It's been a while...

[year_x]

So, a while since the last entry. So I'll start with something heavy and lumpen.

I'm a snob. That shouldn't be much of a surprise to those who know me. I've a long history of snobbishness in my family, from my upper middle -class paternal side, to my aspirant working class maternal side. Snobby thoughts, whether 'inverted' or original flavour are

Comments

[gnomatron]

I don't think it's so much about socialising with Yahs, but a knock on effect of that which is that it's not a very socially inclusive uni. The demographics of Edinburgh uni students are massively skewed towards the upper end of the income spectrum; at a uni with a more even demographic there won't be as much pressure to conform to a more snobbish ideal. It's not just Yahs, it's also tutors and lecturers and the general uni culture, which end up reflecting the makeup of the student population. A broad Northern - or even scottish - accent doesn't sit well with upper clash english kids; I don't recall any of my teachers at uni having a heavy regional British accent at all. I'd hazard a guess that any who did have such an accent would tone it down pretty quickly.

I think you're right about any good uni making you a bit snobbish, but I think there's also more than one type of snobbery at play - intellectual snobbery on the educational end of things, and simple class snobbery on the other. They're obviously related, but I think Edinburgh has more clas snobbery than a lot of other unis.

You could argue that Unis are machines for making middle class people... I read the Independent but otherwise that's a spot on description :)

[juice1]

"also i'm the only one willing to actually admit i don't understand something and ask more about it"
Is this relevant to your accent?!

[juice1]

I don't think it is. I always ask questions and admit I don't understand things, but I generally think that that is because I like to understand the course as much as possible (as I find it extremely challenging), rather than being Northern :p

I do not think asking questions has anything to do with geographic or 'class' background imo, I have met people from various social groups who all like to have their say on a subject.

[juice1]

Well I have also met none Northern people who admit to being wrong in front of people!
That is a huge generalisation, maybe Northern people don't really care what people think so much, but that doesn't stop anyone else doing the same.

[juice1]

But why bother generalising?
I still think it doesn't make a difference if you are Northern or not, no matter what statistics you throw my way!

[juice1]

Because I wanted to know your opinion and what it was based on.

[juice1]

yes, after I asked

[glass_bubblegum]

I think it's relevant insofar as having a strong regional accent automatically excludes a person from the kind of upper-class snobbery that deems RP English to be the only acceptable language for academic discussion. If you're concerned with upholding an illusion of academic superiority over your peers, you're not going to admit that you don't understand something in front of them.

That said, it can work in the other direction; someone with a strong regional accent may not want to reinforce their snobbish classmates' sense of superiority by admitting to a lack of understanding. Either way, accent definitely could (not to say that it always does) influence whether or not you'd ask a question in an academic setting.

I have no idea if that's where Kate was going with it though!

[juice1]

"If you're concerned with upholding an illusion of academic superiority over your peers, you're not going to admit that you don't understand something in front of them."

Yes but you could be Northern/have a strong regional accent and hold that opinion.

I think Kate was trying to say 'Southern' people will not admit to not understanding something, but 'Northern' people are more likely to. (?)

[glass_bubblegum]

>>Yes but you could be Northern/have a strong regional accent and hold that opinion.

You could, but academia has been set up such that it's more likely that the reverse would be true. RP English is the language of academia- when you're told at school to 'speak properly' or 'write properly', you're being asked to conform to a specific sort of English that is based firmly in the upper-class south. They won't tell you to 'speak properly' at university anymore, but they will tell you to 'write properly'; if you inserted a Geordie colloquialism into an essay, I'd put money on it being marked up in red when you got the paper back.