Black people around these parts never used to sound like this. They sounded like everyone else. Then some wanted to sound differently, and guess what, they’ll be treated differently in frustrating moments for them in the future. They won’t get past the recruitment consultant. Good luck there, bredren. You get me? Know what I’m saying? You could say ‘oh well’ but it’ll cause more issues down the road.

The cockney accent in Essex is a stupid example or argument because those people came from London before moving out, or their parents, grandparents and so on did. Nothing manufactured or invented there.

I obviously don’t think street talk should take over the country because it sounds ridiculous, and you know my point is it won’t either, because opportunities will be limited. Money is power, and a street talker from a London Borough won’t be able to compete with someone from anywhere in the country who doesn’t talk in street or with that sound.

Maybe some will be able to lose the street sound, or just think they are. It isn’t easy to hide. Sounding the part is often just as important as knowledge. Many will realise this in many moments in life.

Edited by Rudi Hedman (12 Feb 2019 7.16pm)

No, it's this general white middle class chip on the shoulder bigotry which is a theme on this area of the forum

General talk has become a joke. White, middle-class ‘why can’t there be a WOBO awards’ Tommy Robinson loving w**kfest. Seeing it is quite sad really.

Of course it’s bloody made up - just because it was made up years earlier, it was still made up. Do you think the air over there made people start speaking in stupid rhymes or what?

The word ‘reem’ was added to the Oxford dictionary when The Only Way is Essex was big on TV a few years ago - clearly their way of communicating is manufactured and invented - to suggest otherwise, because their parents and grandparents moved out of London (??) is just bizarre.

Again,I entirely agree that you should bear consequences on your employment prospects if you chose to speak as such, but I still believe people can communicate however the f*** they want with their friends.

It’s very easy to switch off; as I said already, I have plenty of friends and people I grew up around who do so seamlessly and have no problems professionally - I’d suggest the vast majority of people adopt a different style of speech when at work, whether they typically speak street or not.

I think blokes who walk around saying ‘sweet as a nut geezer’ sound ridiculous, and I’m very certain they wouldn’t present themselves as such in an interview - that is broadly accepted, whilst modern street talk is broadly ridiculed - please explain the difference.

Cockney rhyming slang is just one part of cockney and anyway, when we talk of cockney, we’re really talking about a London accent. Only a small sub section talk in rhyming slang. Hardly anybody really. I’ve not heard many people saying things like ‘sweet as a nut, geezer’, unless you’re in a pub before a certain few London football club matches, and besides, this is Croydon we’re talking about, not people doing the Lambeth walk or Canning Town.

The London accent would’ve evolved over time, from the times of Chaucer. It did not start from a bunch of muppets who thought it sounded cool in the early ‘90s, because that is when it sprung up from nowhere. Trust me it did. It doesn’t sound like any accent from anywhere. West Indian British kids speak it and it sounds nothing a Caribbean accent. Name me where it sounds like. Go on.

Guess what on the Towie language. Most people think it’s moronic, and anyway, a word is just a word. You can drop a word, not a whole sound. I spoke to a girl recently who sounded like the rest of us, for so long, then the street sound came in. The Towie brigade and all of that Essex/Hertfordshire border and Marbella where they all flock to have the advantage that they almost have their own economy so they can live and actually prosper in what they think is a glamorous lifestyle whilst being and sounding common and fick at the same time. The black communities do not all have that good fortune. They’ll be waiting quite a while for all employers to have the street sound just be employed by a street sounding employer, whereas lots of Essex sounds London with a splash of moronic Towie here and there.

People can communicate however (the fvck) they like with their friends. I’d just prefer it if they didn’t with me, whether they’re talking to me or serving me.