Sexiest accent survey in British Isles

Subject: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Alice
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 11:49 AM

Just read this bit of news online:

Updated 9:07 AM ET June 26, 2000

LONDON (Reuters) - Irish accents are the sexiest in the British Isles, closely followed by people with a Scottish lilt to their voice, a survey reported by the Daily Express showed Saturday.

If you speak the "Queen's English" you come a poor third, with "Geordie" accents from Newcastle being the next sexiest and "Brummy" accents from Birmingham being the most likely to be a turn off, the paper said.

The survey was carried out by the Alliance & Leicester mortgage bank.

"One third of people now prefer to deal with their bank on the telephone, so we wanted to find out which voice they would like to hear," a spokeswoman for Alliance & Leicester said in the Daily Express.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 11:52 AM

(in my best Brummie accent): Who do I sue?
RtS
:o(

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Bert
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 12:01 PM

It's gotta be Hereford. Very soft, not as sing-songy as Welsh and not as broad as West Country.

Bert, (who's Cockney, which is a 'bluddy orful' accent)

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,art
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 12:02 PM

roger

apply for a job with alliance and leicester and if you don't get it sue them for being accentist?

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 12:03 PM

Well, I wonder what being a mixture of Shropshire, North Wales and Kent makes me!

Jon

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Alice
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 12:04 PM

hey, that was going to be my advice! Roger, the bank is discriminating. Go for it.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Bert
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 12:10 PM

That sounds quite a good mix Jon, call us on Mudcat Radio so that we can assess your voice.
Bert.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 12:43 PM

Jon, Definitely, the sexiest voice on Hearme! SS

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 12:49 PM

Arriving at our North Yorkshire B&B at about midnight, we knocked cautiously. At first all was silence, then the voice of our attractive hostess lilted from her bedroom window: "Oh! I'm coomin'!" Since then, I have always thought of the North Yorkshire accent as quite sexy.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 01:26 PM

my natural brummie accent was beaten out of me as a child and so I sound a cross between joyce grenfell and Maureen Lipman- spent my entire childhood reciting --My father's car is a JAG-UAR'which was funny since he had a clapped out Jaguar for many years'the Geordie accent is definitely the sexiest providing it is in the right body!

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Alice
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 01:37 PM

ok, how many here vote for Bill Sables Geordie accent?? Me, me, me!

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 01:41 PM

Did the survey throw up any gender variations? Is an Irish accent equally attractive on a man as it is on a woman? And what sort of Irish accents are they talking about anyway - Kerry and Belfast accents could be from different planets. And so forth.

I think the whole thing sounds a bit too neat and tidy. When I'm phoning up a bank or a helpline of some sort, I don't want a voice that sounds sexy. I want one that sounds competent and interested and helpful. Though maybe that's what they mean by sexy...

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 01:45 PM

I'd love to Bert but I can't quite run to the cost of an international call. Maybe I'll send something of me singing to MCR though.

In the meanwhile, if you want to hear this mixed up accent, why not join us in Hearme sometime? It is usually good fun and plently of good singing too!

And as for you Sinsull, all I can say is :-)

Jon

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Megan L
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 01:57 PM

You know it's not just your accent that causes discrimination in UK just try buying any larger item from a catologue or magazine ad and tell them you live on one of the many British islands. The same thing happened with an insurance company who had sent us an advert, when we made enquiries they said "Oh we don't cover the islands."

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: little john cameron
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 06:19 PM

Ah rest mah case!! Its an awfy shame it disnae come across sae guid in writin'
Ane problem is that some folk are that taken wi' the accent that they dinnae hear whit ye are saying.Some times ye have tae speak "pan loaf" afore they can understaun ye. LJC.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 06:35 PM

Richt ye are, wee Johnny! I sung a sang in the Hielan dialect wi' the accent, and a' they could say was "Noo what language was that in?" Ain o' these days, me unco' friend, we're gang tae get a wee bittie o' respect. Nummer twa me foot! Wha's mair deserving o' nummer ain nor us?

--Maithu Ruadh

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 06:51 PM

Sexiest accent? Well, actually, it's Alison - even though she left Northern Ireland for Australia many moons ago.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 06:54 PM

HA! You folks haven't heard Ella yet! Woo!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 07:05 PM

I reckon you can't beat a Klingon accent...

