Is the Dublin accent dying?

Deleted User wrote: »

Well, my 4-year-old manages to make the English word 'school' into two syllables. I correct her each time and she just makes more of an elongated two syllables out of it for the craic, laughing her heart out. Two days ago as I was driving I corrected her and she took the piss out of it again, only to be followed by her 2-year-old brother in the seat next to her who is now, for the first time, making two syllables out of that word. And laughing through it all.

Feck it; I give up. She can 'done that', 'seen that' and eat 'crips' to her heart's content as seo amach.

sorry but I lol'd... I could have written that

giz a bih -> it's give me a bit, bit has a T,t,t,t,t

i spend my day saying "insert word" has a T

and she says "i like putting a Y on them..." obviously she hasn't realised it's a H yet, lol

and on it goes day after day

I'm fighting (with a T) a losing battle :rolleyes:

silverharp wrote: »

I liked the old Dublin accent , did its skanger version always exist or where did that even come from?

The very strong high-pitched variant you hear now is relatively new I believe (not as new as the mid-atlantic speak, but still pretty new).

About 100 years ago most Dublin people spoke somewhere between Ronnie Drew (see https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/681-history-of-rte/685-rte-1950s/288211-living-with-lynch-radio-comedy-series-begins-1954/) and CJ Haughey.

jimgoose wrote: »

For me, Ronnie Drew will always be the benchmark. Where's me batha boogah??

I will just pull out this quote as illustrative of the level of utter ignorance of many here on this topic. Pay attention, muppets, and let the real D4 educate you.

Go and seek out any footage on You Tube of interviews given by the two Dubliner legends Ronnie Drew and Luke Kelly and then ask yourselves: which one grew up in Sherrif Street (inner city, north side, home of the arch skanger family the Hutches) and which was from Dun Laoghaire, leafy suburb on the south side, once known as Kingstown and for years bastion of the Unionist community in the Republic?

Actually, the rather well spoken Kelly, (loyal member of the Communist Party of Ireland) was the Sherrif Street northsider and the rasping, ahhgerruptheyaardyabollix Drew was from Dun Laoghaire. Surprised?

Here's some more: simpering "celebrity chef" Donal Skehan and greatest ever rugger bugger Brian O'Driscoll: northsiders.

Imelda May and Joe Duffy, both of whom are keeping "jewel an' darlin' Dublin" accents to the fore on the public airwaves? Southsiders. And how about the denizen of them all, the man with the strongest, most nasal and most prolific creator of spurious extra syllables into what should be a single vowel sound, the great Brian Kerr? Also a southsider. "Yer knaow wha'rrI meeyun"?

The OP makes a fundamental error by referring to "THE" Dublin accent. There is no one Dublin accent. Like many big cities it has a spectrum of accents that span, not primarily districts but social classes. At either extreme end of the spectrum, the accents are pretty horrendous.

There's the Brian Kerr example, typically found among League of Ireland football managers and heroin addicts. Whiney, nasal, awful. Then at the other end there's the "Aow moy Gawd!" accent beloved of those who go "Dine tine on the DORT from BE-E-E-ETERSTINE" but make sure to get off before the "Nwerth soide" which is even worse.

In between these two extremes, you get some accents that are actually quite pleasant on the ear. In particular the traditional "protestant" accent exhibited by many RTE personalities of yesteryear and of which the most salient example today is probably former justice minister Alan Shatter. He might talk a lot of rubbish, but he says it very nicely.

Almost nobody I know who lives in or grew up in Dublin 4 speaks like Skehan or O'Driscoll. Nor, to be fair, do too many sound like Imelda May or Brian Kerr. As befits those lucky people who live in the nicest part of town our accents tend to be civilised but not snooty, Irish but not unintelligible, and soft-spoken, not nasal.

So to reiterate: the differences between Dublin accents are more to do with class than location; rich and poor areas are to be found on either side of the river; and even those raised in poor circumstances can be found to speak in well modulated tones thanks to time spent among peers from more privileged backgrounds. At least, that's why I suspect Luke Kelly sounded as cultured as he did.

