Which accent of the English language is your favourite?

[leopard]

Personally I love the typical British accent (London). Skottish is really cool. And maybe East Coast American. I don't like Australian. Texas is horrible, not at least because it reminds me of Bush.

 

[matthyaouw]

Which London accent is that then? An example would be good.

There is no such thing as a typical British accent as far as I'm aware.

 

[wolram]

Personally I love the typical British accent (London). Skottish is really cool. And maybe East Coast American. I don't like Australian. Texas is horrible, not at least because it reminds me of Bush.

I prefers the queens hinglish, spoken proper like what i do

 

[berkeman]

I'm partial to Aussie.

 

[leopard]

Which London accent is that then? An example would be good.

There is no such thing as a typical British accent as far as I'm aware.

Haringey. Also the accents spoken Kingston, Harrow and certain parts of Merton is wonderful.

Oxford accent is my favourite outside London.

 

[D H]

Which Texas accent? Texas is a big state and has several different accents. There are some similarities: "all", "yall", and "all yall". "All": That black goo that comes out of the ground. "Yall": second person plural. "All yall": Each and every one of you. Beyond that, East Texan, Central Texan, West Texan, and South Texan are quite different. East Texans sounds like a mix between Hillbilly and Cajun. Central Texans have a bit of a Teutonic lilt. South Texas has a strong Hispanic influence. West Texan twang is what George Bush speaks.

 

[Anticitizen]

Whatever you'd describe Leonard Nimoy's voice to be.

I really like the way he pronounces, for example, 'mirror'. Mir-or. Enunciates all syllables. Most people say 'mirrer'.

Yes, I was raised on Star Trek.

Another example - including the 'T' in 'exactly'. Versus 'exackly'.

 

[leopard]

Which Texas accent?

Corsicana is OK, but the rest makes me sick. Worst of them all: eastern part of Amarillo, Midland, Longview and the area between Brownwood and Lampasas.

 

[epenguin]

Yes there is, perhaps, about 10X more variety in British accents than in American.

There are some I think of as rather ugly. They tend to coincide with industrial regions, well now post-industrial. Some might therefore impute me snobbery but on the other hand I like the West Country accent which other snobs consider yokelish country bumpkin. My favorite accent is the Welsh. But it is also a spirit and way of saying things and there is more than just sound involved in all these accents, and personal history also in one's likes. Welsh accent would not do if everybody spoke it because it involves, so say phoneticists, a 'phonetic simplification' with respect to standard English.

The regional accents were in decline but have made a comeback. The last ten or so years have seen the diffusion of something called 'Estuary English' which, nearest description I can manage, has a base of a kind of lazy diluted Cockney after diasporisation through South ('Sarf') London and Essex () with various additions including American plus whatever mid-Atlantic publicityspeak is imagined as such, Caribbean, borrowings from Geek acronymised and txted; the salad cream smothering this mishmash of linguistic fastfood is the desire to at all costs sound streetwise.

 

[offtheleft]

i absolutely love the english/australian accent. especially on girls, i think its so enticing and attractive. i seriously melt when i hear it lol.

 

[jms5631]

I'm partial to the Irish accent myself, think it's pretty cool.

The U.S midwestern accent is probally the blandest in my opinion(it's mine, Detroit area). Doesn't seem to have any real distinguishing charecteristics.

 

[Andre]

Why? in Nouvion of course, especially by Officer Crabtree

6DrAp5gzdqc[/youtube] allo allo

 

[leopard]

Yes there is, perhaps, about 10X more variety in British accents than in American.

There are some I think of as rather ugly. They tend to coincide with industrial regions, well now post-industrial. Some might therefore impute me snobbery but on the other hand I like the West Country accent which other snobs consider yokelish country bumpkin. My favorite accent is the Welsh. But it is also a spirit and way of saying things and there is more than just sound involved in all these accents, and personal history also in one's likes. Welsh accent would not do if everybody spoke it because it involves, so say phoneticists, a 'phonetic simplification' with respect to standard English.

The regional accents were in decline but have made a comeback. The last ten or so years have seen the diffusion of something called 'Estuary English' which, nearest description I can manage, has a base of a kind of lazy diluted Cockney after diasporisation through South ('Sarf') London and Essex () with various additions including American plus whatever mid-Atlantic publicityspeak is imagined as such, Caribbean, borrowings from Geek acronymised and txted; the salad cream smothering this mishmash of linguistic fastfood is the desire to at all costs sound streetwise.

Since English is not my first language, it's more difficult for me to distinguish between different accents. Of course, British vs. American is no problem, but I haven't reached the level where I can differentiate between North and South Dakota, and definitely not interstate differences.

But I want to improve my skills. This website is very helpful http://web.ku.edu/idea/europe/england

I'm listening to English accents now. I don't like cockney.

 

[leopard]

i absolutely love the english/australian accent. especially on girls, i think its so enticing and attractive. i seriously melt when i hear it lol.

