Lingusitics Which accent of the English language is your favourite?

[Moonbear]

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.

No way! You South Jerseyans speak funny! They're crayons, not crawns! And you have funny O's.

Interestingly, as I've moved around, it seems the only word I say that people peg as a NJ accent is "water." I get plenty of ribbing over that, but until then, people don't really seem to think I have an accent, which seems odd by itself, because I sure can hear an accent coming from the other people. In OH, the word that drove me bonkers was when they'd worsh the dishes. Here, people drive vee-hick-els.

I'm actually kind of partial to a New Zealand accent. After that, Scottish accents, then the London public school accent is very posh.

 

[turbo]

Even worse, Evo, is when a New Englander will try to out-class their listeners by adding "R"s to words that properly end in an "ah" sound so as not to talk like a Mainer. I had a boss that did this constantly, and he made up words on the fly, with syntax that would make Sarah Palin sound like a scholar. He always used the largest words possible, and he used them improperly much of the time. His favorite was "subsequently". Unfortunately, he always used it when "consequently" was needed. He would be describing some cause-and -effect process where the word "therefore" or "consequently" was appropriate and he would throw in "subsequently". The really sad part was that his degree was in education and he was certified as a HS teacher.

 

[Evo]

I worked with a girl from Michigan, she had a ruuf on her house and ate ruut vegetables like carrots.

I think there is only one American accent I can't stand and it's a southern drawl. It's like listening to someone dragging their fingernails across a chalk board. I lived 27 years in Texas and I couldn't stand it. At least Houston was mostly northerners that came down for jobs, but once in a while you'd come across someone that came from a small town.

 

[turbo]

I had a friend from Nova Scotia (co-worker, initially) who made fun of Newfie speech. He'd say things like "Room over, you're too next to me" in a really convincing Newfie accent. I got him as an assistant superintendent because he pushed a union rep out of his office (and down a flight of stairs) after the guy accused him of being personally responsible for a worker's injury. The company moved him to our non-union construction project in Maine so he could cool off.

 

[wolram]

There is one redeeming factor, so long as an American has had some education, he/she will be able to communicate with a Brit that has had some education, other than that every thing goes balls up.

 

[turbo]

I worked with a girl from Michigan, she had a ruuf on her house and ate ruut vegetables like carrots.

I went out with a girl from Leavittown, PA for a while (that was a long hitch-hike!) and her big accent "tell" was schuuuuuul. It sounded so drawn-out and Germanic.

 

[wildman]

I like Mississippi. A good southern draw.

 

[Proton Soup]

I like Mississippi. A good southern draw.

i was born there. the really good southern accents are getting harder to find. you really don't ever get much more than a caricature on television, and people just aren't as isolated as they used to be, so you don't hear people say stuff like "yeller toyoter" much anymore.

one of my faves is the accent they used in the movie Fargo. i guess it's a minnesota/north dakota thing. never been up that way, tho, to hear for myself.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

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

There are actually at least the same number if not more. They're just not ones you hear very often.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialects_of_the_English_language




Personally I like most British accents, Irish, and (what i think is) South African. I also like what is apparently called "Yat", New Orleans english.

 

[redargon]

South African english is my home language version of english, but I apparently have more of a proper english accent. It depends who I talk to, family, friends or business. I use different words, colloquialisms and sometimes grammar.

I like the irish accent and I like how dutch and flemish speaking people have very little accent (depending on their major source of english education, however). Theirs is usually pretty flat, like South African.

Not a big fan of Australian, but loved hearing ol' Steve Irwin. "Yau're alraaight mayte, yau're alraaight." New zealand english is kind of like a toned down australian, so it's pretty cool.

I'm not particular to any american accents. They sound horrible (and usually the loudest )when placed in a conversation with british or european english. Watch a movie that has brits talking and then add the american and it irritates me. if everyone is speaking with an american accent, like most tv shows and films, it doesn't bother me as much.

 

[D H]

one of my faves is the accent they used in the movie Fargo. i guess it's a minnesota/north dakota thing. never been up that way, tho, to hear for myself.

That's where I'm from, a long, time ago. I can still recall the accent -- all it takes is remembering an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_and_Lena" joke (some of which can be told on Prairie Home Companion, and some of which cannot).

I definitely caught a bit of Minnesotan in Sarah Palin's accent, and wouldn'tcha know it, Alaska's Mat-Su Valley has a large settlement of ex-Minnesotans who were moved there by a government relief program in the 1930s.

 

[alexgmcm]

I think a well-spoken english accent like Richard Dawkins is the best, but that said Australian isn't too bad.

 

[neu]

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

Oxford accent is my favourite outside London.

