West Country Yap - Part 2

The long overdue second instalment of my West Country Yap series, a collection of anecdotal conversations with predominantly elderly folk in the south west of England - in particular Devon and Somerset. The people featured have strong regional dialects - something which is fast disappearing today as the older generation pass on and take their way of talking with them.
See Part 3 here: • West Country Yap - part 3
The original first film is here: • West Country Yap

[@loriscreative]

This video was a complicated joy, being that I didn't expect to hear my grandfather's voice today. I miss that dark shed. Thank you for the series.

[@LawnBowlerUK]

Which one was your grandfather?

[@loriscreative]

Marcus. The farm that he owned has been surrounded in petty infighting since his death, so seeing it the way I remember it is such a blessing.

[@MrTrotty57]

@@loriscreative I have have plenty more clips of Marcus which you are welcome to have. Get in touch if you'd like me to send something over by ftp. As time goes by, I'll be making more episodes of West Country Yap with more nuggets from Marcus and Bill, but if you'd like some unedited footage just let me know. Search Graham Trott, photographer for my details. Sam also has my number/email.

[@Ethan54136]

American here. Older guy I talk to frequently at the bar sounds so much like the older guys in this video. For example: when telling a story it's always "I says" instead of "I said" when he quotes himself. In general most of the older people around by me (Wisconsin, US) sound a lot like the folks in this video.

[@inactive0365]

i think all us westerners heard our grandfathers in these

[@rebeccatowner6700]

Very true.

[@britainthroughmylens]

Priceless. The last vestiges of a bygone age. So glad you recorded these. I love the dry wit of these old gents. Their perspective on the world is now lost forever and we are the poorer for it.

[@madinengland1988]

Not a lot of people like this left, reminds me so much of my Grandad.

[@Mistydazzle]

Mr Trotty, my dad recorded my Berkshire/Wiltshire born grandparents, back in about 1966. They were born in 1896 & 1904, rural village farmers. Their children did not have their accents, as they attended schools & universities that drilled the area accent out of them - gave them a prim, plain accent. I truly miss my grandparents way of speaking. What was so common in their day, has steadily died off.

[@MrTrotty57]

I do hope you have been able to preserve that recording for future generations.

[@mouthwash41]

I love to hear people talk passionately about their work, no matter how simple their work is. In fact It sounds even better when the work is basic and repetitive. There is something very pure and uncomplicated about it and if you sprinkle strong dialects over the top of it it sounds can sound like magic. Great work !.

[@Janewomanpower]

I found this so interesting. I'm doing some research on my ancestral accent. Marcus Govier from Glastonbury, Somerset was so close to listening to my grandparents and parents when i was a child. I live in Newfoundland , now a part of Canada and rich in English and Irish accents. even the word ya. i can hear my mother say something like "they was yappin about something er anudder." I loves it. i picked up parts of the old accent from the other men that spoke but this one from Glastonbury was mind-blowing.

[@clair233]

Came here to remind myself of my childhood summer times, with my maternal family in Mark, Somerset ❤

[@elizabethkelly6325]

Some of my ancestors lived in Devon. On a whim, decided to listen to the accent & found your videos. This is an endearing collection of stories from these men. Saddened to read of their passing. Very special that you've recorded them for posterity. I've lived in Michigan & Western New York, US & understood nearly every word of this. The accent reminds me of my Great Grandfather & Great Uncle from Massachusetts & New Hampshire. Thanks for sharing these videos!

[@MrTrotty57]

Thanks for watching!

[@patriciakeats5823]

Makes sense. Same here. I'm from Newfoundland.

[@lifeslessons9889]

I live in Devon …and can relate to this dying breed of dear old folk

[@jillianwalsh7800]

i'm from newfoundland and my grandfather sounds EXACTLY like these old fellas! i guess newfoundland accents derived from west country dialects plus irish dialects (especially from around cork, waterford, wexton). i knew we sounded sorta irish but i've never heard a west country accent before now and WOW. so cool, i bet i have ancestors from there or something

[@ThePlutonicWay]

I'm from the west country and I love that!

