BS: Favourite Accent

Subject: BS: Favourite Accent??
From: GUEST,Claire M
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 12:58 PM

Hiya! Aussie -- phwoar! – or Northern.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Mr Red
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 01:22 PM

Flossie Malavialle
French (South) with a distinct Geordie overlay - think Vin Garbutt - funny just to think about it - and her humour that matches.
But then listen to her concerts and you will see - she is a perfect mimic.

But if you are talking local accents - Bristolian. or as they say "from the aerial of Brisel".

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 01:42 PM

Having moved away from there long ago and rarely hearing it now, Suffolk! I remember that my Scots mither was mortified when my sister and I rapidly adopted it after moving there as kids, as she thought it was hard and vulgar - sorry.
Most Irish republic accents do it for me, tho having acquired various members of the family, through various marriages (not mine) from Norn Irn, I have to say I like that too!
As Scots accents go, anywhere in the Western Isles.
Oh, and my husband's a Devonian, tho sometimes I think he's more Jurassic.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 01:55 PM

When speaking English:

1-Cajun, Louisana, USA
2-Newfoundland, Canada
3-Georgia, USA

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 01:58 PM

When speaking English:

1-Cajun, Louisana, USA
2-Newfoundland, Canada
3-Georgia, USA

It would be interesting to hear them all in a conversation together:)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 01:58 PM

Oops, double, double.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 02:15 PM

Irish: (esp when spoken by the female gender)
Inverness: (nicest accent in UK)
Geordie: (Alas, the Big Bro over dub guy spoiled it a bit for me).

Accents I don't like ... emmmmmmmmmmmmmm

(Aye right, do you think I'm about to start WW3?) ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 02:52 PM

Accents I don't quite understand....best kept to myself-(but, a hint, these folks spit and gurgle alot when they talk.:)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 03:31 PM

Ummm.. there's accents that are astoundingly fascinating in their quaintness..... and then there's those that are half-way comprehensible to 'others'.

My favorites of the English sort are the two guys who comment on the Tour de France, Phil Sheridan and ???.. because I can understand everything they say. In the same way, my favorite Southern US is whatever Jimmy Carter uses... for the same reason.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 03:32 PM

I'm English; now, is there any difference between black and white accents in the States?
Why I ask, is that say for example, Hank Williams sounds white to me, where as Muddy Waters sound black.
Or, is that to do with the material and singing style?
Like in the UK, I would guess that you couldn't tell the difference between particular black and white if the speakers came from the same area...and class?

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 03:43 PM

The oddest obe I ever heard was a French girl in Quebec, Canada, who said she learned her English in England, from a gay guy. She would regukarily use many non-Canadian English terms like "bloody well", using a French Canadian accent-it was a chore to keep from laughing out loud. It kinda reminded me of some of the accents on the BBC TV comedy "Allo, Allo".

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 05:59 PM

RP

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 06:22 PM

There are a wide variety of both black & white 'accents' and speech patterns in the US. Some B&W speech patterns are similar as examples of 'Southern' sounds.... others are cultural and related to specific heritage or restricted environs, much as I assume you'd hear difference between areas in the UK.

I was raised in the Midwest of the US...Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas.... and some Texas & Louisiana 'southern' mixed in. I have some 'tone' in my voice which is not really distinct, but confuses those who hear a difference, but can't identify it. I can even modulate & control it if I concentrate.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 07:48 PM

It has been my delightful pleasure to tra-VERSE the globe.

Unable, from birth, to speak my native tongue....it is much easier, when asked, "where are you from?" to delve into dialects of the UK...and claim an obscure region of Canada.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

PC Accent varies by country and current politics. In some recent regions of the Arab world...Canadians were banned. In India, it is much better to be Irish than Brit. In France, never be Allemange (outside the Alsace). In regions of South Africa, Pays Bas may get you the best seat in the restaurant and a free drink.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Jul 14 - 11:30 PM

Irish, in English. I probably like the Scottish burr but can't understand it.

Mom, when asked where her accent came from, said it came from trying o speak English.

Also a mom story: once I had to repeat what an Australian said so Mom could undertand him and repeat what Mom said so that the Aussie could understand Mom. The two were trying to flirt and absolutely could not understand each other's English. It was a riot. Lunch in France.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Bert
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 12:08 AM

My favourite is from Herefordshire. It is soft like the Welsh accent but is not too extreme.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 02:47 AM

Mrr, your account reminds me of when I once heard a Frenchman with sparse English who had just met a Japanese young woman with just about the same amount try to converse in English. 'Trrree?' "Trrrey?' "yeaaaa?' "mont?" 'howwww?' 'trrrrree?" "mont" Oh- trrrreee mont!"