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: little john cameron
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 07:11 PM

Mbo, it seems there is a great interest in revivin' the scots "dialect" the accent is still there but the "dialect"is haein a hard time wi' awbody stertin' tae sound the same.
Broad scots[Rabbies leid],doric an' Lallans have had a great upsurge lately.There is nae standardisation so we even have trouble tae understuan each ither when it is written but it's no' say bad when ye can hear it.
It seems it annoys a lot o' folk but if naebody dis it it will dee oot.Ah'm daein mah bit for mah ancesters. LJC

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: little john cameron
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 07:16 PM

Mbo, it seems there is a great interest in revivin' the scots "dialect" the accent is still there but the "dialect"is haein a hard time wi' awbody stertin' tae sound the same.
Broad scots[Rabbies leid],doric an' Lallans have had a great upsurge lately.There is nae standardisation so we even have trouble tae understuan each ither when it is written but it's no' say bad when ye can hear it.
It seems it annoys a lot o' folk but if naebody dis it it will dee oot.So ****! them.They don't have tae read it.For them that are interested jist say it phonetically an' ye'll no' be faur wrang'
Ah'm daein mah bit for mah ancesters. LJC

Ah missed a wee bit oot in that as a pressed that wrang key.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 08:18 PM

If a bank ran the survey then the sexiest accent in the British Isles is obviously the person with the most money and power. And how is Her Majesty, Good Queen "Bess" these days? Being an American of Scot and Irish extraction I naturally lean to those two provided they are in a suitable package but I must qualify that by saying being an American I have to remain impartial. Although, there was a young lady in Portsmouth many years ago who had the prettiest eys and really dynamite come hither voice... Neil

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: bob jr
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 11:45 PM

i am gonna go with the black county accent i cant understand anything they say so um it could be sex they are talking bout

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: DADGBE
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 12:23 AM

Waddahell do you'se limey know anyhow, Hah? Duh coolist accent is from New Yoak Cidy. Das it! Enda duh discussion.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Terry K
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:06 AM

Someone said North Yorkshire? - if you go far enough north in Yorkshire you get to Middlesbrough (don't give me that stuff about "Teesside" and "Cleveland" it's still Yorkshire to me) and you come across Roy Chubby Brown - sexy? - I don't think so - makes Vin Garbutt sound cultured!!

Cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Albatross
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:37 AM

Speaking from a man's point of view and being an enthusiast of accents I would say the soft country Northumbrian accent (slightly better than geordie) is the best on a girl with Edinburgh a close second.

Scandinavian accents are sexy especially swedish but then they're not in the British Isles. As an aside it's nice to see Irish accents being included as part of the British Isles do they mind?

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Vicki
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:54 AM

Now, I'll agree that the Irish have the sexiest of all, but then you touch on a whole 'nother thread...which Irish accent? My darling other half is a Galwegian, not the Connemara freaky sounding kind, but a nice solid Wetsern Irish. If you get me near a Dubliner I'll cover my ears. It's like nails on chalkboard! Ackk..and then you get the Kerry mumble....don't start me on Cork. I wouldn't say that ther eis such thing as *THE* Irish accent, they're all very different.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,JulieF
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:20 AM

I must admit I'm a bit biased here. I have had a lot of peopl say that they love my accent ( i think you would call it well -travelled Scot) but they are just so disappointed when they meet me in person - Can I have a body double.

Julie

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Llanfair
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:26 AM

But the voice can be remarkably deceptive. On the phone I sound petite, young and blonde.
Only the blonde bit is right. Oh, and the gender!! Hwyl, Bron.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Patrish(inactive)
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:42 AM

I arrived in Northumberland with a broad scottish accent when I was 7. I left when I was 18 and lived in yorkshire ever since. When I am in Yorkshire people think I come from the north east, when in northumberland they think I sound like a scottish yorkshire person. Confused - yes I am
Patrish

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:04 AM

Yes, the 'phone is deceptive. People who hear me on the phone envisage Jasper Carrot only fatter, older, greyer and with specs. Imagine their delight when they meet me in the flesh and see the young, blond, tall, handsome, muscular hunk....[sorry, this is the nurse interjecting, Roger's not been taking his medicine again. If you've phoned him, believe me, what you hear is what you'll see, unfortunately!]
RtS

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:33 AM

I've been told that I sound just like Woody Allen. I think he's pretty low down on the "sexy voice" list in most people's book.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: little john cameron
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:49 AM

mbo, mair like woody woodpecker. Nae offence pal. LJC

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: alison
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:55 AM

awwwww....thanks Joe...

but I agree "which Irish accent???" no matter where you pick if you go 20 miles down the road they'll have a completely different one...

