Joe McElderry is not a Geordie

As I'm a Strictly Come Dancing fan, I've never watched the X-Factor but the news that Joe McElderry has won the latest singing competition hasn't passed me by. The Sun called him, in a front page headline, "Geordie Joe" and I've read other references, ooh, just aboute everywhere saying that Joe's a Geordie. He's not.

Just as Lauren Laverne isn't a Geordie, neither is Joe. Lauren hails from Sunderland which makes her a Mackem and Joe hails from South Shields which makes him a Sandancer. So there you have it. Any more questions?

Comments

Steve said…
I'm always grateful to have my cultural gaps filled in.
12:01 PM
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
6:56 PM
Unknown said…
He is a Geordie, he is from Tyneside and has a Geordie accent and dialect.
6:58 PM
Geordie said…
He is a Geordie he's from South Shields.
3:06 AM
Anonymous said…
To be a Geordie don't you have to have been born within the sound of someone puking their guts up on the Bigg market?
8:33 AM
Anonymous said…
They all sound a similar accent to me (being an East Midlander) but it is amazing how upon listening more to the older folk from around the town on the border with Derbyshire that there are slight differences in dialect between the towns which are next to each other.
I'm now in Norfolk and the locals speak true Norfolk accent but if we visit Lincolnshire, it is full of cockneys!
9:09 PM
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