A British Character?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by CheddarCheese, Feb 5, 2012.

  1. Alex W

    Alex W New Member

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    The more common is defintely "All right duck/mate?" etc. "Hows it going?" is also more common. I think I mis-construed by what you meant when you said "What's up?", got my brain into a muddle, it's not really used at all unless asking how someone is or saying hello with a cause for concern/intrigue.

    "What's up mate?" if you've come across a mate in trouble etc, otherwise I can't say it's something I hear start a conversation with.

    'Mate' is said a hell of alot. There are alot of variations for it though. "Fam, duck, chicken, pal, just the persons name in general". Alot of things. Often i'll say mate everytime I reply to someone with an answer, it's a very 'used' word, i'd say. Atleast for me. In London I would presume it'd be similiar. London based folk might know better though!
     
  2. Alex W

    Alex W New Member

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    I've not had much experience of Mackems so haven't spotted a difference in speech, I just presumed it was a common word in both areas due to how close they are. (Or atleast how relative they are to each other)

    I've always liked the word 'pish', though that's more Scottish if Billy Connolly has taught me nothing :D

    If you need any help at any point Cheddar and the thread has long since gone dead then feel free to PM me, think i'm done with posting on here now but if I get the email that i've been PM'd then i'd be happy to help out any way I can.
     
  3. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    There is a time and a place for swearing. Although I might swear when I'm with friends, I would never say even 'bloody' in front of my parents or a superior at work. It's still pretty offensive to some people (one of the reasons the dialogue in the Harry Potter films was really annoying--that constant swearing was not in the book). Before you think I'm out of touch, I've never heard my cousins' kids aged 13-24 swear much, or at all (and I have 14 cousins and a huge extended family). I'm sure they stick to the same policy, and swear more when they are with their peer group. Also, annoying, I know, but what used to be called the Sloane Ranger lot sometimes do (bad) 'comic' (not) cockney/northern/American accents when they are fooling about.
     
  4. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    When I worked up in Sunderland, nurses kept saying to me:"What's up flower? and "What's up petal?" (t is silent). I quite liked the "petal" one :D
    But this is quite a Gordie thing, I haven't heard it said anywhere else.

    @prettygood: in the home counties they say "daft cow" more often, for some reason :D "Mate" is quite working class (the cockney "Alright mate") but also young people use it as slang. Both for men and women. Also "guys", for a group of friends.
     
  5. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    You hear those pretty much everywhere north of Newcastle - I don't know where it starts, but I've found it used everywhere between Sunderland and Berwick, and I don't think it's used in Scotland.
     
  6. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    Thanks Lemex :) I haven't been much further north than Newcastle, there is so much of the UK I haven't explored yet, so my knowledge of UK accents is patchy at best.
     
  7. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    as both cog and i said earlier, it's not a good idea at all... ddoing that would make no sense whatsoever... scroll back to page 2 for the why's...
     
  8. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    This is very true. Between the small area of the UK I can fully say I'm familiar with: a straight line from Sunderland to Berwick (just 74 miles) we have 4 major regional accents, and countless smaller accents. Mackem - which refers to people from Sunderland. Geordie - which as everyone knows refers to the denizens of Newcastle upon Tyne, and broadly speaking to Gateshead as well. Northumbrian - which is people from Northumberland, which I have: think Ross Noble and Jackie Charlton for references. And the Boarders accent - which is for all intents and purposes a southern Scottish accent.

    And of course these are not strict or set in stone. Every town as a variation on these accents. It'll do everyone well to remember that some people who know an area well enough can tell an accent even streets apart in some cases.
     
  9. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    I live in the next borough east from Croydon -- Bromley. Most boroughs have good and bad parts, so if you are using the location to indicate her social and economic you will need to be more specific. If you're establishing those in some other way then they're all credible for a well-educated middle-class girl so you don't need to be any more specific. Sutton and Kingston are more upmarket overall than Croydon (as is Bromley), their town centres being less of a mass of concrete and flyovers (and the hairstyle of a very tight ponytail pulling the wrinkles out of ones forehead is nicknamed a "Croydon facelift", but it has some excellent parts and probably offers more nightlife for a seventeen-year-old (although central London is within easy reach anyway).