English and Australian are very different in my ears. I agree that both are attractive on girls. However, the British girls are horrible in general. The Vikings stole most of the good ones and brought them to Iceland.

 

[Evo]

Australian can get to the point that you can't understand it. Actually I believe they were from New Zealand. I remember watching a tv show and the guy said "Oyshel doy". It wasn't until after watching it for several minutes that I figured out that what he said was "I shall die".

 

[leopard]

I like the West Country accent

Is Stoke and/or Warwickshire representative for Black Country accent?

 

[D H]

The U.S midwestern accent is probally the blandest in my opinion(it's mine, Detroit area). Doesn't seem to have any real distinguishing charecteristics.

Umm, no. Here is where General American is spoken:

You LPers have an Inland North dialect twinged with a bit of Canadian (who live just a tad south of you), a bit of Southern (some of whom moved to Detroit in large numbers half a century ago), and even a bit of Scandihoovian.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Although English is spoken with an accent in all other places, we here in South Jersey speak with no accent at all. That's best.

 

[offtheleft]

Although English is spoken with an accent in all other places, we here in South Jersey speak with no accent at all. That's best.

we think there is no accent ;) although, I am more central nj but; i frequent south jersey and i no notice you guys annunciate your o's a lot. but, i hate to admit, i did catch my self saying cauffee instead of coffee lol.

 

[baywax]

I've got a friend from Manchester who called to ask for me at my place.

He says "is (baywax) there?" And the person answering said "what?" And he says "is (baywax) there? And the person answering said "I'm sorry, what was that?". etc...

So when I saw him that day he said that no one knew who I was at my place... and when I got back there they said someone called asking for (beerghwekz).

My really favourite story is when I was caught in a door way during a rainstorm in London with a Scottish gentleman.. proud of Edinburgh or Glasglow and he told me that the Scottish speak the most proper english in the world... yet, I couldn't understand half of what he was saying.

Wot wot... over the roooof, on the rooooute to the chesterfield to have a sit down, eh?!.

Actually, I caught a very old John Ford directed film with John Wayne in it and John's this Cavalry Captain or Lieutenant with his son in the ranks and he actually uses the "eh" that Canadians are so prone to use in conversations.

Texan is really very cool... most American accents really turn me on... especially feminine ones.

 

[jms5631]

Umm, no. Here is where General American is spoken:

I didn't know that, I though that the entire "midwest" area spoke General American. Now that you mention it, I can recognize a little bit of Canadian in our dialect. Thanks for the info.

 

[wolram]

Is Stoke and/or Warwickshire representative for Black Country accent?

Warwickshire is the posh county, the black country accent is more north brum.

 

[JasonRox]

I like the New York City accent. That is mine. :)

Other than that one... well I'm thinking about it.

 

[baywax]

Now that you mention it, I can recognize a little bit of Canadian in our dialect.

Well, sorry aboot that, eh? You bet you going to sound like us if you live near us eh? You can try to take-off but the accent will follow you around like a hoser eh?

The movie Fargo (USA) has a character, Marge Gunderson, who is a pregnant police officer investigating a bungled murder in her small town. It takes place in 1996 Minnesota, probably quite near the Canadian/US boarder. I was really surprised at how thick her accent was with Canadian colloquialisms.

 

[turbo]

My best friend's son and his wife got a divorce, and his grand-daughter is being raised in Ireland. She has the cutest accent.

I had a lady-friend in college whose father was a diplomat based in Switzerland. Her English was precise and un-accented to the point that she could easily have been a news-caster. I asked around among friends who were native speakers (or very advanced students) of continental French, Italian and German, and got very similar evaluations. It appears that it is possible to teach languages to a standard that suppresses regional variations.

 

[Evo]

I have a client in Boston and it cracks me up to listen to their auto-attendant when I call them. Got to love people that have social gatherings they call a "potty".

 

[turbo]

I have a client in Boston and it cracks me up to listen to their auto-attendant when I call them. Got to love people that have social gatherings they call a "potty".

Never heard of that one, Evo. Must be cutsie-talk for a pot-luck supper. Maybe your cooking mentor Rachael Raye will pick up on it and add it to delish! and veggies!

 

[lisab]

I have a client in Boston and it cracks me up to listen to their auto-attendant when I call them. Got to love people that have social gatherings they call a "potty".

My mom tells a story about a friend of hers who was from Boston. This friend once asked my mom, "Do you have PSDS?" My mom asked what PSDS was. Her friend pinched her earlobes and said, "You know, PSDS!" (pierced ears!).

 

[Dale]

Give me a nice subtle "southern belle" accent to listen to any day.

 

[Evo]

My mom tells a story about a friend of hers who was from Boston. This friend once asked my mom, "Do you have PSDS?" My mom asked what PSDS was. Her friend pinched her earlobes and said, "You know, PSDS!" (pierced ears!).

Yes, ear = eah. And for turbo, party = potty, car = Kah. Ah pahked mah kah neah the potty.

To speak Bostonian, just replace all R's with H's