Originally Posted by
Webbo Again
Worth noting that back in those days, there wasn't a Scouse accent - or at least nothing as pronounced as now. It was apparently very similar to the SW Lancashire accent, albeit with a little more Welsh influence. When the big Irish immigration happened in the 19th century, the merging of the two accents produced a milder Scouse accent. Listen to the accents of the 50's and 60's (in fact, listen to the accents of the Beatles back then) and it's a far softer accent with still traces of Lancashire mixed in. In north Liverpool/Bootle, where there was a heavier concentration of Irish descendants, the accent was harsher/thicker. It's only when 'Scousedom' became a popular thing that people would amplify the harshness of their accent to be more Scouse. This was especially prevalent in the new-town estates in places like Skem, Runcorn, Winsford, Kirkby, Maghull, Huyton, Prescot, Whiston, etc that were built to house Liverpool people moved out during wholesale slum clearance programmes. The people who moved there - and especially their kids - would amplify their Scouse accents to 'prove' their Scouseness. And that is where we are now, with the phlegm-ridden harsh accent.