Stereotyping The West...

[Robbored]

It wasn't voted the UK's most smiliest place for nothing.

It is a fantastic place to have been born and raised and I really envy you lot who have managed to stay there.

As for the Wurzels and combine harvesters etc etc - have a laugh with it, go along with it, and then watch the poor buggers going back to their grimy, grey and miserable littel towns with the life styles that go with it.

I'll be back one day.

Hope you make back sooner rather than later Cynic.

As fo your other comments - spot on.

Bristol and the surrounding area is a gods own country imo.I love it here and like many other am proud of being a West Country man. Whenever I'm abroad I always seem to pick up West Country accents above all other British accents - particularly the famous Brizzle one.

Let them all think that we are all perminately pissed on cider,chew straw and wear 3x smocks and gaiters as we all know that he who laughs last laughs the longest.

[WessexPest]

i agree, but fed up of people thinking i own a farm because of my accent...

Next time somebody tries to pull your leg about your accent, feel free to hit them with something like this:-

The main reason the wescountry accent is so looked down upon is because it is inextricably linked in the minds of outsiders to farming and agricultural labour - and by an extension of that, to a lack of education and naviety of a world that doesn't involve sheep, crops and simple pleasures.

In other words, people perceive it to be the talk of the unsophisticated. They use the fact that the dialect involves (to them) illogical and incorrect sentence formations like "You am" "Put he over there" "I be" etc etc as evidence as this.

Far from being English spoken in a slovenly way, it is the remains of a language (that of the original Anglo Saxon settlers)

Ich bin I be/A be I am

Du bist Thee bist You are

Er ist He be He is

All disappears roughly east of the old 'Danelaw', which divided England in two after Alfred the Great pushed the Danes out of wessex in the 9th century.

I'm not suggesting you are or would do this - but don't be ashamed of your accent or attempt to water it down for non-Bristolians. Quite the opposite in fact, tell the ignorant so-and-sos to stop corrupting your wonderful language!!!

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF WESSEX

[T-M-H]

Daily Mirror: "Drink Up Thy Zider - Bristol City are heading for the Premier League after Jamie McCombe's bicycle kick made him the toast of Ashton Gate. The central defender's second goal in successive home games earned him the rocking Robins' equivalent of a supermarket's employee of the month gong. City fans swayed into the sunset bellowing their Wurzels scrumpy anthem as Gary Johnson's men hit No.1 in the Championship, and now it is not just Michael Caine and Tobey Maguire's Oscar-winning movie where the cider house rules. With Johnson's mob flying high, and the Gasheads across town in the FA Cup quarterfinals next weekend, these are happy days in football's wild West country. Thirty years since Bristol City were on the top shelf of the oven, it is about time the Premier League's parking lots were infiltrated by a few combine harvesters among the Chelsea tractors."

Jeez.. not many cities as cosmopolitan as Bristol - fine eating, good variety of gigs, healthy influx of external influences combined with the inbuilt friendliness of the city has made it the third most "sticky" place to live (where people come and then stay).

A vibrant music scene, lots of history and lots of regeneration - in fact the only thing it's missing is a stadium (no thanks to the council).

And yet we're seen as a bunch of combine harvester driving yokels with straws in our mouths in a wild part of the country.

Idiots. Probably doesn't help that we play the Wurzels though when visitors come to AG. What must they think?

I think that has to be one of the funniest things I've ever read, partly because i know that few pepole have licences to drive combine harvesters in the middle of Broadmead, and partly because they think we are proud of the Gas!!! We couldn't give a rats ass if they're in the FA cup.

People need to travel a little bit before they can make up shit about the real 2nd capital.

I blame Lucas and Walliams

[Stephen Lewis]

I now live in Melbourne Australia , a city that has been voted the worlds most livable city for many years.

All I can say is the people who voted can't have ever been to Bristol.

[WessexPest]

I now live in Melbourne Australia , a city that has been voted the worlds most livable city for many years.

All I can say is the people who voted can't have ever been to Bristol.

Sorry if I've picked you up wrong, but surely you're not saying you prefer Bristol to Melbourne?!

I love my home city but I'm also well aware it has plenty of faults - and from an objective viewpoint I would have thought the overall quality of life in Melbourne was far better than Bristol?

[Stephen Lewis]

Sorry if I've picked you up wrong, but surely you're not saying you prefer Bristol to Melbourne?!

I love my home city but I'm also well aware it has plenty of faults - and from an objective viewpoint I would have thought the overall quality of life in Melbourne was far better than Bristol?

You sound as if your thinking of emigrating

Every City has it's faults and Melbourne is no different.

This is a city of 4million people and is roughly 80km across, a lot of nasty things can be hidden in those numbers.

The weathers good though.

