Often a subject of ridicule, the Birmingham accent has never been particularly popular. This may have changed recently thanks to Thomas Shelby bringing an allure to the Brummie Brogue. I'm here in Birmingham today to get peoples thoughts on the poshest accents across the region.
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00:00 So, posh's accent I'd say is Bourneville and what I think about the Birmingham accent,
00:05 I'd say a lot of people take the 'mic' out of it and all of that, you know.
00:09 But I'd say it's my favourite accent because it's easier to understand when there's other
00:14 people with this posh accent or like, let's say Scouses, Scotland, you know them, where
00:18 it's hard to understand.
00:19 Manchester, London, they've got their posh accent.
00:22 I'd say Birmingham is the easiest one to understand and all that.
00:26 Probably in maybe Worcester, Kingsey, posh accents.
00:30 The Brummie accent, half the time you can't really hear what half the people are saying.
00:35 I wouldn't say it's the best accent out there, but it's not the worst either, at least we're
00:40 not Scouse.
00:41 And yeah, that's all I've got to say about it to be fair.
00:45 Okay, so in terms of dialect, it's more like Four Oaks, Suncalfield, Solihull, maybe Mars
00:53 and Green, those sort of areas.
00:56 And that probably comes with the type of people that live there, the articulation of their
01:01 profession, that sort of thing.
01:03 And the Brummie accent in general, probably we all sound stupid, but that's it.
01:10 It's not the best accent.
01:13 The poshest accent, I'd say probably Solihull.
01:17 Solihull is a posh one.
01:18 Solihull!
01:19 Solihull!
01:20 Solihull!
01:21 Yeah.
01:22 I'd go with that.
01:23 And then quite clearly, the Black Country accent is superior.
01:27 It's the best.
01:28 Clearly superior.
01:29 Yeah, it is.
01:32 Do you feel you can tell the difference between different areas of Birmingham in terms of
01:36 their accent, or do you think it's one universal accent they all share?
01:41 I think, no, there's definitely a difference.
01:44 So in a previous place of work, I worked across a few offices in Birmingham and you could
01:48 get all the difference across the accents.
01:53 Whether I could pinpoint them enough, I don't know, but you can definitely hear that there
01:56 is a regional difference.
01:57 And you can hear the difference between the Black Country and Birmingham?
02:00 Absolutely.
02:01 And you can hear the difference between the East Midlands and West Midlands?
02:05 Yeah.
02:06 But as you said, I don't think I could pin them down.
02:08 No.
02:09 No, because we're in an office with a lot of accents, aren't we?
02:13 Yeah.
02:14 I've been in Birmingham around three to four years now.
02:17 I came here for uni, so a lot of my experience has been with uni students who have a vast,
02:25 broad accent.
02:27 I think it's quite a pleasant accent to listen to.
02:30 I think it can sometimes make people sound a bit depressed, but no, my ears always prick
02:41 up when I hear someone with a thick, brummy or West Country accent, Black Country accent.
02:47 Yeah.
02:48 No, it's just a fun accent to listen to.
02:53 You can tell it's from Birmingham when you hear it.
02:56 It's friendly, soft.
02:59 I just like it.
03:01 It's catchy.
03:02 Yeah.
03:03 Yeah.