Silliest accents

I normally find the “original” version of a language to be the prettiest, like French in France and English in England — But I’ll make an exception for Spanish.

Spanish in Spain usually sounds silly, especially with the lisp. It sounds much better in Latin-America.

You're a FUCKING RACIST.

Poll? What poll?

Nicole Kidman.

Madonna, the British years.

Bogan trash

Queensland, ay?

M. with that ridiculous “A dingo’s got my baby!”

[quote] You're a FUCKING RACIST.

Against the Americans, South Africans, Kiwis, Israelis, British, Australians, Chinese and the Canadians? Against all of them?

Dear me. 💅

I tend to find (American) Southern accents musical and charming but I have met 5 different people of 3 separate ethnicities from swampiest Mississippi and I failed to understand 2/3 words.

Ditto during my uni years a very recent Egyptian expat who was my economics lab tutor. He was so nice that no one complained to faculty.

Hilaria Baldwin

My Great Lakes flatness - overly pronounced consonants, a flat grin on the vowels as if we’re going to start slurring or spitting.

This is the opposite of sexy.

Dublin accents with the hard t: turty tree and a turd. And it's really mumbly if you're not used to it.

Northern Irish accents are bizarre.

R2 is EVERYTHING wrong with this world.

Cajun accents sound silly and almost like a put-on.

OP: Stick it up your arse.

Charming interplay.

Staten Island?

Welsh. I have never met someone from Wales that I disliked but their sing-song voices sound entirely artificial.

Op deserves a rough pass around bottom experience with a representative from each accent listed

Accents? I do believe I nail them ALL!

Dammit! Forgot the link!

Anyone from Oceania who complains about "accents" needs to consider how most people would feel her internal monologue akin to being stabbed in the ear from the inside.

I overheard some South Africans last summer and these ones at least sounded like Australians but they kept saying 'Ja'.

Thanks R22, that’s hilarious!

New Jersey Guinea...sooo annoying.

I absolutely cannot take anyone with a heavy Australian accent seriously. I don't care if they're talking about String Theory—all I see is this:

I love South Africans but they sound developmentally delayed. California vocal fry is an auricular scourge which has spread across the Pacific to Australia fair, where the accents already were known to strafe like a machine gun aimed at the eardrums. NZ people sound like they failed phonics.

It's weird how OP described black people from London as "multi-cultural". I imagine when he meets a non-white person he says "so what country are you from?".

R29 I didn’t, “Multi-Cultural London English” is the name of the accent.

Miss Britney Jean and her British-Australian mash up accent. Hilarious.

Of course her "baby girl" affectation is laughable as well, once you've heard her "real" voice (as we did when those phone vids of her yelling at her son to put lotion on his face because his skin was "coarse.").

I moved to Boston after college, and the accents (there are several of them) never bothered me. I live on the other side of the country now, and when I hear a Bahstin aksint I swear blood gushes from my ears.

Speaking of silly accents -- whatever the hell Kate Winslet is doing in The Regime on HBO/Max.

Any Indian accent (dot not feather) is goofy as fuck

Jive.

Not silly, necessarily - but living in the Buffalo area for over 10 years and having a Canadian boyfriend for some of those years, I can pick a Canadian out within two sentences, based on pronunciation alone.

The only right answer is Pennsylvania Dutch. And they know it!

Agreeing with R28, I hate that 'Surfer Dude' accent with a passion, and I am a native Californian.

Philly

Maryland. Baltimore is so weird, see all those John Waters films

The US's black urban accent is atrocious. It just sounds so unintelligent.

And Australia...it sounds hideous.

Are "weird," "atrocious," "hideous," "bizarre," and "annoying" now synonyms for "silly"?

R40 The OP....who created the thread... described an accent as making him " physically sick".

That doesn't sound very silly either, does it?

[quote] Not silly, necessarily - but living in the Buffalo area for over 10 years and having a Canadian boyfriend for some of those years, I can pick a Canadian out within two sentences, based on pronunciation alone.