[bernie from barrow gurney]

Ahhh......, Barrow Gurney. the village that provides all you lot with yer drinking water, and the rest of the country with the finest beef, pork and game from the local farms plus the Motto sells a fine pint of local ale more or less 24 hours a day. Cider apple trees in my garden, beloved Ashton Gate a 5 minute hop down the road, City top of the league. Heaven.

So what if my kids add the odd extra "arr" to their vocabulary. I could live anywhere in the world. But there is no place I would rather call my home. But shhh don't tell anyone as its our secret.

I am proud to be an adopted bumpkin.

[merrickstash]

I've lived all over the Uk - for the last 12 years in London. Have to be in London for work - but there's no doubt in my mind that Bristol is easily the best provincial city in England. C'mon, who else has got the gorge and the bridge. Every other big city is an eyesore.

[EASTEND WURZEL]

we are surrounded by feilds , when i drive to work there are hundreds of sheep (and lambs at the moment) go to weston with the kids and along the way do moooing sounds as you pass by the cows. Horses everywhere, and farms galore. We are Bristol and as much change as you can muster in terms of cosmopolitan city and no amount of European city of culture awards will ever change that. And I'm glad I love my city and the countryside it offers fields full of cowslips and buttercups, hay bails and corn, beats heavily built up areas smokey chimneys and high rise appartment blocks.

Long live the west country, long live the Wurzels , long live cider. We are Bristol City f.c "and on every ground you will here this sound , as we shout ooh arre , ooh aaarrre". :goingup:

[Mr Mosquito]

Next time somebody tries to pull your leg about your accent, feel free to hit them with something like this:-

The main reason the wescountry accent is so looked down upon is because it is inextricably linked in the minds of outsiders to farming and agricultural labour - and by an extension of that, to a lack of education and naviety of a world that doesn't involve sheep, crops and simple pleasures.

In other words, people perceive it to be the talk of the unsophisticated. They use the fact that the dialect involves (to them) illogical and incorrect sentence formations like "You am" "Put he over there" "I be" etc etc as evidence as this.

Far from being English spoken in a slovenly way, it is the remains of a language (that of the original Anglo Saxon settlers)

Ich bin I be/A be I am

Du bist Thee bist You are

Er ist He be He is

All disappears roughly east of the old 'Danelaw', which divided England in two after Alfred the Great pushed the Danes out of wessex in the 9th century.

I'm not suggesting you are or would do this - but don't be ashamed of your accent or attempt to water it down for non-Bristolians. Quite the opposite in fact, tell the ignorant so-and-sos to stop corrupting your wonderful language!!!

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF WESSEX

I'm Bristolian and I lived in BS3 in my early life but my Bristolian Grandparents spoke with a far better Bristolian accent than I can ever manage. It's a shame that our accent has been watered down so much over the past 40 or so years.

I like to mimic and stereotype the braying noises and behaviour of the toff/snob 'blue-blood' inbreed public school educated ruling class of this country - a great party trick that guarantees the laughs at our inbreeeeeed Government's and our hopelessly corrupt toff/snob led Criminal Justice System's expense.

'PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF WESSEX' - great stuff !!!!!

[Mr Mosquito]

Aint the Wurzels tag / nickname a somerset thing...moreover Nailsea / Pill / Portishead etc, rather than the city of Bristol.

Ahem...yes...lazy journalism

The dear departed lead singer of the Wurzels - Adge Cutler - was Bristolian. Adge Cutler's songs are largely sung in Adge's own accent, though some are in an exaggerated Bristolian accent.

[Robbored]

The dear departed lead singer of the Wurzels - Adge Cutler - was Bristolian. Adge Cutler's songs are largely sung in Adge's own accent, though some are in an exaggerated Bristolian accent.

Born in Bristol but spent most of his life living in Nailsea.His favorite pub was the Royal Oak in the high street.He played there many times. Is buried here as well at Christ Church.

[garlicbread]

Born in Bristol but spent most of his life living in Nailsea.His favorite pub was the Royal Oak in the high street.He played there many times. Is buried here as well at Christ Church.

as well as what

[Flaxbourton Red]

Ahhh......, Barrow Gurney. the village that provides all you lot with yer drinking water, and the rest of the country with the finest beef, pork and game from the local farms plus the Motto sells a fine pint of local ale more or less 24 hours a day. Cider apple trees in my garden, beloved Ashton Gate a 5 minute hop down the road, City top of the league. Heaven.

So what if my kids add the odd extra "arr" to their vocabulary. I could live anywhere in the world. But there is no place I would rather call my home. But shhh don't tell anyone as its our secret.

I am proud to be an adopted bumpkin.

almost as good as flax bourton

[Portland Bill]

i agree, but fed up of people thinking i own a farm because of my accent...

