kernow

I remember some time ago there was talk of all people losing their regional accent because of the movement of people around the Country! I'm pleased to say it hasn't happened yet! I have a cousin who is from Essex, who emigrated back in 1962 to Tasmania. She came over three years ago and still has an Essex accent!

g hall

Which part of Essex though as away from the Thames and London it don't half change

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Besoeker

Poor lass to be so encumbered!
On a slightly more serious note......
I agree that distinctive regional accents still exist. In fact, I think that new regional/cultural accents have emerged.
But, I think, local vocabulary is being lost. Idiomatic language is becoming more generational than geographical.

TannyD

I speaks Glawster, I does.

But if needs must I can put on a slightly posher accent.

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whypatcondellisntfun

Very important. I spend time not only writing my replies, but also researching some of the 'facts' presented to me via forums in order to understand the truth of the matter.

Yes. I can agree with that.

I do hate it when a spelling error creeps in on my posts, I race to edit it as I invariably realise my mistake just after I've posted.

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kernow

Braintree born and bred!

Clippo

Leo,
I guess your initial question wasn't about writing as speaking but others have alluded to it.

I hope I don’t write as I speak since I was brought up in Devon & Cornwall, followed by a similar spell near Bristol. I then worked in South Wales and married a Welsh girl - (I also had part-Welsh parentage). Then, I moved to the NE for some time and now I live approx. midway between Liverpool & Manchester.

I do think it is important to be able to express ones ideas properly on internet forums with correct use of language. However, many forums, including this one, attract posters of a wide range of ‘language’ abilities. In a long career in industry, I have seen that those persons who can ‘present’ themselves visually, verbally and in writing, whether or not the content is correct, are the ones who advance.

So, although it is exceedingly difficult at times to follow some posters ‘logic’, the biggest turn-off for me is to see basic misspellings and lack of punctuation.

Of course we all make typos but these are usually recognisable as such and should be tolerated.
This type of forum, or for many posters on it, isn’t really a place to practice one’s literary skills: one-liner put downs are most some posters aspire to.

A word of caution :- Early on in this forum, I was taking part in a debate and one new poster contributed with several posts, each as long as my second para. above but without ANY punctuation. I politely, (yes I did g hall, I did ), suggested the poster might make his points clearer by including punctuation and was returned with a tirade of much effing and abuse. Within this tirade, the poster claimed to blind and had typed his post via Braille - but had yet managed to get to a senior managerial position in his chosen career.

He never posted again as far as I’m aware so I can’t comment on the truth of his claims.

Besoeker

I think that's a good approach.

Leo

Thanks everyone for your responses. Both my mum, and my uncle (who is like a mate to me,) are sticklers for correct speech and writing, and I have had my speech corrected for as long as I can remember. So I was wondering how important other people considered how we speak and how we write.

Sometimes older people compliment me on the way I speak, but sometimes people my age don't like it - especially if they have regional accents. Like I have a really good mate from Yorkshire who could not stand me when we first met. He told my cousin that I 'spoke posh' (I don't) and I would be a snob. We laugh about it now, but it nearly prevented our ever becoming friends.

So I guess language, both spoken and written, can sometimes be more important than we think.