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 06:06 AM

I studied socio-linguistics at university, and I remember a particular survey that showed that our reactions to accents is somewhat complex.
I group of Brits were asked to listen to various English accents and list them: most pleasing first, most unattractive last.
The top spots were dominated by "rural" accents, and the big cities London, Birmingham, Liverpool etc came at the bottom. Indeed, the only city that did well was Newcastle (i.e. Geordie ).
Now, here's the interesting bit!
When they played the same accents to Americans the results were all over the place. Liverpool, for example, was placed near the top.
The outcome suggested that our choice of "pleasing" accents can be related to how we view the source of the accent ( ie rural vs cities ).

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Stu
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 06:53 AM

Brummie - I grew up there so love it.

South Wales - My maternal family are from Aberdare and the accent is a real joy to hear.

Irish - especially the west.

Sing-songy accents like west country, Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Also London - on my paternal side the families roots are in the east end and easter side of the city since the year dot, and despite being in west London for a generation or two they've not lost their cockney brogue or love of life, and are wonderful family to have.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: jacqui.c
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 07:11 AM

I love the Down East Maine accent, for fairly obvious reasons.

I've got a Norf London accent - not particularly pleasing in the UK but, as an import to the colonies......

Quite often, in the shops in Maine, I get told how much they like my accent - occasionally am told "I could listen to you all day". My reply is "Tell that to my husband".

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 07:46 AM

Jamaica 

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 09:25 AM

Something understandable, not like nothin' all y'awl tawk.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 09:29 AM

Irish, in English, on a man. Gets me every time, beyond reason.

I do love a good Boston MA accent, and for nostalgia, I love the Philly/S. Jersey one. Was recently up there where they drink wooder and cwawfee. And I was 'down the shore' there, not 'at the beach'.

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 10:47 AM

Going back to Suffolk, the weirdest one I ever heard was my schoolfriend's Dad, who had come down to Suffolk as a young man from rural Ayrshire, so his was a hybrid of lowland Scots and Suffolk.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: bubblyrat
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 11:12 AM

Richard Burton ; wonderful !!

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Padre
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 11:24 AM

The Tidewater (a subset of the Lowland Southern accent) - different from the Inland Southern.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 11:54 AM

Hi

As an Englishman I like most of the Scottish & Irish accents, especially when "we are in our cups" hic lol

But I have to agree with Guest DTM that the Inverness accent is a great one to listen to and it would have to be my favourite too. ( I lived in Inverness for two years, and at one time I " acquired" the accent; much to the astonishment of my parents and friends.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 11:58 AM

Bob Hope (Who was born in England) is supposed to have said: If you suddenly wake up an Englishman, he'll talk just like anyone else.

That said, I like accents but I can't think of any favo(u)rites. For one, I can't identify the various regions of the UK from which individual accents come. I can, on occasion, identify European accents when they are speaking English.

Someday I hope to see (and hear) a group of Americans who hail from all parts of the USA. Just for starters: an Alabaman, a Georgian, a North Carolinian, a Louisianan, a Texan... even though they are close geographically their accents, phrasings and idioms are distinctly different.

Add to the mix, someone from Maine, one from Jersey, another from Buffalo, NY, a Kansan, a Missourian... and we haven't even crossed the Rockies yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 01:04 PM

From diagonally opposite ends of England, Newcastle (on Tyne) and Dartmoor - I think because they're both quite musical...?

Kitty

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 01:33 PM

Oh, yeah, Boston accent is all warm and fuzzy from loving my college years there...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 01:54 PM

Some accentx rdmind me of Autralian comedy singer Kevin Bloody Wilsons assessment if why some people talk the way they do.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 02:34 PM

Wow, my typos are getting more frequent, versus fewer, typing with my tablet:
(Reminds, accents, and of- in the last post)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Jul 14 - 06:48 PM

When Himself and I have visited Canada we make a point of speaking a little slower than usual - Ozzies can talk fast, and anyone who is not familiar with the accent (what accent? we don't have an accent - the rest of the world does) has a little trouble adjusting to it.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 12:02 AM

I do the same thing, JennieG, when I visit Virginia and North Carolina. Doesn't take long to get back to speed though when I return home.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: JennieG
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 12:29 AM

Ebbie, my late aunt used to talk very quickly and whenever I was with her I noticed that I was speeding up too! I had to make a conscious effort to slow down.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 01:20 AM

JennieG's post three above reminds me of my first visit to US in 1971. It was one of those programs where one travelled from town to town, staying a week or two as guests of different families whom one had not previously met. Our hosts in Damascus, Md [a bit north of Bethesda] were a delightful couple. But at least twice a day I would make some casual remark in my normal RP English accent, for my hostess to exclaim "Doesn't he talk funny!".

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Padre
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 01:35 AM

From John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath"

'I knowed you wasn't Oklahomy folks. You talk queer kinda- that ain't no blame, you understand.'