Canadian here. Occasionally watch local Buffalo news just before the start of SNL, and anchors’ Western New York accents are quite grating at times,

Caribbean island and Jamaican speak. Liverpool, the Scouse accent. The words are a string of abbreviations and slang. The Manchester accent can be insane. There must be marbles in the mouth.

r42 - I'm not a native Buffalonian, and I couldn't agree more. Quite distinctive.

I watch a couple of Canadian YouTubers. They both say "similar-i-ly" instead of "similarly." Is that how Canadians pronounce similarly?

Hawaiian

Cajun

[quote] You're a FUCKING RACIST.

So original and refreshing.

R47, but entirely on target.

[quote] I watch a couple of Canadian YouTubers. They both say "similar-i-ly" instead of "similarly." Is that how Canadians pronounce similarly?

I’ve never thought about it before but now that I say it to myself…. maybe?

OP has never watched Fargo.

I nominate the standard american vocal fry that always sounds like a question? Like, I am so unsure about what I am saying I end up making it sound like I'm doubtful? Allthough some say it's just a put on to sound friendly and non threatening? And it's especially annoying when guys do it?

Shih CAH gohh.

Despise Caribbean and Australian accents. They sound ugly as hell. British accents of any kind make my ears bleed.

[quote] I nominate the standard american vocal fry that always sounds like a question?

Vocal fry and upspeak often go together, but they are two separate things.

Some Australians are a delight to listen to, such as Hugh Jackman. But some literally curdle my blood, such as the late Steve Irwin.

[quote]I nominate the standard american vocal fry that always sounds like a question?

That's the entire Australian accent.

The Buffalo accent sounds surprisingly like the Wisconsin accent, with those flat a's. I'm not sure how that worked out.

Yes, it's close...but probably more close to a Chicagoan accent. There's no "donchaknowism" in it at all, which is kind of an offshoot from Dutch, I believe.

i've been told it's closer still to some PA and OH accents. I don't know anyone from there, so i really can't compare.

It’s a Great Lakes accent that extends from Minnesota to Western New York.

R58 That's not a Chicago accent, it's a SW Chicago suburbs accent. No one born and raised in Chicago proper has that accent.

i think r59 is right, but I've never heard it described as a "Great Lakes" accent.

I was born in Hawaii and raised in Southern California before I moved to Buffalo. Their accents were extremely weird to me at the time. Then I got used to it.

There's only the "donchaknowism" in the northern tip of Wisconsin that borders Minnesota. I've been to Geneva, Milwaukee, Madison, Oshkosh, The Dells...no one has that in their accent, just the flat a's.

If anyone watches 'Stephanie Harlowe' on YouTube (very competent true crime frau), her's is an excellent example of the Buffalo accent.

New Mexico accents are so atrocious they become funny to hear after a while.

R63

Valley Girl with upspeak.

For r52:

There's a difference in Australian accents?

I never noticed.

[quote]There's only the "donchaknowism" in the northern tip of Wisconsin that borders Minnesota.

R62 Correct. That's the Upper Peninsula accent. I get a kick out of that "U-per" accent.

OP, Mate..... Mate.... this coming from a f*cking Queenslander....WANKER.

Educated South Africans (Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee, Sheila Kohler) can be a pleasure to listen to, more so than almost any other English-speaking people. Just listen to the dulcet tones of author Sheila Kohler at the link below.

I live in Dublin, Ireland, and am not crazy about the Castilian Spanish accent in English, which you can hear everywhere here.

I love anything that sounds blue collar.

So Boston, Jersey and Staten Island? Come on over.

I nominated QLDers from my native Australia, I’m not one.

I also do not speak like a posh mummy’s boy from Adelaide like Anthony Downer and Christopher Pyne.

Former Mayor of Madrid Ana Botella became notorious for her atrocious accent in English (ridiculed both in Spain and abroad) in a video that was used in her city's (failed) 2020 Olympics bid. Her "relaxing cup of café con leche in Plaza Mayor" turned into a punchline.

R72, If you're a true Aussie...it's ALEXANDER Downer (Mr Fishnet stockings).....sheesh.

There is a very pleasing Southern patrician accent that is rapidly dying out.

I note that the speakers of it are usually of the Episcopal faith.

It was ate R8.

