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Cooper: Today we're really ... First of all, we want to thank Zoe Adams from ... Where are you from Zoe? Zoe: Originally I am from Essex, but I now- Cooper: What is Essex? Zoe: What is Essex? Cooper: Yeah. Zoe: Well, so it's a county to the east of London. Essex has a lot of bad stereotypes, sadly. Cooper: What are some of the ... because I know there was a famous television show made about Essex. What was it called? Zoe: I love that show, yes, The Only Way is Essex. I don't think that does us any favors, to be honest. Cooper: What's wrong? What are the stereotypes about Essex? Zoe: Stereotypes ... Usually, it's the way we speak. We tend to drop our T's and we'll go like, instead of saying, "Hello, how are you?" We'll be, "All right, how you doing? You okay?" It's very ... It just hurts [crosstalk 00:01:01] Cooper: Can I try that one? Zoe: Yeah, please do. Go on. Cooper: Can you say it one more time? Zoe: Try, "Hi ya, you alright? Yeah." Cooper: Hi ya! No. I could do this one. "That's funny." Zoe: "Oh, that's so funny." Yeah we do say, "Yeah, oh that's so funny," even though it's not funny. It's never funny. You could have just gone to hospital and I'd be like, "Oh my god, that's so funny." Cooper: Actually, I said that ... I think that's just the English speaking modern culture, because there was somebody here at Oxford from America, and I had heard that's funny a few times. And then, one day I realized he said, "That's funny," and you could tell ... First of all, I wasn't trying to be funny. Second of all, you could tell that he didn't think it was funny, and I realized people would say that's funny when they don't have anything to say. podcast Zoe (Completed 09/28/18) Page 1 of 11 Transcript by Rev.com Zoe: Yeah, it's just filling the space, really. It's just a way to keep the conversation going without it stopping. And agreeing with the person, you're being agreeable, agreeing with their point of view. It's really funny. I don't know why we say it. Cooper: I wanna talk to you more about that, because it's very interesting - British politeness. But before we talk about that, I want you to tell us about the stereotypes of Essex. Zoe: Okay, so aside from the accent, and certain words as well- Cooper: What are certain words? Can you tell us one? Zoe: I feel like ... Oh god, what would be a typical Essex word? I feel like the media don't really use them that well, but one would probably be totes for totally. Cooper: Do you say that, instead of saying totally, do you say totes? Zoe: No. I often do obvs for obviously. Cooper: Obvs. What would a dialogue be with obvs? Zoe: Mind you, that's usually with one of my oldest friends, but she'd say, "Yeah, I'm obviously not gonna ... There's a party, and I'm definitely gonna go," and I'd go, "Yeah, well obvs." Cooper: Does she always go to parties? Zoe: She actually goes out quite a lot, yeah. When she[crosstalk 00:03:43] Cooper: So she says, "There's a party, and I'm definitely gonna go," and you say, "Yeah, obvs," and obvs would mean obvious? Zoe: Yeah it's like, "Well yeah duh, of course you're going." But there's probably others that I just can't remember on the spot. But they're ones that I feel like Essex don't actually use, but a lot of people think that we use. And they're ones that TOWIE, so The Only Way is Essex - TOWIE is what it's called, have glamorized. You know shup, for shut up? That's a main one. But we actually say that, like, "Oh, shup." Cooper: Shup? Shut up? Zoe: Yeah- Cooper: Shut up. Cooper: What's the difference between the Essex accent and the London accent? The East London accent? podcast Zoe (Completed 09/28/18) Page 2 of 11 Transcript by Rev.com Zoe: It's really difficult to tease apart the differences, but there's Cockney, which is your Eastenders, and that's your working class London accent. The Essex accent, or at least the accent that you might hear, I guess in just describing it very bluntly and not academically would be as kind of, "You alright? Yeah, how are you? Yeah, I'm good," and it's just- Cooper: Does that- Zoe: