# Cockney Accent



## Xitra_Blud (Dec 26, 2014)

One of my characters has a cockney accent. Should I write the accent in there or do you think that would be distracting? If I do write it in there, how much is too much? I mean, is there anyway I can write it in there without overdoing it to the point it become distracting or annoying for the reading? I do want to hint that he has a cockney accent but not so much that it's overbearing.


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## Tom (Dec 26, 2014)

Weird. I just came from Rinkworks' Dialectizer, where I was raising merry hell with the Cockney option, and this is the first thread I see. 

I never really write dialects and accents phonetically. (If I wrote all my posts in my native dialect, you guys would get tired of it fast.) It's better to hint at their existence than show it outright--use slang and some grammar native to the character's dialect, and drop in a mention of the accent in a scene where its inclusion makes sense. For example, if he's out with friends who have a different accent he might try to tone down his own to fit in with the group.


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## Devora (Dec 26, 2014)

It's best to study the accent by listening to people and then writing down how you think it should be written down.


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## cupiscent (Dec 26, 2014)

I agree with Tom 100%. You generally want to avoid trying to write dialogue so it has to be read accented, because you run the risk of interrupting smooth-flowing reading with confusion or trying to figure out what's being said or how it SHOULD be read. (Remember, even if you're writing in English, your readers are going to have a wide variety of accents themselves. However you try to spell it phonetically, chances are good that I - an Australian - am going to sound it out differently from an American or a Brit.) And once you've interrupted smooth-reading, your reader might just put down the book. Don't want that!

Unless you have a running or significant point about one character being incomprehensible, don't risk them being incomprehensible.


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## CupofJoe (Dec 27, 2014)

Tom Nimenai said:


> Weird. I just came from Rinkworks' Dialectizer, where I was raising merry hell with the Cockney option, and this is the first thread I see.


It looks more like Sarf Lundun than Cock-er-ney but it's a lot of fun...
It would be easy to start a debate about whether or not Cockney really exists any more out side "the media" or the 1950s... You are more likely to hear a world language in much of the east-end of London as you are a Cockney accent. But lets not...
I'd say the Tom and others are right hint at, rather than shout the differences. Using small words that can make a difference. As soon as I hear someone talk about "trash" I know they learnt American and not English [we still have "rubbish"]. So if a character was starving and wanted a "Ruby" I'd know he wanted to go for a curry... [Ruby Murray - Curry] Others around him might not...
One small warning I would have about using an existing accent is that, for me, unless you get it bang on, it will grate and annoy very quickly.


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## evanator66 (Dec 27, 2014)

In my opinion, don't draw attention to it all the time, but occasionally mention it in the 'He said' part of dialogue. Maybe another character is annoyed by the accent? If you actually have experience talking with people who have cockney accents and know how they speak (IRL) than go for it, otherwise I would advise against it.


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## Terry Greer (Dec 28, 2014)

The thing about accents is that they're really only noticable until you get your 'ear in' . After that they're not noticable.
It's therefore possibly worth building use this trick when the person with the accent is first talking to the main protagonist - then remove it once the protagonist has 'got used to the accent'. You can still bring it in for the occasional word which the protagonist hasn't heard before (perhaps even make the misunderstanding a plot point).

E.g. Some years ago we visited friends in New Zealand and spent a lot of time driving around. On the radio we'd keep hearing a furniture store where a buyer was 'particularly fond of the Solid Wooden Terrier'.
We had no idea what this meant so asked our friends  who explained amid gales of laughter that they were really saying that they were particularly fond of the 'solid wood interior'. 
(They repeated this anecdote to a radio station some months later and won a prize.)


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## AndrewMelvin (Dec 31, 2014)

I would avoid it; everybody has an accent and uses dialect of one kind or another, so why single out the Cockney for special attention? If you are going to write that character's diallogue phonetically or with lots of dropped letters, then in theory you should do something similar with everybody else.

Also, as previous posters have said, if you get it wrong it becomes really annoying to those who know how that accent should sound.


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## johnsonjoshuak (Jan 2, 2015)

Writing completely in an accent is something that drives me absolutely insane. However, a salting of it, combined with a description of how the character is speaking, is something that can be useful, especially if you're trying to separate levels of education.


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## Tholepin (Jan 3, 2015)

Mark Twain was a master of writing dialect. Huckleberry Finn is a wonderful example. Subtle elides, emphasis, sentence structure and vocabulary change from parish to parish. I've read where one knowledgeable critic could pick each location by reading Twain's dialogue.

That is something to strive for. In the meanwhile, Tom, Cupi and Evans are right on.


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## Trick (Jan 6, 2015)

A while back I asked about this and got some good advice. Here's the thread:

http://mythicscribes.com/forums/writing-questions/9001-writing-accents-without-intentional-misspellings.html?highlight=writing+accents+misspellings


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## Jabrosky (Jan 11, 2015)

The only times I've considered giving characters legible "accents" or dialects is when I wanted to write something funny. And even then, I believe it's a fundamentally problematic form of humor since the whole punchline lies in "these people talk weird". If the characters in question are from a non-European background (e.g. African people), it feels even worse due to the whole trend of equating "black culture" with hip-hop and "ghetto/ratchet" stereotypes.

So, no, I generally can't endorse it.


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## chrispenycate (Jan 13, 2015)

Well, oi love roitin' phonetic expositions naw 'n then, but bain't any so sure readers ud appreciate 'em if oi put 'em inter me stuff fer gen'ral consumption.

So I gen'rally use 'em where nubuddy else'll be seein' 'em.  .


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