E-Griff's "Pride, Prejudice &; a Portion of Chips"

This anecdote of E-Griff's hits a particular nail on its head.

He's right that snobbery comes from all directions - the young to the old, and vice versa, the males to the females, and vice versa....and especially the old North and South matter. I was in a lovely position with regards to this, similar to E-Griff's own - I was born in Derby, lived in Derbyshire for a while and have always visited my grandparent's and family there regularly, yet I've spent most of my life growing up in Buckinghamshire. As a result of that, and my parent's influence, I have an accent that it seemed for a while everyone was prejudiced against. My parents would scorn me when I was younger for saying 'barth' instead of 'bath,' and years later, in school, I was regularly mocked for saying 'bath' instead of 'barf.' People seemed to assume I was from Yorkshire, and thought it immensely witty to speak to me in a Yorkshire accent. At the same time, the younger kids who I saw occasionally while I worked in a youth group accused me of speaking 'posh', presumably because I used words unknown to them. Back in the Midlands, or up north, I have to say I've encountered no such disdainful comments, but sometimes feel very uncomfortable speaking in the company of people with strong northern accents. Frankly, alongside them, I do sound like a pansy.

Other prejudice also comes mainly from my imagination. We've all heard tales of these thick people you meet in shops who don't seem to be able to handle difficult situations intelligently - well I'm one of those. I'm often nervy and accident-prone in public, and can't think clearly. I'm certain more than one person has gone away from an encounter with me thinking me a dumbass fool and feeling quite superior. On the other hand, the looks I get from people sometimes for trying out an articulate sentence or two! Suddenly I'm the pretentious and arrogant prat who must think he's SO superior!