Scottish is definately sexy (Sean Connery gets my vote every time)

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:04 AM

Alison, I'm afraid when it comes to Irish Accents, the Belfast one doesn't do anything for me. I'm not to sure on regions but I like the softer ones that I think are mainly from the South West. Does anyone know a Cork accent? - I believe that is one of its own.

One thing that puzzles me is the choices of accent for a bank. Can you imagine trying to comunicate with somebody speaking in broad Glaswegian or Geordie?

Jon

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:07 AM

So that's why I get those icy fingers up and down my back when I listen to Ian Paisley!

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: alison
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:21 AM

so Jon.. what you're saying is that you'd rather have Henry Kelly's accent to mine????? *grin*

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:32 AM

I wonder what his accent would be like on your body Alison ;-)

Jon

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 12:54 PM

Whey aye Albatross man! Ye cannat bang that real hexhamshire ye knaaw! GQ magazine also reckon that we geordies are the real sparasankles when it comes te having a sexy voice. Onyway I was jist Gannin hyem

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 01:13 PM

So what is the regional accent we hear the actors speaking on "Ballykissangel" (a homogenous television accent)?

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Llanfair
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:35 PM

Same in Coronation Street, their accents, even people in the same "family" come from all over Manchester. Hwyl, Bron. (otherwise known as the cream of Manchester- or is that Boddington's?)

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Peg
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:48 PM

well, having recently met several UK Mudcatters in the flesh and heard them speak (Micca, Popular Halfwit, and Liz the Squeak), I must say that, as an American already enamored of any accent the least bit tinged with Celtic, Brythonic or otherwise Anglo, Briton, or Gael-derived liltings, rhythms or gutturals, they ALL sound sexy to me!!!

Peg

who doesn't do a half-bad British accent herself and likes to fool the locals...

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:25 PM

British accents are quite common in American commercials, especially ones selling elegant, sophisticated or serious products (luxury cars, investment bokerages, hotels, Grey Poupon Mustard). It's also interesting that Americans will accept almost any English accent as being sophisticated(Downtown Julie Brown, the Spice Girls, Bob Hoskins, Phil Collins). You don't get Irish Accents in commercials much, except for soap(fresh...and clean as a whistle!) or breakfast cereal(they're always after me Lucky Charms!), but the emphasis is usually on fun. Scots and their accents have only one connotation....Ach! Look for th' Thrifty Scot and get grrrreat deals on everrrything for the house! Sean Connery may have made some progress toward the accent becoming "dead sexah", but Scrrrrooge McDuck is still the national icon for the Scots accent in America. Aussie accents are used to denote rugged or unique products(4Wheel Drive Vehicles, bad beer, canvas garments).

Wondering how American accents are seen or used in the commercials in other countries?

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:38 PM

What about your accent, EJ? You sound like a cool California beach dude! Which is pretty rad!

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: little john cameron
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:27 PM

Whit aboot "RRRRROLL UP THE RRRRRIM TO WIN" Mah pal jist won a mountain bike wi' that.Bein' a true Scot he sold it. LJC

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:29 PM

You can drive cars in public restrooms now? Well, like Ma Beagle said "If you don't like my driving, get out of the hallway."

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: alison
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:32 PM

Alice, BallyK is set in the bottom right hand corner (Avoca / Glendalough...I think) of Ireland.. those are genuine Southern Irish accents, (most of them).... but they could be from anywhere.....

Northern ones are different.. BUT.. we do not all sound like Paisley... I actually agree with Jon and don't like the really strong think Belfast brogue..... luckily I don't have one of those.. I'm a bit of a mixture.... hahaha

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:31 PM

So, alison, have you picked up any changes in your way of speaking since moving to Australia? Not being of the Hearme compatible platform, I'm wondering. What do your relatives say when they talk to you on the phone? Do they notice an Aussie mixture in the bit?

Alice

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 11:28 PM

I am a tourguide in a house museum and we get visitors from all over the world. Great fun.