[@patriciakeats5823]

The old feller with the suspenders on sounds a lot like my family. The last sentence my Nan said (when I visited her in the nursing home) was, "Ya got nar maid wit' 'e." I responded I don't have a daughter. Remnants of the accent lives on to this day. I hope I get to visit the west country of England, THE LAND OF MY ANCESTORS before I die.

[@Janewomanpower]

@@patriciakeats5823 From , Newfoundland Canada and these are parts of the english accent i grew up with. I'm blown away and so happy. the man from Glastonbury, Somerset, i could understand almost all of it and it refreshed my mind to words and expressions i heard growing up. it is heartbreaking to know i'm lost so much of this. a line i can still hear my aunt say when i gave her a nice hat for her birthday once was "o, thas sume noice, i'el wear 'e church 'mar. " I'm just starting this research, and i'm addicted and teary eyed.

[@MrShadownoise]

A beautiful project Graham. It's a world I dimly remember from my childhood, especially summers spent at my aunt Emmy and uncle George's farm in Cornwall. Cloth caps, old tweed jackets, string belts, paraffin lamps, accumulators! Your lighting is /so/ evocative I can almost smell those locations.

[@TimGanderPhotographer]

Just brilliant, wonderful work Graham. Thank you for taking the time to seek these wonderful people out and spend time with them. I don't care if I don't understand every word they're saying, I was laughing and enjoying every second.

[@bethica4837]

Thank you for recording these accents as they will soon be lost. This is such important work ❤

[@MrTrotty57]

It's my pleasure

[@lifeslessons9889]

Yes …very few left now here in Devon . Sad 😔

[@wilpage2139]

These are absolutely fantastic interviews! Reminds me so much of my grandmother, she also speaks a similar heavy west county dialect (Wiltshire) and so do most of the older generations of my family (many are dairy farmers too)! It's such a shame this way of speaking is slowly disappearing, but at the same time if I rocked up at the office nattering away like I just finished a long day of milking my managers going to think I've finally snapped.

[@Mistydazzle]

Same for me - my old grandparents were Wiltshire dairy farmers. I loved their accents & it gives me such a good feeling to hear the accent spoken, though the young ones were taught not to speak that way.

[@chrisnorman1902]

2:05 - 4:03 Father and mother, sometimes they would take us in the pony and trap, or horse and trap, part way to school. But if they couldn't find the time in the morning, they'd fetch us in the afternoon. And mother, most times, would get up to the school in the afternoon. But I tell 'ee another instance - if father took us he always bring the big cart-horse - you know, old whacker, great cart-horse - chuck us all up on the back of the horse. Oh dear, those were the days. All three of us on the back of the horse. Jean up front, brother Paul next to her, and me on the back, that afternoon. We'd change over at times. Anyroad, we were part way, coming back, Moore Lane - Jean shuffled back a bit up front, Paul had to shuffle back a bit as well, and shoved me down over the ass of the horse, excuse my language. Course I walked the rest of the way home then. Yeah, I went down over the tail of the horse and pitched on me feet. If we kept to the lane - but we used to cut across the field - it was... lane was three and a quarter miles, yeah, each way, yeah. Three and a quarter miles, every day. It was... it was all cart horse and cart lanes you see. Where the horse... Where the horse walked in the middle of the road, that was all muddy. Bit of grass there, the feet of the horse there, and a bit of grass there, and the wheel... wheel marks of the cart out there. We had to wear welly boots - kept our shoes up school.

[@annaracker1444]

Thank you! Peter is my favourite character on these lovely videos. I love the stories of peters school days of getting in trouble for flicking his toffee wrappers at the head master 😂 he reminded me so much of me grandad. Who incidentally is from the north west of England, but so similar in vernacular I did understand most of what Pete said.

[@tjsquibbofficial]

I wish everyone in the South West spoke like this tbh, including myself. It's such a cool accent and the only people I hear speak this way are people in my Grandparent's Generation, mainly the men however. I do have a few people in my class with somewhat thick West Country accents though.