[quote] The Buffalo accent sounds surprisingly like the Wisconsin accent

To Wisconsonites it's WIZGAAAAHSIN. I find some of the overly posh English accents very off putting. There's a mouse in the house comes out of them as "there's a mice in the hice". I want to physically attack anyone I hear talking like that.

I have tons of Portuguese relatives in Boston and Brockton, Ma.. They sound like complete idiots. They're all highly educated yet at the end of almost every sentence they add a "you know". I want to slap them silly.

The classic Chicago accent is also mind numbingly bad. On the suburban south side if you ask someone where something is their eyes will glaze over, they point and say "over by there". even if "there" is 5 miles away. When meeting they'll say "oh hi, how eere yo" or "have you ever been to CHICUAHGO before?".

I don't know about silliest but the hard-core Jersey accent is the most ridiculous.

[quote] There is a very pleasing Southern patrician accent that is rapidly dying out.

That's the accent I inherited from my late grandfather. I'm not quite as overt as he was. He ended almost every sentence when speaking to another man with "suh". He would even do it with his dog, a huge German Shepherd guard dog named Fritz. If Fritz growled he would say "Fritz, quiet down SUH?".

Strangely enough most people in the south hear me speak and assume I'm from somewhere out of the south. I had one lady ask me if I was from in Britain. Never have figured that one out. Or they'll say "you're not from around here are you?".

Oh dearing myself r74. Forgot the Alexander, remembered the fishnets.

I’m on the lower North Shore so you have have cut me off on Military Road already.

The one where they say "dis-as-tah". Hilarious to listen to that accent.

R74 - thank fuck his daughter Georgina Downer was unelectable and everybody hated her. They're really terrible people.

I mostly hear Speedy Gonzalez when Hispanophones speak English.

R1- I disagree, I think the typical Accent of Spain is the sexiest of all the Latin American world.

R71- Come on over?

Are U a WHORE darlin?

R9- I LOVE ❤️ your nails.

There was a survey done of passengers on British Airways in the survey these Brett said that their favorite American accents were the Boston accent which they found the most intelligent and the New York accent which they found the sexiest.

I have a friend from Pittsburgh who went to school in “NEU Haven.”

Baltimore--it's like someone took a wrong turn left after hitting Boston (and that accent is bad enough as it is).

[quote] The classic Chicago accent is also mind numbingly bad.

I watched Mob Wives (of Staten Island, NY). Then, it branched out to Chicago. The way those women talked was awful, nothing charming about that accent.

My friend said she hates how Portuguese (the language) sounds. My friend speaks 3 languages, so I'll defer to her on that.

Dutch spoken by anyone, and I'm part Dutch, sounds like someone speaking German while having a stroke.

[quote] Baltimore

The people of Baltimore call it "Ballmer".

R2 You smooth talker, you.

While watching the current season Australian Survivor (which is excellent btw) I noticed many of the players pronounce résumé as reshumay. I don't understand why the "sh" sound is involved.

Do New Jerseyans have the dumbest sounding American accent? And how common is the Real Housewives of NJ accent in NJ?

R83 quick reminder not all hispanophones are Mexican. I can guarantee you that we don'tall have the same accent speaking english.

R95 I lived for 9 years in NJ as a child and at least in the area I lived we no one had a "Jersey" accent, it was a very neutral mid atlantic accent. I think the Jersey accent is more from south Jersey.

Yeah, the Masshead accent is 'Wicked bad'.

Aussie and South African accents sound similar to my ears.

[quote] I think the Jersey accent is more from south Jersey.

Not a chance.

I assumed my coworker had special needs because of the way he spoke. I thought, "I am so glad I work for such a progressive company!" Five minutes after I met him, I learned he was from Boston.

r79, Southern accents are actually closest to a British accent in the States.

When I worked in Boston, the old teamster guys had a hilarious accent, as did my darling Portuguese 3rd in charge. And as I'm slowly learning French, the Quebecois accent is very painful to the ears. Because of that, I understand why many French don't want most people to try to speak French to them if they're not proficient.

R102, I thought New England accents were the closest to the English spoken in Eastern England before the 19th century?

Guys with Boston accents are sexy.

r103, that was a learned accent in the late 19th to mid 20th century. The southern accent apparently comes from Northern (ironic) England.

