[spireitematt]

A true Manc like a proper Dee-da or a Scouser or a Geordie tends to be pretty obvious to my ear.

When I was working in a Devon bookshop not many people could accurately place my origins, but I've spent a year in Stoke, 3 in Huddersfield, 14 in Cheltenham so maybe that accounts for it. A proper Devon sticks out like a Bristol-ol. Brummies you can't miss, but you need a good ear to pick Stoke and Derby accurately ..... but locals do it easily.

Today is A-level result day, a long day I used to dread when I worked at Ucas. My favourites then were Geordies and Scousers, because however good or bad the news - they could handle it .... and Glaswegians from families originating in Pakistan had almost incomprehensibly thick Scottish accents which I sort of looked forward to too. The worst - Tiger Mothers from the South of England ringing against their offspring's wishes to poke in a tiger nose where it wasn't wanted.

It's because you aren't born with an accent but pick it up in the environment and surroundings of where you live. I've known people go down to London to Uni or to live and they come back up North and there vowels and pronunciation is completely different.

I enjoy hearing different accents and dialects. Have you noticed on the BBC they don't seem to employ people with accents.