Poole, England
The Poole Accent
Poole sits inside the West Country dialect area, which covers Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Gloucestershire, England. The nearest other area is Modern RP, about 5km away.
Take the quiz and see how close your accent is →
What people in Poole sound like
- A strong, curled R after vowels — “farmer” keeps both of its Rs.
- S sounds can be voiced at the start of words in older speech: “Somerset” as “Zomerset”.
- “I be” and “thee/thy” survive in traditional rural speech.
- Long, drawn-out vowels and an unhurried rhythm.
These are the markers of the West Country accent as a whole. No survey claims every speaker in Poole has all of them — the full West Country profile sets out where the region varies.
Poole against Modern RP
Poole is close enough to the Modern RP area that the two get confused. These are the questions where the survey expects a different answer on each side.
| Question | Poole | Modern RP |
|---|---|---|
| When you say “car” by itself, do you pronounce an R sound at the end? | the R at the end of “car” is pronounced | “car” ends in a vowel, with no R sound |
Dialect areas near Poole
Is your accent from Poole?
There is no way to answer that from a description. The test asks 29 questions about the words you use and how you say them, scores your answers against the West Country English profile and every other profile in the survey, and shows you where people who answer the way you do actually live.