71 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Foot in mouth Sunday
Not sure if it fits entirely: I was born in Aberdeen but moved around a lot as a kid, but did end up back in Aberdeen for secondary school. So Aberdeen is what I know, so even though my accent is basically “English but you can’t pin down a region”, I still tell people I’m “from Aberdeen”.
This is always met with “you don’t sound like you’re from Aberdeen”, which means I then have to explain the above. I have no connection to anywhere else (at least at the time), Aberdeen was what I knew about and could talk about… the place I had lived in longest was Great Yarmouth near Norwich, but only for 2-3 years.
Anyway I got talking to an English guy outside a bar in Sydney when I was backpacking in Australia. He said “so where are you from?”
I was bored of having to explain the whole thing so I just said, “Great Yarmouth, near Norwich”.
He was of course from Great Yarmouth himself, and immediately started asking questions about the things you talk about when you’re from the same place. Which of course we weren’t, and after bumbling through the conversation for a few minutes with him becoming increasingly suspicious about my nonsense answers, he eventually said “are you really from Great Yarmouth?”
“No, I only lived there for two or three years as a young kid to be honest”
“Then why say you’re from Great Yarmouth?! Where are you actually from?”
“Aberdeen”
“Oh, you don’t sound like you’re from Aberdeen”
I think I just rolled my eyes at him and walked off. Sorry Great Yarmouth bloke, you seemed like a nice guy, wasn’t your fault 😂
Comment by Willsagain2 at 09/03/2025 at 20:39 UTC
14 upvotes, 0 direct replies
There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza....
Comment by Weewoes at 10/03/2025 at 02:29 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I go through the same shit. I'm from northern irrland but grew up in London but also did a stint uo north near Middlesbrough. I now live back in northern ireland and if I ring somewhere they always check if I've rang the right number cos I sound English, I'm like yeah I know I grew uo in London but from and live here. But it's all the time lol. Even shops, kids schools etc. The funniest part is my kids are born here and raised here but sound so English.