Lingusitics 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

 

[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.