'Ever'body says words different,' said Ivy. 'Arkansas folks says 'em different, and Oklahomy folks say 'em different. And we seen a lady from Massachusetts, an' she said'em differentest of all. Couldn' hardly make out what she was sayin'.'

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: banjoman
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 05:52 AM

Scouse

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 06:01 AM

As I'm from Birmingham (UK) I probably have one of the least loved accents, tho' mine is softened by 50+ years living elsewhere. I have a soft spot for both North and South Wales accents, having lived in both areas for a while but I also find Geordie attractive.
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: mayomick
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 03:32 PM

cockney

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 04:57 PM

Swiss French

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 05:16 PM

The best ones are dying out. I like the Buckinghamshire accent but I don't hear it from anybody without a bus pass.

Also the one which probably didn't last for more than a generation which is the Essex / Cockney hybrid spoken by a handful of people who grew up before the war in places like Collier Row, then a hamlet, now swamped by suburban housing on the edge of London.

I think that busing kids to large comprehensives is helping to homoginize accents.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 30 Jul 14 - 08:52 PM

Ebbie, that sounds like the Getaway : )

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: LadyJean
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 12:23 AM

Scots.

Lancashire, not like other English accents, and Lancastrians are always pleased when I recognize it.

Kentucky. I had family there.

Least favorie, mid Atlantic, 1/2 British 1/2 American gets on my nerves.

I live in Pittsburgh, but talk like a Bostonian, my mother, like a lot of Pittsburgh girls of her generation was sent to college in Boston, in part to pick up the accent, which sounds better than the Pittsburgh nasal twang. Like a lot of Pittsburgh girls of my geneation, I picked up the accent from her.

Pittsburgh is interesting. A lot of Scots settled here, including Andrew Carnegie, though he was a Johnny come lately. But you will hear people named Kowalski and Coscarelli saying "Redd up" or "Slippy" instead of slippery.

Subject: RE: BS: Favorite Accent
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 12:30 AM

Jamaican- freindly
Chinese, where everyone uses the same distinct pitch for certain syllables. The Chinese have a language induced perfect pitch ability westerners do not have by a huge margin.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: bbc
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 02:39 AM

One of my favorites is Minnesotan, similar to some Canadians.

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 05:45 AM

My favourite is a Norfolk accent - reminds me of my Norfolk granny.

The interesting thing is, why do different regions have different accents and why are such accents so constant in those regions? It would also appear that most people can't acquire another accent after a certain age. For example, I've lived in Manchester for nearly two-thirds of my life but still retain my native Peterborough accent ("are y'all right, mate? Did'ja come on y'bike?" - 'right' and 'bike' with a trace of an East Anglian 'oi' sound).

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Rog Peek
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 07:12 PM

Norfolk accent always reminds me of Allen Smethurst, The Singing Postman of "Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Boy?" fame.

Had a mate at University with the same accent, thought it was great.

Rog

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: kendall
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 08:04 PM

I've been told that my Maine accent is almost musical, no sharp edges.

I do enjoy listening to a cultured person speaking English. (Not American English)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Ed T
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 08:48 PM

What part of Maine is it from, Kendall?

Like in many areas, a few hundred miles reveals a completely different accent.


I have found some parts of Nova Scotia, Canada, around Cape Sable Island, similar sounding to some coastal areas of Maine.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Don Firth
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 09:00 PM

Back in the Sixties, I met a young French exchange student who was attending the University of Washington. She wanted to take guitar lessons from me, but she was short of money. My three years of high school French was all but moribund, so we swapped lessons. I'd give her a guitar lesson, then she'd have me read a simple book in French, correct my pronunciation, and work me on grammar and vocabulary. As I recall, she started me on Le Petit Prince and we went on from there.

In addition to her being a very pretty girl (I would say, "beautiful"), her accent in both French and English was pure music. She did well on the guitar, but, alas, at the end of the year, she returned to France….

And her name was—what else? Michelle.

(*Sigh*).

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 09:21 PM

Favourite accent?

Circumflex

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 31 Jul 14 - 11:07 PM

Kendal...

My five seasons in Maine...would tend to indicate your lack of appreciation for "cultured English" is from lack of contact.

"Summer People" are around less than ten weeks of the year. One Mainiac expression is, "some R people...some are Not."

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Why I bet you are even a fan of "Bert and I"......I sure am

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 01 Aug 14 - 04:19 AM

Nigel, the circumflex is too angular for me. I prefer the little circle you get above an A in Swedish

   Å   å

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Accent
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 01 Aug 14 - 10:57 AM

I've come across a few black Southern Africans recently and I love their accent.
Their accents are very rich, and precise. And not at all like the Afrikaan accent which I don't think is particularly attractive.