    How she speaks will largely be a matter of her social background and who she mixes with. Although you will hear Vicky Pollard / Lauren Cooper soundalikes in that area (Google them if you don't know who I'm talking about) a reasonably well-educated middle-class girl with an ethnic British background is most likely to speak with an accent pretty close to received pronunciation and without heavy use of slang or dialect. The slang and dialect my 19-yo daughter uses could almost be US with an odd accent: "yeah", "cool", "awesome". It's probably best to write it and then run what you've written past a local from this area to see if anything needs changing.

    I don't know where you are in Canada. If you wander around Calgary University you might bump into an English and Anthropology student with a very authentic teenage south London middle-class teenage accent and vocabulary. She's my daughter!
     
  10. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    Pretty much only by working class men who were already middle-aged in the 1960s.
    It pretty much means "gosh!" It was used as a (mainly) working-class substitute for stronger expletives when the stronger ones would have been inappropriate. Now I pretty much only hear it used in a jocular sense.
     
  11. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    Yes, we have less space so we really have to pack all that variety in!

    London is a particular issue because it is so multicultural. Different parts of London do have different accents -- folks from Kingston tend not to sound like folks from Dagenham -- but in every part of London you will also hear Chinese, Eastern European, Indian subcontinent, African, American, Australian accents and from pretty much everywhere else.
     
  12. twelveninetysix

    twelveninetysix New Member

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    'Mate' is used all the time, regardless of whether they are, in fact, your friend. Even if you hate them, "mate" or "pal" can be used sarcastically. "What's up?" is only really used as an expression of concern. Around here it's generally "alright?, often contracted to "A'ight?", and from what I've heard when I've been down to London it's much the same there. Normally it's accompanied by a kind of upwards nod of acknowledgement.

    "Bleeding" is occasionally used among some older people. "Bloody" is often used around here and in many cases it's much more acceptable than "proper" swearing. Actual swearing is sometimes used in the place of a milder reprimand among good friends. Phrases like "blimey" and "crikey" are common among geordie's of a certain age, but to be honest, even I find my geordie relatives to be pretty comical so I'd steer clear of it.
     
  13. Kallithrix

    Kallithrix Banned

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    'What's up?' is normally used when some looks upset and you're asking what is wrong, whereas 'Alright?' is just a common greeting. 'You alright, mate?' is a standard informal greeting all over the UK, but even that has regional variations. In Birmingham and the west midlands it's 'yow 'roight, mite?' (seriously, that's how it sounds!) In London it tends to drop the 'you' altogether and just ends up as 'aright, mate?'

    All. The. Time. Mate. I don't know if there is any direct American equivalent, because even 'buddy' or 'pal' don't tend to be used quite as frequently or with the same useage as 'mate'.

    You hear things like:

    Cheers mate! - said to a stranger who does you a good turn, like letting you out in traffic.

    Ta mate! - said when someone like a colleague makes you a much appreciated cup of tea ;)

    Oh, mate... - expression of sympathy when a friend has just told you their girlfriend has dumped them.

    Bloody hell, mate! - expression of shock or dismay when someone reveals an astonishing and mildly worrying fact, such as the discovery that the woman one is currently shagging happens to be the boss's wife
     
  14. CheddarCheese

    CheddarCheese New Member

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    @digitig: Thanks for the information! I'll be sure to keep heavy slang use out, for the fear of ruining my character. I'm mostly trying to figure out the few words of slang and dialect that would be very commonly used, such that my character would seem normal to use them.
    Just for the information, I'm currently living in Toronto (and have been for about five months now). My hometown is a little south of that, and is called (no joking here) London! London, Ontario, Canada. Look it up if you don't believe me.

