Travelodge: Where Unpleasantness Comes As Standard

So, if I've read this correctly, Travelodge are saying that their customers hate people from London? And Liverpool? And Scotland? And Wales? Isn't that quite a lot of unpleasantness? Can this be right? And, Shakila, were you personally responsible for the deathless phrase, "Britain’s Most Despised Drawl"? Despised? Really? Only, the last time I looked, Amy Winehouse's "despised drawl" had sold her nearly five million records, so someone, somewhere (if not everyone, everywhere) is lying to you. Unless she's sold five million records to other "cockneys"? Oh, and by the way, Winehouse is from Southgate, which is in north, not east, London, so she's not a cockney. And, while we're at it, David Beckham is from Leytonstone, which means, sadly, he's not a cockney either. But thanks for trying, I particularly liked your idea of "worst well-known whines". You truly are adding to the sum of human happiness over there in the Travelodge PR department, aren't you? A thrilled LiS reader cooked down their own response to this unpleasant "survey" thus:

:(


Begin forwarded message:
From: "Shakila Ahmed" [shakila.ahmed@travelodge.co.uk]
Date: 21 October 2008 12:35:07 BST
Subject: Press release: Amy's 'whine' voted worst in UK

Hi,
Please see below for our latest press release, if you need any further information, please call me

Regards

Shakila

Amy’s ‘whine’ voted worst in UK - Award for Britain’s Most Despised Drawl Goes to Cockney Crooner -

Winehouse by name, ‘Whine-mouth’ by nature? A new report examining the nation’s best-loved and most-hated regional twangs reveals the notorious crooner’s cockney accent to be the most despised drawl in Britain.

Meanwhile, the Geordie accent was voted top of the regional twangs, with Cheryl Tweedy’s Geordie lilt selected as Brits’ favourite celebrity accent, closely followed by fellow Geordies Ant and Dec. Cat Deeley’s Brummie brogue and Peter Kay’s Lancastrian lilt followed in the league of most-loved celebrity accents.

Joining Winehouse at the bottom of the lingo league was fellow East Londoner, David Beckham. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was voted in third place, followed by Scouser Colleen Rooney in the poll of 3,000 Britons by national budget hotel chain Travelodge as part of its campaign to find out Britons knowledge of their own regional phrases and dialects.

Joining Winehouse at the bottom of the lingo league was fellow East Londoner, David Beckham. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was voted in third place, followed by Scouser Colleen Rooney in the poll of 3,000 Britons by national budget hotel chain Travelodge as part of its campaign to find out Britons knowledge of their own regional phrases and dialects.

Brits were asked to complete a ‘Mother Tongue Test’ to reveal just how well they could identify and understand their own language, with shocking results revealing that over half of Brits couldn’t decipher local terms from the Scouse term ‘scran’ for food to Cornish ‘oggies’ – pies. However, 85% could understand foreign phrases such as the German word for sausage - ‘wiener’ - and Spanish ‘piazza’, meaning a town square.

Campaigning to keep local lingo alive, national hotel chain Travelodge is aiming to make life easier for the growing number of Britons exploring the UK during the credit crunch by providing Lingo Busting Guides on its website for people to download before they check in.

Greg Dawson, Travelodge Director of Communications said, “BLAHBLAHBLAH.”

Further findings:
The study revealed the Yorkshire accent to be the most trustworthy in the UK, while the Northern Irish accent was voted the sexiest. Brummies were deemed to have the most boring brogue, while Geordies topped the list for the accent most likely to bring a smile to Brits’ faces.

The nation’s worst well-known whines:

Women Men
Amy Winehouse (Cockney) 1. David Beckham (Cockney)
Colleen Rooney (Scouse) 2. Gordon Brown (Scottish)
Charlotte Church (Welsh) 3. Noel Gallagher (Mancunian)
Lily Allen (Cockney) 4. Ozzy Osbourne (Brummie)
Jane McDonald (Yorkshire) 5. Chris Moyles (Yorkshire)

Voted top of the celebrity twangs:

Women Men
Cheryl Tweedy (Geordie) 1. Ant and Dec (Geordie)
Cat Deeley (Brummie) 2. Peter Kay (Lancastrian)
Edith Bowman (Scottish) 3. James Nesbitt (Northern Irish)
Tess Daly (Lancastrian) 4. Vernon Kay (Lancastrian)
Christine Bleakley (Northern Irish) 5. Justin Lee Collins (Bristolian)

Notes to editors: Study of 3,000 respondents conducted by One Poll in September 08