By Madeline Sidgwick, Senior News Editor
Coming from the North East of England, moving South for university was always on my bucket list. I have always had, and still do, the ability to romanticise London, posh accents and the undeniable relevancy of living in the South.
My personal experience as someone that possesses quite a strong regional accent has been interesting to say the least. I have had my accent described as everything from ‘charming’ to ‘chavy’ and on one occasion was asked to ‘slow down I actually cannot understand what you are saying’.
Before university I would have never identified myself as having a regional accent or coming across as stereotypically Northern in my personality– whatever that means? When I asked our VP Education Matthew Paterson to make a comment on his experience as a Northerner at Royal Holloway, this was also evident. Matthew told The Orbital “the biggest thing I noticed was about losing my accent slightly. Whenever I’m at Uni people always comment on me sounding Northern, but when I go home my family say I’ve developed a southern accent, so it’s weird to think about where that means I fit in!”.It is therefore, I believe, natural for me to admit that my accent has become a new found insecurity of mine since being at Royal Holloway.
When asking other Northern students ,like Mya Rogers, a second year English and Creative Writing student, if they had any memorable experiences in being classified as ‘the northern friend’ or ‘caught out’ for having a regional accent, it is clear that this is a renowned canon event for any Northern student at Royal Holloway. Sitting around in first year kitchens in freshers week with a group of people you probably met two days ago asking you to pronounce certain words. Say ‘poooouuurrr’ – ‘pooeh’. Say ‘baaarrth’ — ‘bAth’.
For me this scenario was fun, having a new accent makes you included in a strange way because people may assume that you are interesting, different and perhaps even charming. However, it very quickly becomes frustrating to constantly be telling people where your accent is from… especially when they have no idea where your hometown is.
My frustration and insecurity only intensified when I went for a job interview with an MP and felt as if I was out of the running for the job as soon as I opened my mouth and my Northern accent slipped out. Even with my best attempts to annunciate and almost three years of living in Egham, I still receive comments on my accent.
I had the pleasure of talking to my good friend and The Orbital’s Deputy Editor, Ruby Day about what it is like to be from the North East, specifically. Even though our accents are extremely different, Ruby agreed with me that the divide is not necessarily perpetuated by the fact that someone is ‘Northern’ but rather that they are “not from the South”. Ruby expressed how many Southern students “think that Northern people still live in the 1800s”. I agree wholeheartedly with this and can testify that many of my home friends do not have parents that work ‘down in pit’. Even as I write this piece, I know that readers will think that this is a joke, but be rest assured that this is genuinely true on our campus.
There still seems to be a natural North-South divide in the UK and accents at universities at the opposite end of the country to your hometown only put this on show. It is assumed that with the age of technology and an increased degree of social mobility that Gen Z would not carry on perceiving and perpetuating this historical divide. But it is not the divide in itself that is a problem, it is the stereotypes that many Northern students face.
Northern accents are too often branded as ‘uneducated’ or ‘chavy’. One student told The Orbital that “Regarding personal wealth, the divide is almost a myth, but on friendliness and perceptions on life and how to treat others, the stereotype is as rigid as ever”. I have often said to my peers that if I say something in a seminar and then someone in the same class with a southern accent said the exact same thing, somehow their point would come across, and be taken as more educated and somehow groundbreaking.
In my final year of university I hope to wear my accent with more pride as it is not only my voice, but a symbol of where I am from and how proud of myself I am to have moved so far to university. Being ‘well-spoken’ or ‘chavy’ is not defined by your regional accent and I hope that this piece has cleared that up. After freshers week, let it go that your friend or classmate is Northern and in your adult life, please do not immediately disregard someone who has an accent like mine. It would also be great for students to figure out where the mystical ‘North’ is and on a more personal note, where Middlesbrough is on a map.
Image Credit: Madeline Sidgwick