[@davidmckenna5751]

Love hearing the real English spoken not the queens English

[@ukguy]

@frank lapidus I can but I am from Somerset.

[@nickcollins4268]

Me too ! Im a newfoundlander ( island off canada) pretty much exclusively west country English and munster leinster irish with sprinkles of other groups. We have strong old accents that havent been americanized. I never understood why english people on tv never sounded like us... i asked my english friend, he said because newfies sound like country framers out west and they dont be on tv much. The somerset fella would pass as a local in my hometown.

[@michaelbasher]

Yes, support to the Cornish caracter. Good video.. My family are from The Lizard. Glad to have seen this

[@MrTrotty57]

No Cornish characters in this film - Devon and Somerset. Hopefully, I will find a Cornishman at some point for future episodes.

[@SwishRider]

I remember doing work experience with joey at Newton’s concrete! Must have been around 2009!

[@MrTrotty57]

I've got some footage of him talking about some of the young lads he took on for work experience, and he spoke highly of them.

[@spankynacho5321]

I love this shit man !!! Im from somerset me self and I do talk with an accent. I'm a born and bred farmer boi. Most of my friends have a tang of an accent but it's not very strong as they grew up in large towns or are not from my way. Nearly all the time I talk with my accent but thoughts who cant understand I have to posh it up a bit lol. Love the videos mate I hope you make it into a series of some sort .

[@leeroy77]

Old bloke from Sandford sounds almost northern Irish. I've never heard an accent like it in Devon before. My grandma was from Kingswear and probably a bit older than these fellas when she passed away just recently. She sounded more like the old boy from Glastonbury in this video. Despite being born there, I was raised in New Zealand, but I've been "back" to Devon a few times as my mum and grandma are buried in Kingswear. Sometimes I've messed with the locals when they ask where I'm from, "I'm praaaper Devon. Born here." Sometimes gets a laugh from the real locals. A lot of folk in the west country now are from all over. You're more likely to hear a scouse accent in places like Torquay than a Devonshire accent now.

[@chrisnorman1902]

My dad is from Honiton and sounds just like Paul does in this video, and I have other relatives that sound just like Peter does here

[@leeroy77]

@@chrisnorman1902 Good to hear there's still some speakers like that around. West country accents are obviously more diverse than a lot of people may realize. Ive got an uncle from Barnstaple who might sound a little bit more like Paul does here, but not quite.

[@jasonpalacios2705]

Actually I heard the old 1930's footage of the old people of the time who grew up in the 1800's in the US have this similar accent.

[@chrisnorman1902]

Thank you so much for these!

[@erwydconwyjester7321]

Absolutely stunning series of videos, Thank you.

[@MrTrotty57]

I appreciate your feedback. Many thanks!

[@globalloon]

beautifully presented. the local dialects are disappearing

[@davidmckenna5751]

Proud to be English

[@Daz19]

I've enjoyed your West country yap videos. I'm currently creating a 1860's reconstruction Botallack mine in 3D. I'm looking to make a 3d fly through with audio (ocean, mining sounds etc). Can I clip and mix a few of the voices from this video as backgrounds ambiance when one fly's past a couple of miners? Thank you. I'll credit your channel as the source.

[@MrTrotty57]

Don't see why not - thanks for asking.

[@Daz19]

@@MrTrotty57 Thank you! :)

[@chrisnorman1902]

4:04 - 5:27 We had a bath Saturday nights. Before we had a bath we had to pump seven hundred strokes. Up there is the... the tank up in the roof in the outlet. When we saw the water coming we know we'd finished. And then the water came in to a copper, by itself, you know. And then mother had to light the copper. We never had any decent wood because there's no chainsaws those days, we had to cut up some wood by hand, never had much in hand. She'd light the copper, and when she got the water hot enough she tipped it out in the bath, and we boys - whoever went first last... last week went last this week. Whether mother had a bath... because we used to, especially in the winter time, we used to run in the... in the other room by the fire, try and keep warm, and whether mother had a bath after we did, I don't know. But I don't know whether father ever had a bath. So there you are. Times have moved on now, they want a shower every ten minutes. I'm afraid I don't go down that road. I've had a bath once a week all my life and I haven't... hasn't hurt me has it? Nobody ever told me I smell. Even in summer... summer time, when you've been doing loose hay and that, it goes down your neck all the day. And there was... when you had your bath there's quite a bit of sediment at the bottom. You knew you wanted a bath then.