[Quote]New Jersey Guinea...sooo annoying.

But when they have muscles, wear tight wifebeaters and go commando in mesh basketball shorts or grey sweatpants, they're sooo hot.

R103 There are still about 150 left in the remote North Carolina island of Ocracoke that speak just the way they would have when they came over from England in the 16th century. Because they remained so isolated as a culture, the accent hasn't been adulterated. Listening to them speak is actually getting to hear an authentic Shakespearean brogue. Fascinating stuff.

If you listen to both the upper crust southern accents and the worst redneck hick accent from the south and listen closely you will hear strong British influences in both. The upper crust southern accents are quite similar to posh British accents and the redneck accents are very similar to cockney accents.

The French I’m afraid sound like imbeciles when they’re made to speak English. I do pity them in such circumstances because it is truly a humiliation, especially if there are English-proficient Germans, Dutch or Scandinavians in the conversation.

[quote] The French I’m afraid sound like imbeciles when they’re made to speak English. I do pity them in such circumstances because it is truly a humiliation, especially if there are English-proficient Germans, Dutch or Scandinavians in the conversation.

Are you talking about the accent or the actual vocabulary? Supposedly, French is more grammatical than English (that's what my French teacher said). Sometimes people mistake a strong accent for lack of proficiency. Jacques Pepin, for example, still has a strong French accent, but perfect grammar and very good vocabulary.

Canadians who say oot, aboot and eh all time sound silly and dorky.

All Newfoundlanders.

The Scottish from Glasgow.

The Ch'tis in Northern France. Impossible to understand.

Yes, the stereotypical Canadian accent is really dorky, it's an instant boner killer.

Here is a perfect example of a Frenchman speaking English. Marc de Dinechin and his British wife own Chateau de Rosieres en Vivarais. He gets the English out, but that tongue does some major acrobatics so to do.

But I will forgive him because he's such a sexy devil.

He's bursting out of his pants there. I think English spoken by French is sexy.

The guy at R113 sounds fine to me. Charming, actually.

English has all of those hard Rs that I think are haRd to say unless you grew up making that R sound.

Newfoundland accent

The Pittsburgh accent will never not be funny (yet annoying) to be.

Not quite nasal, not quite raspy, but sorta both.

Stealth racism thread.

*to ME

No, everything is not racisssssssssssssssm.

[quote]English has all of those hard Rs that I think are haRd to say unless you grew up making that R sound.

We barely pronounce them. And at the end of a word? Neve(r).

The Northern Cities Vowel Shift is responsible for “donchaknowism,” so aspects of it do it exist in places like Chicago.

[quote] Marc de Dinechin and his British wife

He's married to a 🐟? Nah, no way he's straight.

Newfie accent wins.

The accent that Chef John of Food Wishes dot com.

His YouTube videos are well made, good natured and explain the cooking process very well but his fucking sing-song voice drives me batty.

Newscasters and reporters who speak with no accent at all until they go over the top pronouncing a Latin name. Then all I can think of is Mandy Patinkan in The Princess Bride.

^^^ Pantinkin. Sorry.

^^Patinkin. New fingers. Can’t do a thing with them.

R118 its like it doesnt know if it wants to be a Minnesota accent, a boston one or a southern hick one so it's all 3 at the same time. So weird.

R118, now THAT'S a monstrosity. Eww.

What the fuck is this? It's not vocal fry and not quite upspeak. I would love to see these clips since she has interesting historical topics but I can't get past her voice.

Least silly

[quote] The French I’m afraid sound like imbeciles when they’re made to speak English. I do pity them in such circumstances because it is truly a humiliation, especially if there are English-proficient Germans, Dutch or Scandinavians in the conversation.

How many languages do you speak?

Swampiest

I guess you were just being a cunt chaos actor, Mississippi doesn't as a rule have swamps. Neither does DL fave Britney Bitch à! from LA come from the swamps, she comes from the hills in LA, the few there are.

r132, she absolutely has vocal fry, it's at a lower register.

Well, it sounds like shit R136. Can't even listen to it.

The Filipino sing song voice gets on my nerves a bit and then I feel bad because I should like it.

