Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Where is the South?

Following on from being northern, it led me to think about where 'the south' begins. (Berwick if you're Scottish). For the English, it's a bit more tricky.

Real southerners talk about north of Watford. North of the Trent was more credible. I just wonder if it's where you start pronouncing 'bath' and 'grass' with a short 'a'. I used to live in Coventry (predominantly short 'a') and often went to Leamington Spa or Kenilworth (a lot more long 'a') so the boundary must be somewhere near Stoneleigh or Bubbenhall in Warwickshire.

Of course, the border isn't straight, so other candidates for north/south would be interesting. I suspect Cornwall has more in common with the north than with Surrey
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4 comments:

Emma said...

Hmm... somewhere around Keele I reckon... Though some might say south of Manchester is the south!

Steve Tilley said...

The line runs across the UK from left to right starting just south of Gloucester (northern) and ending up just north of Lincoln (southern).

Anonymous said...

My first born grew up in leamington spa, and had no difficulty maintaining the short a she inhertited from her dad. So I suspect the line is a little further south - Barford, or Bishop's Tachbrook, perhaps?

Mike Peatman said...

Interesting. I guess there's a band of 'grey area' across the country that's mixed mode. Bishop's Tachbrook sounds like frontier country to me!