I live in Kingston and as far I'm aware there's no "kingston accent", that is, one which is distinct from other london accents. I've also never heard anyone refer to a Harringey accent where I've also lived. Considering half of haringey is full of turkish and afro-carribeans and the other half mostly middle class, it'd be quite a hard accent to pin down, no?

The australian accent is only suitable for bar work and/or soap operas.

I think Americans picture of the east London accent is about 130 years out of date. I think Marry Popins is to blame.

Glaswegian at it's best:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_LkMVV9U8RQ&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hyYuZi44-nk&feature=related

 

[Kurdt]

Good old Rab.

 

[mgb_phys]

In WWI they formed a special regiment of miners (who had been exempt from conscription).
So they took all these coal miners from S Yorkshire,Wales and Newcastle and gave them officers from Eton and Harrow (naturally) - it was a complete farce, nobody could understand a word anyone was saying.

 

[baywax]

My dad used to reprimand me as a small kid when I'd say "wait up!". He said that it was the American way of saying "please wait for me". Then at dinner we'd have our english corrected at every turn.

 

[glondor]

New Brunswick French girls have a great accent.

 

[turbo]

New Brunswick French girls have a great accent.

Nova Scotia girls have pretty sweet accents, too, especially those that live in rural areas with a moderate Scots accent. In Maine, we have very weak "R's".

 

[baywax]

In Maine, we have very weak "R's".

In Somalia they have strong arrrrrrrs. Damn pirates.

 

[Danger]

we here in South Jersey speak with no accent at all.

Don't you mean 'Joisey'?

Being a Bruce descendent, I of course prefer Scots (and Sean Connery is the best at it). Second would be Aussie, and of course I can't ignore our beloved Newfies.

 

[wildman]

i was born there. the really good southern accents are getting harder to find. you really don't ever get much more than a caricature on television, and people just aren't as isolated as they used to be, so you don't hear people say stuff like "yeller toyoter" much anymore.

one of my faves is the accent they used in the movie Fargo. i guess it's a minnesota/north dakota thing. never been up that way, tho, to hear for myself.

I know what you mean. I heard a good one at a store recently. The clerk was from rural Mississippi. She had a neat accent.

 

[Anticitizen]

My local public radio station relays BBC international radio in the evenings, and I grew increasingly more irritated at the deletion and insertion of the letter R in random words. 'Farmer' becomes 'Famah' and 'Obama' becomes 'Obamer'. Just last night I heard 'Indiar' (India). What's up with that?

Another one that bugged me the other day was 'controversy'. They say 'con troversy'. As if there was a such thing as a 'troversy' that something is contrary to. I expect 'contro versy', the meaning of which is easier to parse in my opinion - contro to a verse, or spoken word. Verse, contro-verse, not troverse, con-troverse.

 

[Redbelly98]

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".

Did you ever notice Boston has a lot of women named Bob, and men named Bonnie?

Hmmm, my favorite accents are probably Irish, the Fargo accent, and Maine/northern New England. I find French Canadian can be pretty amusing too.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

I like the geordie accent:

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

But as far as the one I'd say I'd like the best I think it'd be a tie between a gentrified American Southerner Gone With The Wind accent - "Ah wish a cannon ball 'd fall right down on yah head!" and a totally Rastafarianized Jamaican accent.

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[edward]

My new daughter-in -law is from Yorkshire. I really have a hard time understanding her, but this is improving. She seem to leave out the consonants in the middle of the word, sort of like the Ska-ish

I have gotten the shorter words figured out; water is WA -AH, hard is hod, and waiter is wa-er. The multisyllabic words are still driving me nuts.

Is this normal speech for the Yorkshire area??

 

[Kurdt]

Is this normal speech for the Yorkshire area??

Yes. They like implying the word 'the' as well.

 

[mgb_phys]

Consonants cost money tha knows - the dun wan go wasting em.

 

[Hurkyl]

I'm partial to a thin Australian accent. Of course, it might just have been which girl had the accent...

I worked with a girl from Michigan, she had a ruuf on her house and ate ruut vegetables like carrots.

I can't say that I've ever noticed anyone pronouncing those two words in any other way. I'm thinking what you wrote was meant to be the first of the two pronounciations listed here. (I tried listening to the other one. It hurt my ears! )

 

[brewnog]

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

Definitely not! The Stoke accent is part Yorkshire, part Lancashire with a Scouse twang.

 

[CaptainQuasar]

I worked with a girl from Michigan, she had a ruuf on her house and ate ruut vegetables like carrots.

I had a mathematics professor from Michigan too who would always be telling us to take the square ruut and cube ruut, etc...

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