    There's been a lot of different answers for the word "mate". The majority of people seem to say that "mate" is used all the time. However, there are some who claim that it's usually used by males, and by the working class citizens. I'm guessing its use is different depending on the region. Any idea if these claims hold for the London area?
     
  15. CH878

    CH878 Active Member

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    It's also worth bearing in mind that different regional accents within the UK have different connotations.
     
  16. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    One thing to make sure is to not say "London, England" but just London. Because it is the original and the best known London and vast majority of people in the world, when they hear that name, assume it's the one in England. Only if you are writing about some other London (like London, Ontario or whatever) should you specify where it is.

    The thing is, UK is not like some alien planet in sci-fi movies where everyone speaks the same dialect. I come from Australia, now live in the UK, and we overuse the word "mate" to death, everyone says it, regardless of their background. So I am quite likely to say that word, even though I am not strictly speaking "working class". You are looking for consistency of one person's speech. It won't be "characteristic" of everyone, it might place them geographically or socially, but unless you live here or have a good working knowledge of local dialects, it is impossible to get it right.
    If I were you, I'd either move to London for a year or write about someone who was either born in America and came to London, or someone born in London who moved to the States fairly young. That way, you can sneak in an occasional typical UK expression, but you will mainly be writing in a dialect you know.
    Obviously, you can do whatever you want, this is just my opinion :)
     
  17. CheddarCheese

    CheddarCheese New Member

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    @jazzabel:
    Thanks for your input. I've pretty much come to the same conclusion, that if I'm ever going to accurately portray an English character, I'd have to live there for a few years first. Unfortunately, moving to London, or even visiting it isn't a viable option for me with my University business in the way. As I said earlier in this thread, I think I'm planning to have my character well integrated into American culture, but still new enough to have a bit of an accent. Maybe even use very common slang that would've stuck through the years.

    Of course, my planned plot-line makes things much more complicated than that, but it's the best way to explain.
     
  18. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    You know, these details really don't matter that much, as in, you can find your way around them. From personal experience, I've been living here for 11 years, and I'm really well integrated. But I still have much of an Australian/Eastern European accent. There are lots of people who lived all over the place, even if their parents are British. You can still make it so that she is deeply rooted in the British culture without getting too hung up on language. You just need to come up with a logical backstory to explain why her English is more Americanised that would be expected, and you still have everything you wanted in your character :)
    In any case, good luck!
     
  19. CheddarCheese

    CheddarCheese New Member

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    Thanks!

    And a big thank you to everyone else who has helped me out, it's quite appreciated. I'll be sure to value this information.
     
  20. Ashleigh

    Ashleigh Contributor Contributor

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    ^ She speaketh the truth, yo. Watch lots of British movies and make up a character from there once you have a feel for how different people speak.
     
  21. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    My daughter and her friends seem to just use "hi" or "hiya".
    I don't think I've heard it since I moved to London, which was in the 1970s.
    "Cheers" is a useful one -- it used to be just a toast when drinking but nowadays it seems to be the most common informal way of saying thanks.
     
  22. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    I'm racking my mind trying to think of a reasonably recent British movie (and British teenagers might well well say "movie", not "film") that has a middle-class suburban teenager, never mind a London one.
     
  23. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    I think that most of us are aware of the existence of London, Ontario. London, Minnesota is less well-known.
     
  24. prettyprettyprettygood

    prettyprettyprettygood Active Member

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    ^ The Inetweeners tv series, maybe (more so the series than the film, I think)? Not that you'd necessarily want to be influenced by all of the language in that, but it could be useful to get a feel for the use of 'mate' and 'bloody' etc.

    Also another tv series that could be helpful is Friday Night Dinners. Should be able to find clips of both of these on YouTube I expect.
     
  25. art

    art Contributor Contributor

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    Blimey O'reilly, you must move in very exalted circles.

    The talk in Mike Leigh's films is very authentic. Recent efforts - Another Year, Happy-Go-lucky - include some youngish (if not quite teenage) middle-classish, London folk.
     

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