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Right, so I just saw this in another thread:


Now according to the Poll that has sprouted this image, Birmingham is a Northern city but Lincoln isn't and Wales is also apparently in the North.

So I want to get some quick opinions from you lot on where you think the North and South divide is or where the North, South and Midlands divide is. Just state where you're from and what your opinion is (if you aren't from Britain you can still get involved if you know your Geography well enough).

I'll start:
I'm from Hull and I believe the North-Midlands divide is a line that starts at the mouth of the Humber, follows the base of Yorkshire, the base of Greater Manchester, the base of Merseyside and ends in the river Dee. The Midlands-South divide is a bit trickier but I'd say a line drawn from Norfolk to Gloucestershire would be about right. Wales has it's own North-South divide so I'll leave it out of this.

North/South is just, like, a state of mind, maaaan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watford_Gap

I don't associate myself with either the North or the South being from the Midlands.

Feck the lot of ya!

Anywhere North of Oxford is a wet and wild land where men breed whippets and wear flat caps.

feeder wrote:North/South is just, like, a state of mind, maaaan.

Until we can build the wall and then the Southerners will have to deal with Birmingham.

reds8n wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watford_Gap

There seems to be some disagreement in that link of where exactly the Watford line is.

An Actual Englishman wrote:I don't associate myself with either the North or the South being from the Midlands.

Feck the lot of ya!

Then where does the Midlands start and end?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 filbert wrote:
Anywhere North of Oxford is a wet and wild land where men breed whippets and wear flat caps.

Aye up, you cheeky bugger, I'll set me Ferrets on you!

 mrhappyface wrote:
Then where does the Midlands start and end?

Well it depends entirely on where you're looking from doesn't it?

From the North I would consider anything as far as Stafford to be part of the Midlands, though I hesitate because Staffs, Brummies and Yam Yams are all very different breeds of people. Most don't consider Staffs to be Midlands proper. The territory goes as far East as Leicester, Nuneaton and Rugby. Southerly I would say we go as far as Gloucester at a push, Evesham if that's too far for you.

Being an American, but one who follows numerous comedians and television, etc. from the UK, my own take is that the "North" of England is anywhere that has an accent that is unintelligible to anyone but locals

I've never thought of drawing the line, but I wouldn't be put out with mrhappyface's lines.

Unless I feel like winding Mancs up and telling them they aren't really northerners, they're more like north-midlanders. You should see 'em bite. Manc baiting has to be one of my favourite hobbies.

I saw this on FB tentatively titled 'Britain according to people from London'.

 An Actual Englishman wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:
Then where does the Midlands start and end?

From the North I would consider anything as far as Stafford to be part of the Midlands, though I hesitate because Staffs, Brummies and Yam Yams are all very different breeds of people.

I'd say Lichfield and Tamworth are most deffinitely midlands. Burton too. Stokies are a taxonomy unto themselves. I think they want to be northerners but secretly know they're never going to be accepted, like the scrawny kid at school who hovers around the cool kids hoping one day they'll recognise them.

Ensis Ferrae wrote:Being an American, but one who follows numerous comedians and television, etc. from the UK, my own take is that the "North" of England is anywhere that has an accent that is unintelligible to anyone but locals

How does the American understand British Geo-cultural differences in the UK better than most Brits?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ketara wrote:
I saw this on FB tentatively titled 'Britain according to people from London'.

Spoiler:

Eh, that's pretty close to the truth.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Being an American, but one who follows numerous comedians and television, etc. from the UK, my own take is that the "North" of England is anywhere that has an accent that is unintelligible to anyone but locals

Mostly, although Bristol and further West gets its fair share of odd way of speaking (think the stock 'peasent' accent of any medieval film or most of the Hot Fuzz characters bar Pegg and Dolton)

 Henry wrote:

 An Actual Englishman wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:
Then where does the Midlands start and end?

From the North I would consider anything as far as Stafford to be part of the Midlands, though I hesitate because Staffs, Brummies and Yam Yams are all very different breeds of people.

I'd say Lichfield and Tamworth are most deffinitely midlands. Burton too. Stokies are a taxonomy unto themselves. I think they want to be northerners but secretly know they're never going to be accepted, like the scrawny kid at school who hovers around the cool kids hoping one day they'll recognise them.

Lol Midlanders don't want the Stokies. Clay banging saddos with awful football.

Erm, how to put this...I'm the resident Potters fan.

...but I got to agree with the quality of football this year. We got what we deserved.