Last week I was talking with this English man and I was racking my brain trying to think where I had heard that accent before. (His wife, also English, didn't have the same accent.) Finally I realized it was the accent of the English priest in Ballyk. I said so and he grinned, "Yes, he's from my area!" I was mightily pleased with myself.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: alison
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 11:43 PM

yep my relatives thunk I'm an Aussie... the Aussies don't.. so I have a bit of a weird mixture

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: bob jr
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 11:53 PM

australian accents are about as sexy as a frog taking a pee

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:12 AM

Hey, hey, hey! I love Aussie accents. They're right up there next to Irish. I especially like the Melbourne curl- it's not quite as smooth as the Sydney one.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:49 AM

I am a sucker for accents, Irish, Scots, English, French, and Spanish/Latino/a.

My business partner back East had a degree in linuistics. He used to listen to my brother and me and it would drive him crazy becasue there was not specific thing he could point to which made our accents Coloradoan, yet they most definitely were. My dad has a very slow, thoughtful Western Colorado accent of the old pioneers....I'd give anything, some days, to have that..it is dying out and no one is carryign it on.

But, I might as well be a mynah bird, because I tend to pick up whatever accent I am around...I've had friends tell me I sound like their Canadian friends, the people here in the West know for sure that I've lived out East, and out there, I was a novelty for being from back here!

when I was a kid, a girl scout who'd never met me called one day to ask my fi my troop would liek to come to a meeting of her troop. We started visiting and she asked me if I was from Scotland., Apparently, the whole school thought I was...it was a Scottish year for me, I guess.:-)

katlaughingatthefunthisis

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:50 AM

My accent is just a mixture of UK regions but even within that range I can see what Alison is saying. People notice the differences in accents to what they are used to and pick up on what to them is the strongest difference or bit that doesn't belong.

I think it is only those who live in an area that pick some of this up, eg. Alison sounds pretty strong Belfast to me (most recongisable bit to me and I don't know the full Belfast accent) but people in Belfast notice the Australian influence that I can no detect...

I find the voice chat rooms interesting. Americans pick up that many UK people have Brittish accents but seem to think them all one accent. The same applies with me. I can tell that some people come fom Southern states in the US but beyond that, I haven't a clue and could not tell a Canadian accent from an American one or, thinking of Alison, an Australian accent from a New Zealand one but I bet there are ifferences an even noticable regional differences to those that live there.

Jon

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:05 AM

Jon, ask N.Americans to say "round about". If they're Canadians there'd be no doubt about it!
RtS

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Gervase
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 05:18 AM

Sexiest accent?
Certainly not mine. I was brought up to believe that I didn't have an accent - until I changed schools in my mid teens, when I found out pretty sharpish that I DID have an accent, and it was one of the most despised accents in these isles; the strangulated RP.
It's taken years of reverse elocution to iron it out (I blame the parents, meself) but it still sometimes causes problems. As GBS said, an Englishman only has to open his mouth for another Englishman to despise him.
Thus singing can be a problem. How the hell do you sing a song about rural hardship/mining disasters/drowned fishermen when you sound like a bloody BBC newsreader? Putting on a cod accent seems to me to be a cop-out, but I can't think of any other way around the problem.
Strangely enough, the accent is only a handicap in England and Scotland; not in Ireland, the USA or any other anglophone country - in fact it's been quite handy in the US, as I'm often dragged on screen by CNN and CBS to talk bollocks about the Royal family and the British constitution solely on the basis that I can sound like an archetypal chinless twat.
Mind you, its' different when I'm drinking. I don't know if anyone else migrates northward with every pint, but I find that after two or three there's a definite Midlands twang, and after five or six I can be unintelligibly Glaswegian! (...so perhaps I should only sing when pissed?!)

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Airto
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 05:27 AM

I'm fascinated by accents and where they come from, but I'm also completely ignorant on the subject. What were the influences that went to form the New York accent, for example? Where did the pronunciation of 'tube' come from? The Dutch pronounce it the same way as New Yorkers, but so do Corkonians. The Dutch got there first, to Harlem, Brooklyn and Bedford-Stuyvestant so maybe it's a legacy from them? Or from the West country of England?

One mystery to me is the Australian accent. Ebbie above talks about a difference between Melbourne and Sydney, but the vast majority of Aussies will tell you their ear is not sensitive enough to discern any difference in accent from one part of that enormous country to the other. Only relatively few people claim to detect regional differences. Perth is 2000 miles from Adelaide but the twang is (almost) identical.

How come? Something to do with being a new country? In that case, how did people come to adopt such a uniform accent so quickly? And why does it sound like it's part of the South East of England family of accents, without any trace of an input from the Scots or the Irish who went there in big numbers, not to mention those from the rest of England?

