YouTuber 'Korean Billy' tries to not look like dinlo as he takes on Portsmouth dialect in viral video

By Richard Lemmer

Published 5th May 2021, 11:20 BST

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A YOUTUBER from Korea who has attracted a massive audience by teaching British accents has taken on the Portsmouth dialect – but some city residents are not convinced.

Seong-Jae Kong, a popular South Korean YouTuber called 'Korean Billy', has amassed hundreds of thousands of views with his lessons on Scouser, Mancunian and even 'roadman' accents.

Now the 29-year-old internet star has turned his attention to Pompey words and pronunciations.

In the video, Seong-Jae covers well-known words such as dinlo – meaning a stupid or foolish person – as well as phrases not heard as often, such as referring to Gosport as ‘Turk Town’.

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And his efforts to master the Portsmouth dialect have attracted more than 2,000 comments – with a mixed reviews.

In the video, the YouTuber says: ‘Going ‘down town’ becomes ‘dayne tayne’ – that’s because of the Portsmouth accent. Down changes into dayne, and town turns into tayne.’

Many people comment on the video found the accent a bit wide of the mark.

One person on Facebook wrote: ‘If you saying dayne tayne and not daan taan you ain't pompey.’

Another agreed: ‘I'm from Pompey and whilst he has got some of the words right, the way he says them makes him sound Scottish in some of them. What a dinlo.’

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The YouTube goes on to mention ‘squinny’ as a popular word to mean ‘complain or cry’ – and many residents were left confused to hear ‘Lippy Tower’ is often used to mean Gunwharf Quays.

A screenshot from Korean Billy's guide to the Portsmouth accent

A screenshot from Korean Billy's guide to the Portsmouth accent

A Facebook user who claims to be ‘Portsmouth born and bred’ said: ‘Lived here all my life.

‘Whilst I understand the words used and have heard them used as slang, it's not something I or my friends and family would ever say.

‘Maybe I'd occasionally tell the children to stop "sqinneying" but even the Lippy Tower as a substitute for Gunwharf, I've never heard of that.’

But Seong-Jae is the first to admit his grasp of Pompey speech could be improved.

He said: ‘I know my Pompey accent is not perfect.’

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Portsmouth Seong-Jae Kong