There's no such thing as a "D4 accent". Yiz are all talking out yizzer hoops!

emeldc wrote: »

I got a text off my daughter the other day to say she was on her way into Tesco in Finglas and overheard one young wan saying to the other;

'Shurupp you Brenda, yiv a set o' teeth on ya like a row o' burnt out gaffs'

Clearly alive and well in Finglas

Yeh, my dorter was in the changing rooms in the gym and this one was in the shower.

Two other ‘solth of de eeeart’ types were toweling themselves down and one of the said”Jaysus Myra, look at the thatch on yer one, looks like she was hit between the legs with a bag a sooh’!

antodeco wrote: »

Sitting on the 40 bus right now and I can confirm the Dublin accent is not going. Or, the only accents left are the nasaly howeya accents

Well, get the DART to Dun Laoghaire instead and you'll think you're in California or somewhere.

Lorelli! wrote: »

That's another thing I remember for bus numbers. If it was say 40A, it's called the 'Four o Ahhh'!

As in:
Ooh Aah Four o ahhh
Say Ooh Aah Four o ahhh

.....OK I'll leave now....

Snickers Man wrote: »

I will just pull out this quote as illustrative of the level of utter ignorance of many here on this topic. Pay attention, muppets, and let the real D4 educate you.

Go and seek out any footage on You Tube of interviews given by the two Dubliner legends Ronnie Drew and Luke Kelly and then ask yourselves: which one grew up in Sherrif Street (inner city, north side, home of the arch skanger family the Hutches) and which was from Dun Laoghaire, leafy suburb on the south side, once known as Kingstown and for years bastion of the Unionist community in the Republic?

Actually, the rather well spoken Kelly, (loyal member of the Communist Party of Ireland) was the Sherrif Street northsider and the rasping, ahhgerruptheyaardyabollix Drew was from Dun Laoghaire. Surprised?

Here's some more: simpering "celebrity chef" Donal Skehan and greatest ever rugger bugger Brian O'Driscoll: northsiders.

Imelda May and Joe Duffy, both of whom are keeping "jewel an' darlin' Dublin" accents to the fore on the public airwaves? Southsiders. And how about the denizen of them all, the man with the strongest, most nasal and most prolific creator of spurious extra syllables into what should be a single vowel sound, the great Brian Kerr? Also a southsider. "Yer knaow wha'rrI meeyun"?

The OP makes a fundamental error by referring to "THE" Dublin accent. There is no one Dublin accent. Like many big cities it has a spectrum of accents that span, not primarily districts but social classes. At either extreme end of the spectrum, the accents are pretty horrendous.

There's the Brian Kerr example, typically found among League of Ireland football managers and heroin addicts. Whiney, nasal, awful. Then at the other end there's the "Aow moy Gawd!" accent beloved of those who go "Dine tine on the DORT from BE-E-E-ETERSTINE" but make sure to get off before the "Nwerth soide" which is even worse.

In between these two extremes, you get some accents that are actually quite pleasant on the ear. In particular the traditional "protestant" accent exhibited by many RTE personalities of yesteryear and of which the most salient example today is probably former justice minister Alan Shatter. He might talk a lot of rubbish, but he says it very nicely.

Almost nobody I know who lives in or grew up in Dublin 4 speaks like Skehan or O'Driscoll. Nor, to be fair, do too many sound like Imelda May or Brian Kerr. As befits those lucky people who live in the nicest part of town our accents tend to be civilised but not snooty, Irish but not unintelligible, and soft-spoken, not nasal.

So to reiterate: the differences between Dublin accents are more to do with class than location; rich and poor areas are to be found on either side of the river; and even those raised in poor circumstances can be found to speak in well modulated tones thanks to time spent among peers from more privileged backgrounds. At least, that's why I suspect Luke Kelly sounded as cultured as he did.

There's no such thing as a "D4 accent". Yiz are all talking out yizzer hoops!

Snickers you seem to be a bit interested in the various ‘Dublin ‘ accents wonder have you noticed a ‘Sithe Dublin’ accent springing up on the airwaves?

It’s not a ‘Dort’ accent but the letter ‘e’ and ‘o’ are the giveaways.

“I am not going’ becomes “I am not gawing “
“I was desperate’ becomes “I was dasparate “

Miriam Au Callaghan with her ‘gasts ‘ (guests) and ‘raude’(road) is a good model
But the great Sally Hayden is the supreme commander of this accent.

I’ll try to dig up an example but would be interested to hear your views.