Latest on Orwell Bridge

[PeterWright]

The Suffolk accent, at least in the more rural parts, outlived the essex one, and I'm old enough to remember both. But they are now replaced almost universally with the horrors of estuary English, which sounds to me like a degraded form of cockney.

Peter.

 

[Seashoreman]

The Suffolk accent, at least in the more rural parts, outlived the essex one, anf I'm old enough to remember both. But they are now replaced almost universally w ith the horrors of estuary English, which sounds to me like a degraded form of cockney.

Peter.

I have to tell you that it is still very much alive and well in my part of Suffolk. Talk to the second- Coxswain of the Lifeboat.
Talk to any locals out of the tourist areas. Perhaps, I admit, it is the over 50's generally but it is still very much alive and natural in pockets of East Suffolk. I know a woman who would belt out an old song or two at the drop of a hat and a cheeky stout or two.
I have been here most of my life now but I can understand 'broad Suffolk' naturally.

 

[PeterWright]

I have to tell you that it is still very much alive and well in my part of Suffolk. Talk to the second- Coxswain of the Lifeboat.
Talk to any locals out of the tourist areas. Perhaps, I admit, it is the over 50's generally but it is still very much alive and natural in pockets of East Suffolk. I know a woman who would belt out an old song or two at the drop of a hat and a cheeky stout or two.
I have been here most of my life now but I can understand 'broad Suffolk' naturally.

Thanks for that, it'a great news. I'm afraid I've not heard a Suffolk or Essex accent in about a decade now, despite visits to Southwold, Leiston, Saxmundham, Aldeburgh, Orford and villages around those towns. Where I now live, in Burnham- on - Crouch, I never here an Essex accent. I'm well over 50 myself, but I never had a Suffolk accent, having been born and lived my first 11 years in Cardiff.

Peter.

 

[Aquaboy]

Blimy.. a Suffolk accent in Aldeburgh...........thought it was all holiday homes now.....

 

[Greemble]

I have to tell you that it is still very much alive and well in my part of Suffolk. Talk to the second- Coxswain of the Lifeboat.
Talk to any locals out of the tourist areas. Perhaps, I admit, it is the over 50's generally but it is still very much alive and natural in pockets of East Suffolk. I know a woman who would belt out an old song or two at the drop of a hat and a cheeky stout or two.
I have been here most of my life now but I can understand 'broad Suffolk' naturally.

There is much evidence of accent still up in North-East Suffolk, although that differs noticeably from the Ipswich version, both of which are also distinct from the Mid-Suffolk accent.
When I was younger, it was possible to notice how the accent changed across the region, usually between 7 & 10 miles - sometimes less if there was a geographical feature such as a river between the towns.
Less so now as people seems to have moved around more and their kids have been bussed into fewer, larger schools.

 

[Seashoreman]

Blimy.. a Suffolk accent in Aldeburgh...........thought it was all holiday homes now.....

There are families that go back a few hundred years still hanging on in the roads that the tourists don't even know exist.
Aldeburgh to most visitors (by car) is a rapid drive to a parking space near the shops in the High Street or a brief walk with a view of the sea. Bit sad really.

 

[Jan Harber]

There are families that go back a few hundred years still hanging on in the roads that the tourists don't even know exist.
Aldeburgh to most visitors (by car) is a rapid drive to a parking space near the shops in the High Street or a brief walk with a view of the sea. Bit sad really.

For anyone interested in ‘broad Suffolk’ I would recommend two very good books, both set in East Suffolk:
Akenfield (in real life Charsfield near Wickham Market) by the late Ronald Blythe,
and Ask the Fellows who Cut the Hay (recollections of Blaxhall villagers) by George Ewart Evans.
Next door to us, in a village near Orford, is a family whose roots go back to Slaughden before it was washed away…

 

[Snowgoose-1]

The Suffolk accent, at least in the more rural parts, outlived the essex one, and I'm old enough to remember both. But they are now replaced almost universally with the horrors of estuary English, which sounds to me like a degraded form of cockney.

Peter.

About 20 years ago whilst in a hotel in the Med, I was talking to an elderly gentlemen who had an accent that I couldn't quite work out. When I asked him where he came from he said that he had lived in Woodford Green all his life. Surprised so close to London.

I lived in Chelmsford for a few years and occasionally you heard the Essex twang. Also now and then when I kept a boat at West Mersea .

 

[Tradewinds]

From the East Anglian Film Archive
Yoxford Characters
Work - East Anglian Film Archive

 

[DanTribe]

"I lived in Chelmsford for a few years and occasionally you heard the Essex twang. Also now and then when I kept a boat at West Mersea"

My wife's Granny lived in Burnham and in the 1960s I had trouble understanding her sometimes as I was from East London.
One phrase that stumped me and had to be translated
" That unt goo"
She will not go.
I commend Cocker Freeman, Dengie Boy videos. Makes I larf.

 

[fredrussell]

Aldeburgh is a lot better than it used to be. I used to visit there in the 80’s and back then it was nigh on impossible to buy art in the high street.

 

[14K478]

The Suffolk accent, at least in the more rural parts, outlived the essex one, anf I'm old enough to remember both. But they are now replaced almost universally w ith the horrors of estuary English, which sounds to me like a degraded form of cockney.

Peter.

I entirely agree. The same goes for local expressions - in Colchester, and nowhere else that I know of - the town bus station was always “the bus park”, for example.

I think we may suspect television as one culprit in the replacement of local dialect.

 

[johnalison]

I entirely agree. The same goes for local expressions - in Colchester, and nowhere else that I know of - the town bus station was always “the bus park”, for example.

I think we may suspect television as one culprit in the replacement of local dialect.

The north Essex accent was very evident among the older folk when we moved here in 2000. I'm not sure whether it is dying out or I have become used to it and don't notice it. I do think that TV has a lot to answer for, made worse by the producers' and actors' preference for what they perceive as working-class speech, though it was nothing of the sort until Blair et al made it sound trendy.

My first job was in Ipswich in '63, when most people spoke with something like an accent as well as using dialect words, such as 'tissik' for cough. When asked how they were they would almost always reply "nicely, thank you", unless they felt at death's door when the answer would be "fairly".

 

[Daydream believer]

I went to the Mid Essex Technical College & school of Art in Chelmsford to study building for 4 years full time.
The change in accent from those in N Essex was really noticeable. I would also point out the difference in the nature of the people. I also spent some time in Thurrock Technical College where vandalism was rife. In the 4 years at chelmsford there was only one such act of deliberation where a drunken student smashed a panel in a stud wall with a chair in the common room. I think that although it was made good it was not painted, as a reminder to everyone. I think that we all felt a tinge of shame. One never found broken chairs & graffiti etc. that one found at Thurrock.

That did not count the smashed window where the head of department on the 4th floor slammed the window so hard at his annoyance at jeering building students, that he smashed the glass which then fell 4 storeys. He had just told them to stop chucking snowballs through the open windows at the girls on that floor, as they could break the glass.
I loved my time at Chelmsford. After a boys only grammar school the presence of free range fanny was a sight to behold.

 

[Aquaboy]

FREE RANGE what........you can't say that these days...... Totally agree tho'.... my secondary modern mixed the year I started ......thank god..

 

[Rum Run]

I went to the Mid Essex Technical College & school of Art in Chelmsford to study building for 4 years full time. (Snip)
I loved my time at Chelmsford. After a boys only grammar school the presence of free range fanny was a sight to behold.

Skirts were shorter in those days I suppose