Accents, whats your Favourite?????

[dhermann1]

I like a Scottish accent, tho a heavy one can be completely unintelligible. I like some southern US accents, e.g. Tex Ritter. Old fashioned upper class British is great, but the modern, cockneyified, British (they're abolished the letter L in the UK, I think!) is not so great.
I think the weirdest accent in the English language is in and around Pittsburgh. It has a weird upward inflection, bizarre consonants, and a whole lexicon of odd usages. E.g., "I'm going to redd up the house (actually "the hassss"), meaning clean up, or "It needs fixed."
I don't particularly like the heavy New Yawk accent, but when I'm far away from home, it's music to my ears.
I love the South African accent because of the Dutch sounding "O".
I was listening to a young cabaret singer from Slovenia the other evening. Beautiful soft slavic accent. She sang the old standard "Rount mitnighd, rount mitnighd."

 

[DeeDub]

z. All of the Above

I love them all. English is a rich language, having borrowed from many other languages, past and present. It's made even richer with the variety of ways to say the same thing.

I can't resist the urge learn the accents of the people I encounter day to day. Years ago, I worked with a remarkable fellow from Czechoslovakia. He told wonderful stories, made more wonderful by his thick Czech accent. (I was fascinated to hear how he enlisted in the army at the business end of the recruiter's rifle.)

Shortly after I began working with Jaroslav, my Czech colleague, a group of coworkers pulled me aside and asked if I understood "Jay". After I assured them that I did, they extracted a promise that I translate for them. On their next encounter with Jay, he rattled off something Czech-ered, they turned to me for the translation, and I automatically repeated everything he said. With exactly the same accent.

They never asked for Czech translations again.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Like many of us in the midwest. We got that white-bread non-accent that the evening newscasters have.

Which might explain why so many Southern Californians have no real accent. For the most part, their grandparents came here from the Midwest. (e.g., My dad's family was originally from Iowa.)

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[Tommy Fedora]

My daughter's boyfriend is from Maine and has a thick New England accent that I find to be really annoying.
Or is it because he's a Red Sox and and I'm a Yankee fan ?

 

[jitterbugdoll]

I have a funny accent--fast-talking New Englander with a bit of a Southern Belle twang (the drawl increases when I am in the South for any length of time.)

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Californian accents are totally boring anyway!

Hooray for boring. It's that boring non-accent which makes Californians wonderful teachers of English as a second (or foreign) language. Grateful students from all over the world thank us for speaking American English with an easily-understandable pronunciation.


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[jitterbugdoll]

I should add that when I lived in Georiga, I hated Southern accents. lol

In Arizona, most people come from somewhere else, so you hear a real mix.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Evidentally, my accent changes from word to word. So, I am a mess.

However, my favorite accents are those that are self-created, such as Cary Grant and Roger Moore. They both improved their diction through the forces of their wills.

 

[jitterbugdoll]

Evidentally, my accent changes from word to word. So, I am a mess.

However, my favorite accents are those that are self-created, such as Cary Grant and Roger Moore. They both improved their diction through the forces of their wills.

It's funny how some people's accents change depending on their locale, and others stay very much the same.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

It's funny how some people's accents change depending on their locale, and others stay very much the same.

So what can I expect from you? Will you be dropping those "R-s" or drawling them out?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Awww ... affectionate banter!

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[jitterbugdoll]

So what can I expect from you? Will you be dropping those "R-s" or drawling them out?

I guess it depends on what accent you happen to choose for the day. lol

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I guess it depends on what accent you happen to choose for the day. lol

Well, I usually choose my accents by the word, but I can choose by the day, if it makes you happy.
I suppose I am a step ahead, as long as my accent isn't slurred.

 

[jitterbugdoll]

Awww ... affectionate banter!

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One can only imagine the funny combination of accents in this banter. lol

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I guess it depends on what accent you happen to choose for the day. lol

You noticed that too!!! Sometimes it's Philly, sometimes it's something else!

Don't worry JBD, I'll be more than happy to give you a lesson on the proper "Baawstin" accent. First lesson, drop all of your R's. For example, water=wahtah park=pahk. Or an old saying that you can no longer say here "hit anutha homa Nomah" translation "hit another homer Nomar". And just so you know, our baseball team is the Baawstin Red Sawx
I do a heck of an imitation of the Boston accent. Sometimes I'll pull it out in public, just to see the reaction I'll get. Like when ordering at a restaurant. Hem gets a kick out of it, it really is "Wicked Aaawwwsum"

As for me I've always loved the British accent. Also American's in the movies of the golden era spoke much nicer than we do now. I'd love to be able to pull an accent like that off.

 

[rockyj]

Northern Irish

Those hard vowels. Also like the Canadian accent too

 

[Novella]

I like English English accents in general. I'm not really sure there is one particular English accent I like above all others. I think it's more bits and pieces of different accents that I like. I like the way norf/north sounds, but I'm not too big on the extra r tacked onto words (Ameriker). There are lots of other little things, but that's just what comes to mind at the moment. I think part of what colors an accent (at least of native English speakers) is the slang, and I like a lot of English/British slang.

I like Tennesse accents, and Oklahoma/Texas ones. I have relatives in southern Oklahoma, and I like the way they talk.

I haven't known very many South Africans and it's not an accent that seems to come up in American movies/TV so I find it very interesting to listen to.

 

[John in Covina]

I'm not too big on the extra r tacked onto words (Ameriker).

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There is a whole contingent of people out West that throw this "R" into the word Wash or Washington, it becomes Warshington, Warsh. Strange indeed.

 

[Novella]

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There is a whole contingent of people out West that throw this "R" into the word Wash or Washington, it becomes Warshington, Warsh. Strange indeed.

R is a funny letter. I think it's interesting how different accents insert or take away different letters. Before saying any place name here (in Britain), if at all possible I wait until I hear someone else say it first. For example, I would have definitely said Norwich, Norwhich, although I think it's suppose to be pronounced Noritch. Edinburgh? Most definitely not like iceberg.

 

[Diamondback]

R is a funny letter. I think it's interesting how different accents insert or take away different letters. Before saying any place name here (in Britain), if at all possible I wait until I hear someone else say it first. For example, I would have definitely said Norwich, Norwhich, although I think it's suppose to be pronounced Noritch. Edinburgh? Most definitely not like iceberg.

Indeed it is interesting. And you have a sound strategy for dealing with unfamiliar place-name pronunciations, may I lift that for my own use?