[quote]Because of that, I understand why many French don't want most people to try to speak French to them if they're not proficient.

Yeah, because the French speaking any other language other than French is music to our ears! Said no one ever!

Southern Maryland/Chesapeake Bay accents.

r139, French spoken badly sounds TERRIBLE.

Every language spoken badly sounds terrible, Pierre.

Pepino!

Typical of the French to say "Speak my language fluently, or don't speak it at all!"

The French themselves, especially when they’re children, are constantly corrected by teachers, parents, et al. for bad grammar and bad pronunciation. At the same time, speaking well receives high praise. The French treasure their language so much they have a bit of a complex about it.

It seems to me that Americans are among the most sympathetic to non-native English speakers (despite being told constantly by others and ourselves that we are racist scum of the highest order). In America it's considered wildly rude and ethnocentric to mock a non-native speaker's accent, whereas it seems to be a regular occurance (and even expected) in non-Anglophonic countries.

R145 You don't say.

[quote] In America it's considered wildly rude and ethnocentric to mock a non-native speaker's accent, whereas it seems to be a regular occurance (and even expected) in non-Anglophonic countries.

You must live in a blue state, in a nice neighborhood. I'm not mocking you. In my observations, Americans make fun of accents all the time. DLers (probably monolingual) bitch about customer service reps from India, etc.

[quote]DLers (probably monolingual) bitch about customer service reps from India, etc.

Oh sure, but that's just because their limited english makes it much more difficult for them to provide adequate assistance which can be pretty damn frustrating. Honestly, customer service really does (or should) rightly require a command of the language spoken by the customer base.

But in countries like France, Germany, and Italy you'll be teased casually and often by servers, cabbies, dates, friends, etc. for your accent when speaking their language. It's usually good natured but it's frankly still rude and patronizing, especially if you're speaking the language decently enough that they can understand perfectly well what you're saying. Even more especially because they speak English with just as heavy if not a heavier accent, but most Americans wouldn't dream of mocking their foreign accents to their faces—in fact they would be more likely to praise them for their excellent English (which may come across to them as even more patronizing, now that I think of it). I think it's just that Americans are more "polite" as a rule than Europeans in this way.

I like Spain's Spanish. Many people find the accent ugly. I find it hot. It sounds better than Mexican Spanish. The most generic Spanish is spoken in Colombia. Very plain and easy to understand. The most beautiful Spanish accent is the Argentinan, well... most of the southern cone. Here is Gwyneth speaking flawless Castillian (Spain's) Spanish

Europeans are obnoxiously rude compared to Americans. They also have no idea that they’re considered rude and backward culturally. The 1700s never ended for them.

Americans are descended from people that were too stupid to do well in Europe with a smattering of religious cult members, so meh.

European people really lack manners when in a line for something.

R151, I like it, minus the lisp. In general, I feel that Spain Spanish sounds more dry in comparison to Mexican Spanish, Colombian Spanish, etc.

Anyone else ever heard Somali Arabic? I have and it's absolutely awful.

There is a UK dialect where they sound like they're talking with a mouth full of marshmellows. Tourist couple with their teenaged son complaining about something, and I was willing for something comprehensible to come out, but it didn't happen.

Once I had a friend who used to pronounce Idina Menzel as Adele Dazeem.

When I think of a "Spanish from Spain" accent, I think of Charo.

[quote]California vocal fry is an auricular scourge which has spread across the Pacific to Australia fair,

The "Mary!" is strong with this one!

The Boston accent is the king's accent.

The US accents from the Midwest and New England make me laugh sometimes.

Chinese accents are pretty awful.

In which U.S. state(s) do people talk like this: "I'm going to take the boooooat out in Octooober." Is that Midwestern? (sorry, showing my ignorance again).

R164, that's a upper midwestern accent but you will hear it especially hear it in Minnesota. The stereotypical Canadian accent is even funnier.

Finns sound developmentally delayed when speaking English.

I worked for an attorney from the Midwest. Not only was she a cunt, but she’d pronounce “Washington” as “Warshington” and it drove everyone insane.

Actually where is the USA mid West I thought, googles it, actually seems to be the Northern part of the US in the mid East. TIL.

R151 It's pretty good but it's not flawless.