[@MrTrotty57]

Thanks again Chris!

[@chrisnorman1902]

@@MrTrotty57 You're welcome, it's been fun! I hope to do the rest soon ☺️

[@charbander]

Important content...as pure as.

[@lifeslessons9889]

A dying breed - unfortunately. Pure innocence. ☺️

[@LawnBowlerUK]

Great video! Loved that last story! Haha. Is Marcus still alive? I’d love to see more videos of him.

[@MrTrotty57]

Sadly gone, but I have plenty more footage of Marcus and his mate Bill. Eventually, more will be edited and published here.

[@azaak_melody]

Good luck my friend ❤️👍👍

[@cheeveka3]

So amazing to hear these regional dialects. Many remind me of certain American Accents. Shame Received Pronunciation is widely used in England. I bet if RP never became so widespread in the U.K. the Accents of U.S. and U.K. Accents would not be so different. Hmm makes me wonder if U.S. actually did a better job of preserving how English was spoken from colonial times. 🧐

[@shaunmaguire6912]

I wouldnt say RP is that widespread its just most people you see on tv and actors from the uk all come from upper class backgrounds the north of england still has very strong unique accents

[@cheeveka3]

Shaun Maguire That’s good to know hearing some of these accents in many ways sounds very American in some ways which is pretty awesome. Yes we sound different here as well not everyone sounds like those broadcasters or actors. Even in some places if you refer some Americans as yanks that can really upsets some people in the southern regions of the U.S. What’s odd in the areas like Boston and New York in that upper eastern areas there is accents that do sound similar to RP. Some people say Cah for Car and Bah or bar. I guess like the U.K. the U.S. has a lot of accents as well.👍

[@awedbystander6823]

Slim567 It wasn’t just the upper eastern areas. All of the Eastern coastal areas of the U.S. from the Northeast, to the Deep South, and the Gulf of Mexico developed non-Rhotic accents. This was likely due to contact with RP influenced British sailors. In the south most of these accents (think President Jimmy “Cahtah”) were lost during the Civil Rights movement where white southerners (now Rhotic) and black southerners (still non-Rhotic) in these areas purposefully distanced their accents from each other.

[@spankynacho5321]

You be very surprised at the range of accents across the uk you find the further away you go from London , the stronger it becomes. The reason the west country accent is the way it is goes back to when the Anglo Saxons were around and when they brought over there language. It evolved over time and it became late Saxon dialect, the language that the kingdom of wessex spoke (not included Cornwall). Late saxon is also the beginning of old English. You be very surprised at how many people still have an accent but you must look at a rural areas. Also most people from outside of England will probably think that the west country accent all sounds the same but I believe people of the west can tell the difference (e.g. somerset from Devon or Dorset from Wiltshire).

[@stonedape2406]

I be vrom dee isle o' wight, an ef ye gaak et'n, n'zees thik dee Joskin yop wuz zoo mortal deff vrom London gab et wuz ets own bally.

[@kennarajora6532]

Marcus could probably fool a lot of Americans into thinking he's from there.

[@PikaChu22456]

Aright me luvver

[@caroline-janehall1984]

Aright my gurt babber How you be, like🙂 mind

[@seanchugg1084]

2:36

[@marig9236]

it seems their english accent is less pronounced RP. If you took the first man and dropped him off in new york, he wouldn't sound that different. just slightly briths if that makes sense.

[@functio1]

Sounds too posh to me, being from South Somerset.

[@Akrafena]

American

[@michaelbasher]

Yes, support to the Cornish caracter. Good video.. My family are from The Lizard. Glad to have seen this