I was lucky to have caught Ife Thompson, a proud ‘Brixtonian’, last week. As a full-time criminal defence lawyer and community organiser, she is extremely busy. Ife is the founder and director of the charity Black Learning Achievement and Mental health (BLAM UK), which focuses on Black history, racial wellness and advocates against anti-blackness andContinue reading “‘Black British English’ as a label for ‘Multicultural London English’”
Category Archives: South London
‘Are you embarrassed about my accent?’
Anna and Mark are both artists based in St. John’s Wood. Anna grew up in King’s Cross and Finchley. She is a playwright and actor who is ‘very good at accents’ and uses them in her performances. Mark is from Greenwich, works in advertising and has often cast actors with accents for the TV commercialsContinue reading “‘Are you embarrassed about my accent?’”
‘DelBoy I.’ at the Cockney Museum
Last week, I finally visited the Cockney Museum, which had been closed for refurbishment over the winter. It’s just outside Southwest London in Stoneleigh, on the trainline from Waterloo to Dorking. George Major, the Pearly King of Peckham, opened it in 2020, having collected exhibits for his dream of a Cockney museum all his life.Continue reading “‘DelBoy I.’ at the Cockney Museum”
Decoding different ways of speaking
I talked to Lanny in a coffeeshop in Lewisham. Lanny came to the UK from Jamaica as a teenager. He lives in Greenwich but works as a coach and swim teacher all over South London. Even though he says Cockney can be heard in South London, ‘Bermondsey’ for example, to him it is ‘more ofContinue reading “Decoding different ways of speaking”
‘I don’t need to pay to go to Nigeria, I just go to Peckham’
Another great interview I did was with Mariana and Nieves, who, like Andy and Eileen, live on the Cressingham Gardens estate in Tulse Hill. Mariana moved to Brixton from Nigeria when she was 18, and Nieves, now a pensioner, is originally from Manila in the Philippines. The two are neighbours and friends and Mariana helpsContinue reading “‘I don’t need to pay to go to Nigeria, I just go to Peckham’”
Sounding ‘more London’ at school
I met with Alina shortly before Christmas in Hays Galleria near London Bridge. She is a young South Londoner, who grew up and lived most of her life in Southwark. She would call her own way of speaking ‘standard London, close to Standard English’. She says her dad, who was a stay-at-home dad, ‘has gotContinue reading “Sounding ‘more London’ at school”
From the Elephant and Castle to Belvedere
Dave is a born and bred South Londoner. He grew up on an estate in Bermondsey, where his family ran a pub and an off-licence. ‘We knew everyone growing up’ and ‘everyone knew our lot’. He now lives in Belvedere on the border to Kent. He says: ‘Even though I’m very proud to say I’mContinue reading “From the Elephant and Castle to Belvedere”
A London accent versus ‘lazy speech’
Like Andy, Eileen has been a resident of Cressingham Gardens in Tulse Hill for many years. She grew up in Camberwell and has always lived in Southeast London. Eileen draws a clear distinction between an accent, such as her ‘South London’ one, and what she calls ‘lazy speech’: ‘A lot of people would say thatContinue reading “A London accent versus ‘lazy speech’”
South London girl in the East End
Samantha is one of our students at Queen Mary. She commutes in from Croydon. Her parents are from Jamaica and originally spoke Patois, so this is the language she grew up around. ‘I feel like a lot of sentences and phrases I say may not sound grammatically correct, but that’s just what I am usedContinue reading “South London girl in the East End”
LONDON TALKS 