It's not at all like North America, another 'new country' for the purposes of this subject, where there is a range of different accents, none of which sound like they they might be British.

It's quite normal for individuals to adopt an accent not originally their own in order to fit in in a new environment. But young people in the middle class parts of Dublin are now speaking with an accent never spoken by their parents. It's a horrible bastardisation in which certain sounds are clipped, that's supposed to sound genteel and cool at the same time. To me it's a sign of lack of confidence in their identity. Are there other examples of whole groups/classes of people adopting a new accent quite so quickly?

You wouldn't want to be hearing the likes of it at the end of the phone when you're looking for a loan, you'd only end up feeling sorry for the lost little things.

Has anyone got any insights to offer?

Arthur O'Malley

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Hilary in NZ
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 06:19 AM

Hi everyone. Jon - yes there is a big difference between Australian accents and New Zealand ones. We speak English. :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 06:44 AM

Jon, Hilary was actually saying Yis
RtS
:oD

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Bagpuss
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 06:46 AM

I'm a Geordie, who has lived in Glasgow and Yorkshire. Most places, they can tell immediately that Im a Geordie, but when I go back home (gan back hyem), I get people asking me whereabouts in scotland I am from!

When I studied English Language at Glasgow uni, we had to do phonetic transcriptions of our accents - the professor asked to see me, cos he didn't believe that was actually the way i spoke!!

By the way, there is an english to geordie translator somewhere on the web. I'll try and find the link if anyone is interested in having a laugh.

Bagpuss (wake up be bright, be golden and light).

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Nicole Leonard
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 07:57 AM

To tell the difference between an Australian and a New Zealander just ask them to say 'fish and chips'. If they say 'feesh and cheeps' they are Aussie, if they say 'fush and chups' they are Kiwi. When I visit Australia, they think I am English. People from Perth actually sound more like New Zealanders than people from Sydney and Brisbane do even though its on the other side of Australia. In general we do not have regional accents in New Zealand other than in Otago and Southland (the lower half of the South Island) where they roll their R's strangely. This has nothing to do with British accents, but I find the whole subject fascinating.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Kim C
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 11:50 AM

Well, just READING Mr. Cameron's posts makes my heart pound! Do you really talk that way?!!?! Ohmagawd. Back in the 80s I used to love to hear Stuart Adamson of Big Country talk even though I could barely understand him.

Sometimes I listen to international radio feeds on the Net and it's sort of amusing that the broadcasters in Ireland and Scotland, just like in the US, have very little accent.

Now me, I have lived in the South all my life and don't have that really telltale "peel me a grape, Sugar" accent, although there are elements of my speech which would immediately identify me as a Southerner to a linguist. Plus I say y'all, and fixin to, and most of those expressions the "educated" detest. (Well, I'm "educated" too, so kiss my tattooed behind.)

My friend LuAnne from Mississippi (who is also "educated") has a REALLY Southern accent and people stop her all the time and want to know where she's from and start talking to her just so they can hear her speak. When I visited England many years ago, our pals there were quite taken with the way we Tennesseans talked.

when I was there I met an Irishman I gladly would have married right then and there if he had only asked me. He was from Galway. He could have talked to me all night and I would have been perfectly content.

Mr. Cameron, keep talkin' tae us, please.

KFC

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Irish Rover
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 03:33 PM

Och well lads, de Irish, well der ya havit den. T's from da north yer talkin somewhere jest sooth a bel-fast mebe aroond lurgan, well damned if that's not where I from ah muust have the sexiest brogue sooooooolive with et.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: Morticia
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:53 PM

Gervase you have a lovely speaking ( and singing) voice, I won't hear a word against any accent that doesn't use words like bu'ah, or wa'ah ( butter and water).Having had the crap beaten out of me for any trace of an irish accent and having lived all over the place, I suspect my accent is both neutral and dull, until the second pint or when I'm speaking to anyone with any kind of strong accent; in the first instance it reverts to soft irish burr and in the second to whatever the other accent is, which has had me accused of taking the p**s many a time. Used to be a sod when I wasn't allowed to play with some liverpudlian kids down the road ( now that's a great accent). As soon as I opened my mouth my mother knew instantly I'd been over there.

Subject: RE: Sexiest accent survey in British Isles
From: kendall
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 05:01 PM

Sean Connery by far.