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I'm just curious about this. I find other English accents (British, South African, Australian, etc) to be so mesmerizing, and while I love being American, I sometimes wonder if we got the shaft as far as awesome accents go. Is it twangy? Is it painful? Is it glorious? Do you or others find an American accent attractive? No?
I could listen to a British person speak for days. Not so sure if the feeling's mutual. (I have the 'standard' midwestern non-accented American English accent. So boring. Maybe.) Sigh.
@KristenGotMarried: I love my husband's accent (American.) Its so southern & I have the same one but I guess where he has a deep voice it makes me melt. lol
Mostly I have no issue with American accents. Some are great, some are okay, but usually it's only a particular person with an annoying voice that sets my teeth on edge.
That said, my major bugbear is Americans attempting "British" accents! Barely anyone gets them close to right and the attempts at Scottish accents are execrable.
I've heard that the British find our language (and accents atrocious). From spending time in Paris, I notice that they particularly hate New York, Boston and Texas/southern accents. But what can you do? Lol I myself love the London accent in particular.
@KristenGotMarried: Bugbear - Pet Peeve - Thing that most irritates you.
Well there is no single American accent.... There are at least 5 seperate dialects...
@KristenGotMarried: I always wondered this as well. I've been fascinated with the English accent all my life. I even used to walk around as a child pretending I was from the UK.
im an aussie and i like some of the southern accents but the hard NY accents not so much
i was on a conference call yesteray talking to one of the IT team and asked where he was from because he had an american accent i couldnt place - india was the repsonse :)
@PutABirdOnIt: Honestly, I like most American accents. I might be an oddity, though.
@SpecialSundae: Hahaha that's really funny you mention that because I work with someone who's British and every time he does an "American accent" it just sounds southern. Amuses me to no end.
@littlegraykitten: Yeah, we're probably equally bad at getting accents right.
I dislike southern and rhode island accents. Otherwise I like them.
I like all... except DEEP Southern accents. Think the American Hoggers commercials where you can't understand anything the dad is saying. At least I can't.
@SpecialSundae: MANY times I hear a foreigner attempt an "american" accent it always sounds like a cartoon of a texan... lol
cept Hugh Laurie... His american accent is almost as dreamy as his natural british
They're not really nice, no. Sorry!!!!
And I do wonder if it just cos it's different to my own but then I guess I am wrong and my accent myst be nice to others because Americans always say they love "British" accents (there is no such thing but perhaps it's the same for "American" accents).
@SpecialSundae: Maybe, maybe not. It's good to hear anyway:) I LOVE the Scottish accent even though I need the English subtitles while watching films.
@MissPumpkinPie: Fairly sure, though, that there is a high percentage of little girls playing with Barbie dolls whose dolls talk with American accents. It's just a thing that kids do when they start watching tv. The adults then cringe massively.
@PutABirdOnIt: I always laugh when they have subtitles on Scottish accents. Even Trainspotting isn't that bad is it?
@SpecialSundae: LOL they do that here with some mush-mouthed southern accents...
I work for a British company and work with people in the UK everyday (Nottingham shout out!), and many of my colleagues have moved over here. I LOVE the accents, but after 6+ years I am "used" to them. Sometimes when my colleagues are speaking too fast I lose them a bit, or when 2 or 3 are having a conversation together its harder to understand.
ETA: when I ask my British colleagues about their feelings on American accents, they definitely pick on Southern, and NY. But mostly they just say "yeah, you're clear and easy to understand"
@SpecialSundae: My mom took a trip to Scotland and she said for the most part she could understand everyone just fine- except some guy that was giving a tour. Everyone ended up smiling and nodding through the whole thing because she and the rest of the group couldn't understand anything he said even when he slowed down.
I knew New York was gonna get the smack down in this thread. Some of us aren't so bad!
@SpecialSundae: I once had a 45 minute conversation with a Scotish man and I didn't understand a bit of it. It was a hoot. It took 10 minutes to hammer out his name!
