Rising East Online

Good Evening, I’m From Essex… Not London

Allison Baker

“No, actually I’m not from London, I’m not a cockney, and no, and I am really sorry but I don’t think I’ve ever met the landlord of the Three Feathers in Lambpart Street”. By the time I had explained that I was actually from Shoeburyness, a small town near Southend-on-Sea, my new acquaintance was already on to another topic, dismissing my explanation with “Oh quite near London still, though!”

This kind of conversation occurred frequently during the three years I lived in and around Birmingham. I hear you say, who could blame a Brummie for locating my distinctive accent in the London area? But I am not a Londoner; I’m from the South East, right down at the farthest end of the Thames estuary. I actually have my own county, the county of Essex: I am an Essex girl with an Essex accent.

So what is an Essex accent? Firstly, many of the vowel sounds in the middle of words are often exaggerated, and secondly the ‘th’ sound often comes out sounding more like ‘f’. For example, the word ‘Southend’ might be pronounced more like ‘Saaafend’. Yet both these attributes are also applicable to a cockney accent: there is a crossover, as indeed today’s Essex accent comes from the crossing over of a cockney accent with an older, regional accent. An Essex accent might be described as slightly softer than its London counter part, and also unlike cockneys we don’t drop so many front letters from our words. However, we are very slovenly in pronouncing many of our last letters, so the word ‘what’ often sounds more like ‘whoaa’.

At this point though one could comment that I am as prone to stereotyping as my Brummie acquaintances. As we all know, not all Londoners talk with a cockney accent, neither is everyone from Essex so lazy in their enunciation. In fact on returning to Essex from Birmingham, I trained and then taught as a qualified Speech and Drama teacher, so my own professional voice should in theory hold no trace of any accent. I suppose the only point that I am making here is that by having what is identified as a southern accent by others in the country, it does not necessarily mean we all identify ourselves with London.

Essex and East London may both appear in the Thames Gateway. But I am proud of being from Essex – not London.

Allison Baker is a recent, honours graduate in English Literature, University of East London.

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