The world has gone Brummie!
Jul 20 2007 By Catherine Lillington, Birmingham Mail
MORE than 1,000 people across the world had a bostin' time taking part in the first ever Talk Like A Brummie day.
oOrganiser Jon Bounds said people in Australia, Canada and around the country adopted the accent yesterday.
Momentum built up for the event after the 32-year-old, from Perry Barr, began the campaign on his website Birmingham: It's Not S***.
He said: "I'm pleased with the reaction it's had. It really snowballed and became bigger than I thought.
"We've had people getting in touch from Australia and Canada and a guy said he's going to be doing it in Belgium."
As well as getting people to call each other "Bab", Jon said he wanted the day to break down prejudice that surrounds the accent.
"How often do we hear or read the Brummie accent has been named the least intelligent or boring in unscientific polls?" he said.
"You can't judge people by their accent and anything which helps people think about how they react is really worth doing. It's been bostin' and I hope everybody enjoys themselves."
Bad weather meant an event planned as part of the day, in Chamberlain Square, had to be postponed.
A panel of experts, including Birmingham poet laureate Giovanni Esposito, were due to recount their own favourite Brummie phrases and sayings.
A website about the event at www.talklikeabrummieday.co.uk includes links to existing dictionaries and collections of typical Brummie sayings.
People can also leave their own favourite Brummie phrases or words to build up a dictionary.