Granted, he was drunk, but so was the English guy we were speaking with and I could follow that conversation.
I never really thought I had an accent, I don't think anyone else around here does (upstate NY). A few years ago though, I made a really good Australian friend and he said that he can't normally stand Americans or their accents, but that he loved mine. He said I was the first American he'd ever met that wasn't loud, rude, and obnoxious, so that might have had something to do with it. I was just surprised that he insisted I have an accent and I never felt like I did.
Its always interesting to see that others think of the way you speak as being accented, my husband and I are from NW PA, and when he went to basic training with people from all over the states more than one person told him they loved his accent. WHAT ACCENT? I dont think we speak with an accent! (Pittsburghese is a horrible accent but luckily we dont have it even though we are not far) I would be interested to have a british individuals take on our regional dialects, I dont really notice them myself.
@Annabelle86: I definitely notice the difference between accents even if I don't always have a good handle on precisely where each is from.
I remember my awesome English teacher telling me in high school that Bostonians speak the best English in the world followed by Aberdonians. I suspect he was full of doodoo.
I dislike any accent on a person that is a bad representative of that region.
@Aure: The typical NY words like "coffee" "walk" and "dog" are really where you can hear it. I know some Long Islanders with horrific accents, but I seem to have escaped it.
Specialsundae: I got by with Trainspotting but for Ken Loach films, forget it! Lol
I know I'm biased because it's how I talk (sort of), but I love harsh northeastern accents - Boston, NY, etc. A friend of mine is Greek and has lived all over the place and speaks fluent English with a non-typical accent (it's very slight but like a blend of British, Greek, American, and Eastern European) and I told her it sounded a little northeastern US and she was taken aback. I was like "no! it's a compliment! That's the way people should talk. Fast and unfrivilous, and peppered with profanity (um, with an abundance of alliteration, too? I clearly need to finish up my work and go home).
It doesn't bother me... I think all dialects are interesting. I'm from California- I didn't realize I even had a different dialect, really. LOL then I traveled to the rest of the country and was told I have a "California accent." Haha and no I don't talk like a "valley girl." However some voices get on my nerves! Example: Kristen Cavallari UGH!
A lot of our big cities definitely have their own accent, I really dislike the NY, NJ, and a lot of the backwater louisiana ones, the WORST ONE EVER is Pittsburgh, but I never felt like our regions in the north and midwest came with their own...but apparently they do. I LOVE scottish accents (particularly when a man is speaking) but I read somewhere that tv is doing away with the more unique regional dialects of England, which is sad, since I think England especially had some fascinating accents depending on where you were.
@DaisyCakes: I get told I have a Jersey accent. Say what? Hahaha.
I love NY accents... wish I had one! When I hear NY accents for some reason I always think $$. Maybe because anywhere in the city is way out of my price range! tehe. I loveeee NYC so much too so that just goes with the area.
I live in PA though and some people have different accents from one town to the next... I've never been to Pittsburgh but now I'm interested in what they sound like lol!
I always fear people who don't live in the US think we all sound like were either from California (that high pitched Valley Girl voice), NYC or Alabama (country western singer sounding) lol. Theres a big middle ground lol.
@LMD84: I'm the same way... unless I'm REALLY angry or drunk. Haha! I have a Westchester accent. My grandparents have that really thick Long Island accent where they add an r to everything. Idear for idea, warter for water. Honestly though, the only NY accent that bothers me is the Staten Island accent.
@Annabelle86: I hear that too but see no evidence of it. You still get very different accents even 5-10 miles apart.
@Annabelle86: Oh honey... we all have acccents... lol Im a midwest girl from the chicago suburbs... it amazes me how a few hundred miles changes the accent DRAMATICALLY...
drive 2 hours N of chicago into wisconsin... whole new accent Doncha Know
drive 2 hours south to Indiana... It's nearly southern... kind of like if the chicago accent and eastern southern got together and had a baby.
The strangest accent in the Midwest is MI... It can't decide if its canadian or southern...
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