Accents: S&D

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What accents sound like fingernails down the blackboard? Which ones could you listen to forever? Which send you into a head-scratching frenzy to understand them? Which just send you straight to zzz-land? Which are the most musical, the most evocative, the most sexy, the least of any of those? What about gender variations? Name your faves and unfaves.

(DISCLAIMER: This is a thread about accents. About the audial appreciation of same. It is NOT about any other characteristics which people from any particular nation/region may or may not be seen/thought to share because of their origin.)

― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Monday, 29 December 2003 03:32 (twenty-two years ago)

What is the most sexy/least sexy accent?
what's your favourite accent of English...?
Ah fuck it, what do you sound like?
Chameleon

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 29 December 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

search: the reggae accent, icelandic accent, southern belle accent, japanese speaking english accent.

destroy: suburban kids with urban accents, cockney,

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 29 December 2003 03:39 (twenty-two years ago)

S: "posh" English accents and Cajun drawl

D: Jersey and that deep-south "southern belle" accent

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 29 December 2003 03:40 (twenty-two years ago)

destroy miss cleo

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 29 December 2003 03:43 (twenty-two years ago)

The chicken-fried Brooklynesque New Orleans accent is awesome. I wish I could pull it off but I think I'd sound like an asshole.

― adam (adam), Monday, 29 December 2003 03:48 (twenty-two years ago)

My first exposure to the Sith Effrican accent was that strange hybrid Scots version which emanates from the festering gob of Mr Anthony W. Greig, which can still send me screaming from the room. So
I was quite amazed to find that the 'pure' Yarpie accent, from a girl/woman at any volume 'dull roar' or below, was just magnificent, so warm and lush, English Home Counties with a Dutch/Afrikaaner lilt.

NZ works the same way. Men sometimes sound a 'but thuck', ladies normally sound magic (although Rachel Hunter isn't 'normal' in this respect).

― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Monday, 29 December 2003 04:02 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

rvv

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 21 May 2004 19:53 (twenty-two years ago)

There was a girl I went to middle school/high school with who had a really nice South African accent. It was like a whole bunch of different accents all mixed together.

― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 21 May 2004 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a lot of biases against different accents that I need to iron out. I'd be specific, but people would hate me.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:01 (twenty-two years ago)

poshies.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I totally love the Dutch accent, though.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

ill second the dutch and south african love.

― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:05 (twenty-two years ago)

give it to us straight, n-skillz.

― mandee, Friday, 21 May 2004 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, tell us! I have one of the most h8ed on accents in the world, so I can take it.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Chinese sucks and you know it.

― SexyDancer, Friday, 21 May 2004 20:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha! Mandee and Nicole, you have nothing to fear. You are both from the "right" continent.

Also-wtf, Nicole? You're from Michigan? How is that one of the most hated accents in the world?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:48 (twenty-two years ago)

People on ilx (and elsewhere) have complained about stupid midwestern accents before.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I love Midwestern accents! I live with one (though it has odd English inflections)!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Dakotas, some Canadian accents harsh me out, dude.

Joysey, Boston, some New Yawk make me flee

Down South is cute 'til they tell me what they think of Califohnia

Brazeeoo makes me swoon

I get over all this stuff all the time but thoase are some random prejudices.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

What do they think of Califohnia?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

thoase

I've coined yet another word.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:59 (twenty-two years ago)

destroy with swift and brute force the coquettish, suth'un belle accent.

The chicken-fried Brooklynesque New Orleans accent is awesome
-heartily seconded.

― Will (will), Friday, 21 May 2004 20:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Love Nawlins accent.

What they think of California:

Buncha pinko, commie, faggot, traitors. (I'm sooo proud.)

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:00 (twenty-two years ago)

But that's why it's great!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Buncha right-wing, fascist, breeder, jingoists!

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

funny accents are funny

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

no they're not!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Oi, whassisen, eh?

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

someone's gonna jump on the racism bandwagon...but...
all hybrid english - asian accents sound awful. wait! 'cept indian / pakistani.

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

i love love LOVE anglo-indian accents

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:13 (twenty-two years ago)

How 'bout Anglo-Chinese?

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

nup.

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:38 (twenty-two years ago)

RACIST

― Leeefuse 73 (Leee), Friday, 21 May 2004 21:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Destroy: Boston accents. My dad's from Boston.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 21 May 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Search: the ubiquitous redneck accent.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 21 May 2004 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Search: Northern Californian, New English, Russian, Italian, Southern genteel

Destroy: Brooklyn, Jersey, posh English Accents

― Serya (Z_Ayres), Saturday, 22 May 2004 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

australians have the best accents.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Saturday, 22 May 2004 02:36 (twenty-two years ago)

the "new jersey" accent that folks bemoan is really just a mutant of the brooklyn accent. and naturally, its native stomping ground is north jersey. in south jersey (i.e., everything south of princeton or trenton), the accent is more philadelphia-sounding (again, think geography). ergo, the "new jersey" accent that everyone's hating on should properly be called a "north jersey" accent.

i hate to think of what MY accent sounds like.