Yeah, that. Cooper: Does that annoy you when people ... Because I think my students and the people listening know how are you, right? Sometimes it annoys me when people say, "Are you alright?" Not the way you say it, but more like, "Are you alright?" Because they always say it as if I just fell off of a bicycle. Zoe: Yeah. No, that's- Cooper: Are you alright? And I don't know what to say, like, "Why not, do I look like I'm in trouble?" Zoe: Yeah, I completely agree, and I think actually when I went to Australia, people were confused why we'd often say, "Oh hi, you alright?" Because I often say, on the phones to my friends, I'm like, "Hi, you alright?" Zoe: "Yeah good, you?" Zoe: "Yeah." Zoe: I feel like how are you- Cooper: Is the same? Zoe: Yeah, it's completely the same, but how are you, I would speak only very, very formally. Otherwise, I'd say, "How you doing? How's things? What's up?" How are you is informal. Cooper: I think it's annoying, too. When people say, "How are you?" Since I know they don't care, I always say stuff like, "I'm shit." When I first got to Oxford, because how are you, I think this is a very American thing. When I first got to Oxford, a lot of the Americans said, "How are you?" And I would be angry, so I would challenge them and I would say, "Shit. Do you wanna know more?" They didn't like me, but I didn't like them either. Zoe: Yeah, I can see why. It's because you never expect someone to give an actual honest answer. It's something people say when again, it's just a politeness thing. You always say, "Hi, how are you?" Zoe: "Good thank you, you?" podcast Zoe (Completed 09/28/18) Page 3 of 11 Transcript by Rev.com Zoe: "Yep." Zoe: And you could be having the worst day ever, but you would always say, "Good thanks, you?" Zoe: "Fine, thanks." And that's it. Cooper: I don't like that, I think it's too fake. Zoe: Yeah, it's very fake. It's when you're passing someone in the street who you know, you're not gonna say, "Well now actually, feeling really crap today." But you don't want to obviously stop them and go into detail, because you can't really be arsed- Cooper: But why don't you just say, "Hello," or why don't you say, "Good afternoon," or something? Zoe: Because then, it seems rude. You want to be seen asking how they are, but really, neither of you care. Cooper: I've never heard anybody explain it so clearly. You've just explained how bullshit and hypocritical it is. Even though- Zoe: Oh yeah, it's [crosstalk 00:07:56] Cooper: Everybody says it. I don't, but everybody else I know says it. But at least if ... Now that I have this recording, I can always show people why I don't like it, because people say it when they don't wanna seem rude, but really they don't care. Zoe: No, they don't care. You don't care, but you want to acknowledge that you care enough about them to formulate that as an answer. If someone goes, "Hi." Zoe: "Hi." Zoe: Then it's awkward. Cooper: Rude. It's rude. Zoe: "Hi, how are you?" Zoe: "Good, good. You?" Zoe: "Yeah." Zoe: And that's the bog standard, boxed up, cross-in-the-street answer. Cooper: People would say, "How are you?" And another thing I said a lot is, "Hi." podcast Zoe (Completed 09/28/18) Page 4 of 11 Transcript by Rev.com Cooper: "How are you?" Cooper: "Hi." Zoe: Yeah, hi, yeah. Oh yeah. Cooper: I don't think they like that, though. Zoe: Hey and hi are the two that I use. Hello. Hello. That's the most basic word. Sorry, yeah. Cooper: Can you tell us a little more about the ... What about Essex girls? Not you, but in general, because people ... I don't think my audience knows, but in England, I definitely think there's a stereotype about Essex girls. Although I don't know what it is, I hear it all the time. Zoe: Okay. Essex girls are typically very dumb, very ditzy. We have blonde hair, we have white stilettos - so white high heels, short skirts, we're slags - so we're very easy, like sleep with any guy- Cooper: What does slag mean, because I don't think my listeners know the slang word slag. Zoe: Promiscuous. Cooper: Promiscuous? Zoe: Yeah.

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