How many cows you got

[Robbored]

almost as good as flax bourton

Only a couple of miles from Barrow Gurney but a lot more posher.....not many farms around Flax and no decent pubs either.

[Mr Mosquito]

How many cows you got

Oi aint got none 'cause oim farmer Oliver's cowman. Another world famous farmer that spoke rural......

...as an English Republican I believe that the greatest Englishman ever was Oliver Cromwell, an English Republican revolutionary who killed the King. Why? - because he was an ordinary farmer with a passion for this country. When England and Bristol was under a terrible Royalist tyranny Oliver Cromwell emerged from obscurity to help give the English people the victory over the Royalists and he gave us ordinary bods a voice in a Parliamentary democracy - England's proudest ever achievement. Not bad for a Fenland farmer.......arrrrrrrr......Olde Ironsides himself.....

[Flaxbourton Red]

.....not many farms around Flax.

no, just the north somerset agricultural show.

[Philip Belgrave]

You sound as if your thinking of emigrating

Every City has it's faults and Melbourne is no different.

This is a city of 4million people and is roughly 80km across, a lot of nasty things can be hidden in those numbers.

The weathers good though.

I'll second that. There's really no basis of comparison between Bristol and Melbourne. Both places are totally different and both have their individual virtues- and drawbacks.

As for the original newspaper report I can see nothing wrong with it whatever. The West-of-England, cider-drinking, rural image is fine by me, Wass want better n'that ? None of our future opponents in the Premiership have a better or more individual character.

[Mr Mosquito]

Far from being English spoken in a slovenly way, it is the remains of a language (that of the original Anglo Saxon settlers)

Ich bin I be/A be I am

Du bist Thee bist You are

Er ist He be He is

All disappears roughly east of the old 'Danelaw', which divided England in two after Alfred the Great pushed the Danes out of wessex in the 9th century.

I'm not suggesting you are or would do this - but don't be ashamed of your accent or attempt to water it down for non-Bristolians. Quite the opposite in fact, tell the ignorant so-and-sos to stop corrupting your wonderful language!!!

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF WESSEX

You are right, as in the Bristol and the North Somerset dialect, we can find the remnants of Anglo-Saxon. The pronunciation is an ancient one where S is often, but not always, sounded as a Z; F sounds as a V and vowel sounds gain an R. It's the sounds and words of the court of King Alfred.

There are differences as the Bristolian 'L' is often sounded as an 'R' in North Somerset.....

"A good idea in Bristol and its surrounding area" becomes "a good ideal in that aerial". In Somerset, they become "idee-yer" and "airier".

[WessexPest]

You are right, as in the Bristol and the North Somerset dialect, we can find the remnants of Anglo-Saxon. The pronunciation is an ancient one where S is often, but not always, sounded as a Z; F sounds as a V and vowel sounds gain an R. It's the sounds and words of the court of King Alfred.

There are differences as the Bristolian 'L' is often sounded as an 'R' in North Somerset.....

"A good idea in Bristol and its surrounding area" becomes "a good ideal in that aerial". In Somerset, they become "idee-yer" and "airier".

Sure I read somewhere that Bristol was originally Bristow, but gradually acquired the 'l' you mention because of the local pronounciation.

Something else I've noticed, Bristol Rovers said in the local accent becomes reverse

Fitting eh?

[Mr Mosquito]

Sure I read somewhere that Bristol was originally Bristow, but gradually acquired the 'l' you mention because of the local pronounciation.

Something else I've noticed, Bristol Rovers said in the local accent becomes reverse

Fitting eh?

I did an Internet search and found this article on Bristolian Dialect on Wikipedia within seconds.....

A dialect of English is spoken by some Bristol inhabitants, known colloquially as Bristolian. Bristol is the only large English city with a rhotic accent, in which the r in words like car is pronounced. The unusual feature of this dialect, unique to Bristol, is the Bristol L (or terminal L), in which an L sound is appended to words that end in an 'a' or 'o'. Thus "area" becomes "areal", etc. This is believed to be how the city's name evolved from Brycgstow to have a final 'L' sound: Bristol. Further Bristolian linguistic features are the addition of a superfluous "to" in questions relating to direction or orientation, or using "to" instead of "at"; and using male pronouns "he", "him" instead of "it". For example, "Where's that?" would be phrased as "Where's he to?", a feature exported to Newfoundland English.

Also an online Bristolian dictionary at the link below .....

http://www.thatbebristle.co.uk/dictionary/o.shtml

[redrocks]

¡Qué vival Chew Magna!

[Mr Mosquito]

¡Qué vival Chew Magna!

Shouldn't that be "¡Qué vival Chew Magnal!" ??!!!!

[Spike]

To be honest I find it fun! I can't even count how many times the Cardiff lads have called me a tractor driver but I just laugh and point out the fact they are behind a bunch of tractor drivers