‘I got lots of criticism for column on losing my Kerry accent’
It was simply easier to get on in Dublin without a Kerry brogue, Lorraine Courtney writes
EVER since I’ve moved up to Dublin, I’ve lost my big, thick Kerry accent. Almost two decades later I talk like everyone in Dublin 4. That’s just so people inside D4 can understand me because obviously everything happens in D4 and the Healy Raes are completely right about the Dublin media.
As I got older, I realised that more often than not — sweeping generalisation alert — everyone I knew who seemed to aspire to higher education or more professional endeavors seemed to have a less extreme accent. Not because there is anything innately stupid about the Kerry accent — clearly it’s purely a matter of bias — but because everyone aiming to succeed in most industries learned quickly that sounding super country was a liability.
There was a segment on the RTÉ’s Six One News a few weeks back that got a lot of people talking. If you missed it, a Kerry farmer was offering €2,000 to anyone with information about his 45 missing sheep. The problem was that nobody could understand what he was saying. I wrote a column for The Irish Independent about how I’d ditched my own accent because I sounded thick. I got a lot of criticism.
I’m not embarrassed to be from Kerry, mind you, I just don’t want to sound like it. I’ve lived in Dublin for almost as long as I’ve lived in Killorglin, and most people don’t seem to notice anything about my accent unless certain words come up, and then suddenly it is painfully obvious, and they are quick to remind me how “country” I sound.
I asked someone a few months ago if they were having spuds. That person, far as I know, is still laughing at me. But with lots of good old-fashioned work, you can at least put a dent in your accent of origin and morph toward the greater glory of correctness and neutrality.
Which begs the question: Why do I even care? Why not just embrace the accent I was born with, “tae”, “mate” and all? I think because ultimately I’ve sounded less Kerry for so long and it just makes working life easier if I sound like everyone else.