I'm an Albion fan mate, there's not much I have to be proud of, football-wise.

If you're heading north on the M1 past J14 (the northern MK junction) then you're pretty much lost to the wastes.

Also, most of East Anglia and the entire south west are too rural and are basically honorary northerners.

 Riquende wrote:
If you're heading north on the M1 past J14 (the northern MK junction) then you're pretty much lost to the wastes.

Also, most of East Anglia and the entire south west are too rural and are basically honorary northerners.

Whaaaaat honorary northerners,,, that’s fighting talk that is. I’m off to get my pitch fork.

The biggest divide has to be between London and everything outside the M25. Londoners live in a self absorbed bubble and are at odds with the rest of the UK in many ways.

Oh, I just remembered. The original place this map came from didn't ask people whether they thought they were north or south.

People were given a list of town and city names, without looking at a map, and asked to label them as north or south.

So whilst people from Lincoln may consider themselves northerners, enough people who took the questionnaire decided they were southerners that they sit on the mid-way line. Same for Gloucester with north-south reversed.

The outcome was the curious map you see in the OP.

From Essex and pretty much anything above The Wash is “northern” to me.

 xKillGorex wrote:

 Riquende wrote:
If you're heading north on the M1 past J14 (the northern MK junction) then you're pretty much lost to the wastes.

Also, most of East Anglia and the entire south west are too rural and are basically honorary northerners.

Whaaaaat honorary northerners,,, that’s fighting talk that is. I’m off to get my pitch fork.

How long will it take your combine harvester to get here... if you get a brand new one?

 mrhappyface wrote:

Ensis Ferrae wrote:Being an American, but one who follows numerous comedians and television, etc. from the UK, my own take is that the "North" of England is anywhere that has an accent that is unintelligible to anyone but locals

How does the American understand British Geo-cultural differences in the UK better than most Brits?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ketara wrote:
I saw this on FB tentatively titled 'Britain according to people from London'.

Spoiler:

Eh, that's pretty close to the truth.

Joining up with Ouze’s other thread, I think the most reliable way to determine which part of the UK you’re in is to ask a local what they call a small, round, loaf of bread, to be used as a lunch time snack or for holding bacon.

The correct answer is “cob”. *ducks & runs*

I would say draw a line from Oxford to Brighton, everything SW of that is South (bar Cornwall, the Tamar is an international boundary) everything else is either, North, foreign or meh.

Jadenim, I would just call that a rrrrroll (with correct pronunciation). Another question is what do you call a ditch full of water? Locally it was a rhyne, pronounced like the German river but with more rrrrrrrrrrr.


I should add I am from Somerrrrrrrrrrrset originally, full of piratical farmers.

It depends on where you are :p
I imagine someone from Cornwall has a different view of 'North' than someone from Shetland.

A very rough guide is to draw a line from the mouth of the river severn to the top base of the Wash.

It's extraordinary how many factors to do with money and other social-political stuff are very different either side of that line.

Of course this ignores the Midlands as a distinct region.

We also have to remember that Scotland is not "northern", it's Scottish, and Wales is "Welsh", and Northern Ireland. They don't follow the same social-polical pattern as the Engilsh north-south device.

As regards London, the M25 is a good bounday but there are towns and cities outside that which are closely tied by commuters and so on, that you have to think of the "south-east" as a region.

Currently live in east anglia and ... well Norwich is basically an Island of sanity in a sea of gibberish.

 reds8n wrote:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watford_Gap

Obviously this ^

I live in London, almost everywhere is "The North"

Yes, but you still must fear and shun "south of the river..."

Kilkrazy wrote:
As regards London, the M25 is a good bounday but there are towns and cities outside that which are closely tied by commuters and so on, that you have to think of the "south-east" as a region.

City of London, Greater London, Outer London?

Luton is feeling the London effect these days. House prices have risen dramatically as those priced out of the capital buy property here (or landlords looking to take advantage of the quick trains in to Kings Cross/St Pancras). The airport is officially known as "London Luton" and 10 years back the owner of the local football team wanted to rename it to "London Luton" as well.

ingtaer wrote:Another question is what do you call a ditch full of water? Locally it was a rhyne, pronounced like the German river but with more rrrrrrrrrrr.

In civilised society there isn't a special word for that. We'd just call it 'someone else's drainage problem'.

Kilkrazy wrote:Yes, but you still must fear and shun "south of the river..."

Sarf, innit?