Giving evidence now on BBC News on the US impeachment inquiry.
She made reference to her emigration to the US making some powerful stories about her early life and family in NE England and commenting on about how she thought that her strong NE accent would have held her back in the UK.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_H ... advisor%29

Hillary Clinton's family (Rodham) also descend from county Durham

There was another bloke too, though perhaps before your time.
Washburn or summat.

Sometime that is true with our accents, I have a strong Hartlepool accent and I got turned down for a job as they said that I had a very strong accent and researchers might have issues understanding me. I wouldn't mind but this company was based in Billingham but actually trying to hide it by having another Southern Scientific city in there name. I wouldn't have taken the job anyway as the women manager was awful and a bit to big for her boots even saying I am from the area but learnt how to speak without a strong accent. I got a job at the biggest Scientific company in the world a week later and I speak to I would say 75% non UK born researchers everyday they have no issue at all understanding me.

Over time I purposely filed the edge off my accent because of work. Lets face it, the accent does come across as a bit thick.

Its easier when you world for a multinational company

I'm lucky it seems in that I do not have much of a local accent...some people even say I sound posh

Depends on the industry I think, when I worked in pharma it was full of ex-public school and therefore rife with snobbery. I think my accent would have gone against me if I'd wanted to climb the greasy pole in that industry.

In IT I found it to be an asset when selling, lots of our customers choose us over southern wideboy types because they thought the accent was more trustworthy.

In this part of the country people are much more likely to warm to you if you're from the north east, but I've found in other places such as the south west you sometimes get treated with suspicion.

It is also possible to have a strong accent but still make yourself perfectly understood. In one job I had to deal with my counterparts in every other country in Europe, and I was always able to make myself understood. Whereas my 'posh' boss used to confuse people regularly, because he would speak too quickly and also use a lot of cliches and sayings which mean nothing to non-English speakers. Stupid twat that he was.

I can honestly say I've never had any issues with my Hartlepool accent.
I have a low voice and many girls have said it's very sexy!
Plus I can speak foreign languages with the correct vowel values instead of sounding like what would be the equivalent of inspector Clouseau speaking English.
I wouldn't change it for the world.

Now Brummie...
Or people who say baaaaaaawrth for that thing with hot water in it.

My accent is still very much an East Durham one, although I have lost most of the dialect. It's also probably softened a bit but that's inevitable as I haven't lived there years and because of what I do for a living. I've never consciously tried to change it and I wouldn't.

Accent my arse. They have an accent as well. Fuck em.

First 4 minutes worth a watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5gmpdtbWB0

When she described he poor childhood It sounded like more like Dickensian England in the 1880’s than the one I knew in the 1980’s. She’ll be saying was getting sent up chimneys. Probably impressed the gullible yanks who believe Mary Poppins is alive and well as she praised them to the roof.

Mine also has inevitably softened given I hardly ever speak to 'pudlians and the voice adjusts to the ear. Most English I meet are still northerners though, so none of that fancy baaawth stuff has rubbed off.
I do sometimes throw a bit of vernacular in for shits and giggles. I'm sure some of it has made its way up the chain into US sitcoms.

People sometimes say "I'd have thought you'd have a Portuguese/French/Spanish accent by now." They haven't thought that one through have they.

I hate it when people refer to us as Geordies, especially when you hear them shout hey geordie in your direction.
Or they ask "Sunderland or Newcastle?" when enquiring which team you support.

Arsehole, like many who emigrated to America

I sometimes recite the 'lampton worm', just to see the complete sense of bemusement on people's faces.

Sometime that is true with our accents, I have a strong Hartlepool accent and I got turned down for a job as they said that I had a very strong accent and researchers might have issues understanding me. I wouldn't mind but this company was based in Billingham but actually trying to hide it by having another Southern Scientific city in there name. I wouldn't have taken the job anyway as the women manager was awful and a bit to big for her boots even saying I am from the area but learnt how to speak without a strong accent. I got a job at the biggest Scientific company in the world a week later and I speak to I would say 75% non UK born researchers everyday they have no issue at all understanding me.[/quote]

Ywhat mate


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To be fair, they're running up massive debts for law degrees so they're bound to be a bit bemused when you wheel out dialect poetry/songs to pass the time.

With friends, not students! With students I just do my Keith Fitt impression (that'll only make sense if you've got young kids):

[quote="derwent"]I hate it when people refer to us as Geordies, especially when you hear them shout hey geordie in your direction.
sent a gut off once when i refereed a game in norfolk. called me a big useless geodie fu...r. it was the geordie bit that bothered me the most.