Scotlands People plug

wini · Post by **wini** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:07 am

Helen Liddell/Liddle,
I should have checked the spelling. anyway Helen is from Coatbridge and is the British Ambassador to Australia.
She was on the radio in Perth this morning and was encouraging ex-pats to go home for a visit this year, she was asked if she was related to Eric Liddell of "Chariots of Fire" fame and said of course that Liddell was her husbands name and despite much research he hasn't been able to find any connection.
She gave Scotlands People a big tick for researching Scottish ancestors so I can see them being inundated over the next few weeks.
It was nice to hear such an obviously west coast accent and I would have picked Glasgow but I was only a few miles away and maybe there isn't any difference
I expect I will hear from Sarah ND about that.

wini

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:49 am

Hello Wini,

"Dragonlady" Charms Australians.
When Helen Liddell, the former Secretary of State for Scotland was involved in local and UK politics in the 1980s and 1990s, her combative and abrasive style earned her nicknames such as "Stalin's Mother" and "Dragonlady". But there are media reports in Scotland that her plain-speaking, no nonsense approach has won her a lot of admirers now that she is High Commissioner of Australia. She has been described in the press there as "refreshingly ribald" and "a delight". The warmth is apparently reciprocated and she is settling down in Australia, refurbishing the official residence — at her own expense. She is also enjoying no longer having to suffer at the hands of the British media and says her former career was like "catching bullets in my teeth." Her term as High Commissioner lasts for four years.
The Caledonian – December 2005.
http://www.rcs.org.au/newsletters/001%2 ... 202005.pdf

And that’s a very nice newsletter from the Royal Caledonian Society of South Australia.
http://www.rcs.org.au/index.php?page=newsletters

All the best,
Alan

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:49 pm

wini wrote: I expect I will hear from Sarah ND about that.

I'll defer to the locals on that one-- but if there is a difference, I'd like to hear the details!

Cheers,
Sarah

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:20 pm

It really takes a local to tell the difference!

I'm a Glasgow southsider but I can often place a Lanarkshire voice to around the correct location [for instance the midwife who delivered one of my Falkirk bairns was obviously not local, I said Airdrie, but she was from Chapelhall]

Just as I'm not automatically pinned down as a Glesga keelie because I don't speak with either a Parkhead or a Kelvinside accent.

It was funny to hear an actress on the Mamma Mia DVD though, Ashley Lilley is from Rothesay!

Andrew C. · Post by **Andrew C.** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:18 pm

Your splitting hairs between Airdrie and Chapelhall!

I live in Nottinghamshire and I was speaking to a local and they asked if I was from Motherwell, being from Bellshill which is right next door I was mightily impressed they could tell I was a Lanarkshire lad.

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:23 pm

So, Wilma and Andrew... what are the features that make the speech distinctive? Specific word use? Vowel sounds? Intonation? Voice quality? Body language? All of the above?

All very well to know you can hear the difference, but how would you describe it to the uninitiated? You won't get off the hook this easily

Sarah

Andrew C. · Post by **Andrew C.** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:51 pm

Us Lanarkshire folk are more refined!!

Andrew C. · Post by **Andrew C.** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:01 pm

No seriously not being a linguist I am not sure. We have probably been less influenced by the Irish and other migrations that Glasgow has (we are an inbred lot as my "weegie" wife keeps telling me) Perhaps I am wrong but I think we have a slightly more subtle accent.

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:12 pm

Well, of course everyone's accent is more subtle to their own ears! I guess I'll just have to keep my ears open next time I'm over there. After studying other folks accents so long, my own is a real mess

Always sound foreign, no matter where I am!

Sarah

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:18 pm

I don't think the Glasgow / Lanarkshire divide has much to do with expressions [ unlike the Falkirk words and expressions ken

]
It's possibly intonation, a r eal' Glesga voice is fairly flat, but the 'shire would have more rythmn to it, but nowhere near the 'sing-song' Stirlingshire accent.

I think there's plenty Irish in the Lanarkshire mixture though Andrew - the mines attracted them as much as the city did.

I tend to place folks by who they sound like and place them by the locations of friends and family, same with an Ulster accent, there are subtle differences between counties.

TalkingScot.com

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