly, quaint and lyrical - Highlands & Islands.

Like that, but slightly less pronounced - Inverness.

Like a Scottish fisherman - Aberdeen

On a continuum from Miss Jean Brodie (Morningside) to Trainspotting (Pilton) -Edinburgh

Pretty unintelligible with frequent swearing - Glasgow.

My nan’s accent must have changed a fair bit over the years because she’d lived in the midlands since the war when she met my grandad. Her mother though, my great-Grandmother, who always lived in Scotland had a much broader accent but it was still easy to understand. I had a couple of uncles up there that I only met a couple of times who I did struggle with a bit (but I was only 13/14 at the time.) And one of them tended to keep the local brewery in permanent profit which didn’t help.

[Dickere]

Ok, let's go!

Did away with the babysitter

[Fleetwood Mac]

Yeah, F.M!

I must admit that I can spot a North East accent fine, but can't differentiate between geordie, maccum (spelling?!) and Durham accents at all.

I've lived in Glasgow for thirty years, so have no problems understanding it (even Kenny Dalglish!!).

I can now do a fairly convincing Glasgow accent if the mood takes me, but am told that I actually still sound much more English (ie people can understand me!!!)

Edit: Sorry, I mixed up my post a bit. I thought it was you that had mentioned Durham / Geordie accents, but it was actually Herlock. D'oh!

Hi Ms Diddles,

Much of the dialect is to do with the people who colonised these places.

Durham, Northumberland and South East Scotland were colonised by the Angles and the dialect is a result of that.

It's why you hear so many shared words that you don't hear in other parts of Britain, such as: skelp, burn (for stream), spelk, and so on.

You can draw a line on the River Tees into Yorkshire, and under that line, in Yorkshire; there are a lot of Viking place names and they use dialect derived from the Viking language, e.g. beck (for stream). Go above that line into Durham and farther north, where the Vikings didn't settle and there are no Viking place names, and people use burn (for stream) and other dialect derived from the Angles. Such as Gan Hyem (go home), which is almost identical to modern day Danish where the Angles came from: you won't hear this south of Durham, only in the land of Durham and Northumberland where the Vikings didn't settle and there is a strong Angle legacy.

In the event you lived here for a while, you would understand the difference. Northumberland is a thicker accent, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's any easier to understand as both Durham and Northumberland use local dialect that would be unintelligible to anyone outside of the region.

As for "ken" which you mention below, we use that too but maybe in a different fashion. We would say: "do you ken him?", meaning: "do you know him?"

[Iconoclast]

Yeah, F.M!

I must admit that I can spot a North East accent fine, but can't differentiate between geordie, maccum (spelling?!) and Durham accents at all.

I've lived in Glasgow for thirty years, so have no problems understanding it (even Kenny Dalglish!!).

I can now do a fairly convincing Glasgow accent if the mood takes me, but am told that I actually still sound much more English (ie people can understand me!!!)

Edit: Sorry, I mixed up my post a bit. I thought it was you that had mentioned Durham / Geordie accents, but it was actually Herlock. D'oh!

Ms Diddles,

The easiest 'tell' for a Maccum (apart from the one eye instead of two and the high likelihood they married their sibling) is the truly ghastly way they talk. If the one-eye isn't a sufficient giveaway, you could try throwing a set of keys into the room at which point a Maccum will repeat endlessly, "Wheeze keys are theeze?"

On accents, I've lived in Newcastle, London, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, the Midlands, and the Scottish Borders, and I can honestly say the finest accent is the Teuchter Aberdonian - it's a language fit for an ancient Scottish king never mind just his people. It's wonderful and rich and full of Grampian honesty - I love it. Foo's yer doos, ken?

ike