Brighton / Sussex Accents

[Buzzer]

I've been told on more than one occasion that I've got a 'Brighton' accent. Interesting as I used to think that there is no accent as such but if you listen to Brighton's most famous son, Max Miller on this video you can certainly (well I do) recognise the Brighton accent. I hear it in Worthing too, where I'm from originally .

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It's definitely not cockernee as the aspirates are all pronounced. There's also a 'softness' to it that makes it quite pleasant to listen to that cockernees don't have. It comes from their funny way of talking out the side of their arse.

...but I do remember hearing old Sussex accents too especially when you get to rural Sussex. There's still a few old boys around who have got it. Bizarrely less than 4 miles from where I type this, the Copper family of Rottingdean still seem to have it. Have a listen to this song by John Copper. Proper yokel Sussex.

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(from the Imagined Village album. It's about looking down onto Saltdean Valley. This is beautiful stuff).


Waddya reckon?

 

[Dandyman]

A Brighton accent is definitely different from a Sussex one. The usual explanation is the large number of Londoners that have lived in the fishing village since probably the 1920s and the days of the race course gangs.

 

[Jonno]

We must have very strange accents in Shoreham. When I was in America last year everyone thought I was Australian.

 

[Buzzer]

A Brighton accent is definitely different from a Sussex one. The usual explanation is the large number of Londoners that have lived in the fishing village since probably the 1920s and the days of the race course gangs.

Ahh..but my dear Sir, Max Miller predates the cockernee invasion by at least 25 years. My point is that the accent was different even in Max's time.

 

[Dandyman]

Ahh..but my dear Sir, Max Miller predates the cockernee invasion by at least 25 years. My point is that the accent was different even in Max's time.

I blame the Prince Regent, bloody German.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

We must have very strange accents in Shoreham. When I was in America last year everyone thought I was Australian.

Jup, we're a nation unto ourselves. People should need passports and jabs to visit - and we shouldn't let most of them in.

 

[Gully]

Spot on Dandyman, there is definitely a difference between the accent on the coast and north of the Downs, also the further west you go the more 'ampshire it gets.

After leaving home my brother lived in Worthing and largely worked in London, his accent took on a bit of a Jack-the-lad twang. The first time I met his partner, now wife, she told me that I sounded like a country bumpkin...although not originally from Sussex she hadn't spent any time in its more rural parts, so I guess I might have sounded a bit odd to her, and I don't reckon that I have any accent at all!

 

[Commander]

Someone in London once said to me "You're from Brighton aren't you, I can tell by your accent" which really confused me because I didn't know there was a Brighton accent.

 

[beorhthelm]

i think most towns develop a cockerny like (not the same as) accent, while country accents tend to be the sameish south of yorkshire and east of somerset. i can definatly pick out a rural sussex accent, brigthon is more difficult. but then my missus says i come home from a night on the lash with mates in brighton and a have their local accent for the next day, i cant tell it myself.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

I work with a builder from Burrish (Burwash) who has a very distinct Sussex country accent. Brought up on a farm - sounds quite the yokel.

 

[Marc]

also from shoreham and also called Australian when I went to Boston, USA in 1999!

 

[Buzzer]

I blame the Prince Regent, bloody German.

Don't think you can blame the Hun for this one. If anything the accent would be a harsh barking sound if Gorgeous George had any influence.

....and also us Worthingers were called Pigbolters in times of yore because apparently we weren't too fond of eating piggies back then. (That's true, that is). Surely, if my ancestors had been touched by the Bosch brush then I'd be mad for a bit of spicy sausage.


"Bosch brush" - must use that again.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

also from shoreham and also called Australian when I went to Boston, USA in 1999!

It's not uncommon for Americans to mistake English accents for Aussie ones. Not happened to me, but I've head it said a lot.

 

[Dandyman]

Someone in London once said to me "You're from Brighton aren't you, I can tell by your accent" which really confused me because I didn't know there was a Brighton accent.

Interesting point. I know a Croatian girl who has lived in London for a decade or so. Shortly after we met, she asked where I was from as she thought my accent was different from most other Londoners she had met. (I'm actually London born and mainly Lewes bred).

 

[Gully]

also from shoreham and also called Australian when I went to Boston, USA in 1999!

...not from Shoreham, but not that far from...also got called Australian by some Americans in Montreal. When I told them that I wasn't Australian they asked why my accent was...go figure!

 

[Franks Wild Years]

Alright Buzzer ?
I've been asked more than a couple of times if I'm from Brighton, so I guess I do have a Brighton accent and when I go back to my mum's I can definately hear hers and my step dad's accents. Mrs Wildy Ears does a good impression of us all together !
My mums brother was a farmer who never actually lived in Brighton and he had a strong Sussex 'yokel' accent.

On a seperate note will you be having a pint before kick off tomorrow ?

 

[Beach Hut]

Bizarrely the only person who said I had a Brighton accent was a teacher from Australia

 

[KNC]

Someone in London once said to me "You're from Brighton aren't you, I can tell by your accent" which really confused me because I didn't know there was a Brighton accent.

This has also happened to me, I was in Wales.
There's a fella I know, born and bred in Poynings. He's got a fantastic Sussex accent.

 

[Buzzer]

Exactly. Dunno about you but I'm quite chuffed to be told that though.

 

[Dandyman]

Don't think you can blame the Hun for this one. If anything the accent would be a harsh barking sound if Gorgeous George had any influence.

....and also us Worthingers were called Pigbolters in times of yore because apparently we weren't too fond of eating piggies back then. (That's true, that is). Surely, if my ancestors had been touched by the Bosch brush then I'd be mad for a bit of spicy sausage.


"Bosch brush" - must use that again.

Ah, but I thought you had a touch of the Cockernee Sparra about you ?