― i'mfromjoiseybär (llamasfur), Saturday, 22 May 2004 03:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Search: Posh Scots accent, esp. Edingburgh area. Wow!

Also, the SA one, without a doub.t I'm currently cruching on a South African temp we've got in . .. she's luuuvly!

― Johnney B, Saturday, 22 May 2004 06:42 (twenty-two years ago)

new zealanders have the best accents

― mullygrubber (gaz), Saturday, 22 May 2004 07:11 (twenty-two years ago)

actually i like oirish. i like peru too.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Saturday, 22 May 2004 07:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Oooh, and also old guys from the West Indies, that big deeping booming voice is amazing.

― Johnney B, Saturday, 22 May 2004 07:15 (twenty-two years ago)

And, while I think of it, the southern american accent can sound great. Sounds like Johnney Cash = classic.

― Johnney B, Saturday, 22 May 2004 07:16 (twenty-two years ago)

jamaican = inpenetrable though.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Saturday, 22 May 2004 07:16 (twenty-two years ago)

The 'English' accent affected by wannabee-posh Australians in Toorak, Double Bay and Young Liberals branches, which sounds like nowhere in particular in England, is a real shocker.

― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Saturday, 22 May 2004 07:24 (twenty-two years ago)

the return of fred! OTM

― mullygrubber (gaz), Saturday, 22 May 2004 07:38 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

can some british tell me what the accent is on the girl from The Office (UK) who is given the dildo as a bday present

― phil ochsymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 18 May 2009 05:16 (seventeen years ago)

four years pass...

Does anyone on ILX talk with a southern accent? In my head, I always hear everyone's words spoken similarly to how I speak, unless people start using distinct UK vernacular in which case I hear it as a proper sounding DJ on BBC radio or possibly a drunk DJ on BBC radio.

― billstevejim, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 03:39 (thirteen years ago)

three years pass...

I'm curious about what accents of English are hard to understand for other English speakers, especially if they're ESL or if they're from a different Anglophone nationality. Like I have no idea what these Irish guys are saying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RndEXwu0NvA

― https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmy8x2Lm7rE (Leee), Monday, 9 January 2017 20:58 (nine years ago)

Are there American accents that are unintelligible to non-Americans?

― https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmy8x2Lm7rE (Leee), Monday, 9 January 2017 20:58 (nine years ago)

Must be because there's American accents that are unintelligible to Americans, like Appalachian mountain ones

― Josefa, Monday, 9 January 2017 21:13 (nine years ago)

Unless you consider those full-on dialects, I suppose

― Josefa, Monday, 9 January 2017 21:14 (nine years ago)

Yeah, there's a ton of circus sideshow 'hey, look at these backwoods yokels!' reality programming that's heavily subtitled.

― Dr. Shitfuck (Old Lunch), Monday, 9 January 2017 21:18 (nine years ago)

Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXghKHHzlXQ

― https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmy8x2Lm7rE (Leee), Tuesday, 10 January 2017 01:04 (nine years ago)

That's not difficult to understand though.

― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 January 2017 01:18 (nine years ago)

Maybe I'm not real American enough.

― https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmy8x2Lm7rE (Leee), Tuesday, 10 January 2017 01:20 (nine years ago)

I'm not American.

― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 January 2017 01:36 (nine years ago)

There's a video from the eighties interviewing Dubliners about their views on Cork people and the first response is basically 'I don't like talking to them as I have no idea what they are saying'.

I would say most authentic Caribbean accents are subtitled on British TV these days.

― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Tuesday, 10 January 2017 06:44 (nine years ago)

Coming back to the ESL thing, in English assessment it's a pretty common for teachers to complain that tests include native speaker accents they have not learned / been exposed to. People tend to buy courseware in British English or American English and often look for tests where the listening sections mirror those in the materials they learned with. Most of Latin America (apart from Argentina iirc) learns American English which has historically given TOEFL ( predominantly American audio) an advantage. British English is generally ok but people often argue that it is not fair to use 'uncommon' accents like Aus / NZ.

― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Tuesday, 10 January 2017 07:06 (nine years ago)

It's less an inherent problem with the accent than familiarity / exposure when learning,

― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Tuesday, 10 January 2017 07:07 (nine years ago)

That Appalachian dialect video was fascinating, thanks!

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sigogglin

― Snorting and all (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 10 January 2017 15:43 (nine years ago)

six years pass...

A useful reminder of how people in the South East of England used to sound before they all started to sound like Londoners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPJxS43ByYE

― Continuous Two-Tone Warble (Tom D.), Saturday, 29 July 2023 14:05 (two years ago)

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