Best and worst accents?

Accents are a weird and wonderful thing. While any 'A' Level English Language teacher will insist that technically, there is no correct accent, many accents are either close to unintelligible or really get on your teats.

Any accents stick out for you, good or bad? Don't feel restricted to people from this country either. Some of the worst crimes against the spoken English language are often unwittingly committed by those who do not have English as a first language.

I teach in the heart of the Black Country and the accent and dialect takes some serious getting used to.

When I first started I thought I was going to need a translator.

I tell my students that one of the hardest things to do, but handy if they don't want to sound like foreigners, is to develop a native accent. However I do warn them to make sure it's the right one.

I used to share a house with a Spanish girl who spoke perfect English in a "perfect" brummie accent. You would've thought she was born there. She would've been so much better off keeping her Spanish lilt. My sister in law is married to an Irishman and also lived in Scotland for five years and Bournemouth for three. Her accent is very pleasing on the ear, just a few nice Celtic intonations.

I'd say Scottish, Irish and simple "well spoken" home counties/southern accents are actually my favourites on the whole, although there are bad examples of each. My least favourites are the worst of Brummie and Welsh.

One thing I've often found odd is how similar Norfolk and Cornish accents can be. I used to live in Norwich and travel regularly to Cornwall to see family and there's a lot that's the same in there.

I teach in the heart of the Black Country and the accent and dialect takes some serious getting used to.

 

When I first started I thought I was going to need a translator.

Hehe. Been through that twice, once in Liverpool and again in Northern Ireland. Wore off after about six weeks.

More recently, I have come into increasing contact with Indian accents in a professional capacity. They are hard work, particularly on conference calls etc when you have no body language to work with.

Not really a fan of most northern accent's. Cant stand the proper scouser's, can tolerate the more moderate one's but it still get's on my tits. Quite like a hint of Irish but again nothing to "proper". A simple southern (normal) accent is perfect.

Calm Down Calm down Saint,tom calm down

Good - rural Lanky ( Lancashire dialect ), 'proper' Wessex West Country

Bad - estuarine mockney, wigger,

Bad - estuarine mockney, wigger,

Bang on with those two, plus that weird 'innit?' accent some Britsh born Asians have. Other than that I like regional accents.

Worse? Anything from the New Forest westwards, East Anglian, Brummie, thick Yorks/Lancs, Scouse, Welsh, camp and most of all the poncy posh one...'kin 'ell, nearly all really.

Best? Out of all the Brit accents probably (this'll nark a few) Cockney, Geordie, Glaswegian.

Not really a fan of most northern accent's. Cant stand the proper scouser's, can tolerate the more moderate one's but it still get's on my tits. Quite like a hint of Irish but again nothing to "proper". A simple southern (normal) accent is perfect.

See, I'm the complete opposite on scousers. I actually like the 'punchy' version of that accent.

It's the whining drone variant that I have trouble with. Literally lose the power to listen to it after about 30 seconds, which is something of a disadvantage if you live in Liverpool

The female welsh accent is tops for me. Worst is probably the Brummie.

I love a mild Scouse or Scottish accent on a bird.

Can't stand the Brummie accent, does my head in.

add me to the Brummie haters list & i'm not keen on Scouse either. favourite accents are southern Irish & Scottish.

i have a mixed up accent as i was born & raised untill age 9 in Kent so had a sort of diet cockney accent, then moved to the Shetland Isles for 4 years. the accent up there is strange, a bit like the Highlands/Gaelic accent but broader. closet i've got to hearing it again was when watching Trawlermen on the BBC. hopefully living here since 13 has leveled it out a bit.

best accent i've heard was from a bloke who worked for my dad. he was born in Persia & looked a bit like Kachloul but he learned to speak English in Cork so had a very strong Irish accent. always cracked me up, especially after he'd a few pints

But can you tell the difference between a Brummie accent and a Black Country one?

To me they are as different as a a Scouse from a Manc.

But can you tell the difference between a Brummie accent and a Black Country one?

 

To me they are as different as a a Scouse from a Manc.

The Black Country accent is a little it 'deeper' than a Brummie accent isn't it? Both are horrible though, IMO.

The Southampton accent confuses me - I can recognise it when I hear it but that's quite rare nowadays as it always seemed to belong to older family members. Is it disappearing? If so, is there now a new So'ton accent?

The Black Country accent is a little it 'deeper' than a Brummie accent isn't it? Both are horrible though, IMO.

It's not as drawn out and as high pitched as Brummie and there is way, way, way more use of dialect.

There seems to be a new accent which eminates from (I think) mainly black London kids. you often hear it on radio 1. Heard a guy on there this morning saying 'laive' instead of 'live'. Is it just me who's noticed this?

I really like the Irish accent (in the south), but dislike the Northern Irish accent.

Other related topics:

1) Do you find it easier to imitate particular accents?

2) Do some accents sound better coming out of the mouth of a woman than a man?

I really like the Irish accent (in the south), but dislike the Northern Irish accent.

Actually, the only NI accent I don't like is the Belfast one. There is a surprising amount of deviation in that very small part of the world.

Other related topics:

 

1) Do you find it easier to imitate particular accents?

I can do the scouse accent to a standard that would fool most southerners, but few actual residents of the city.

2) Do some accents sound better coming out of the mouth of a woman than a man?

Yes, but the reverse applies too. London accents on women sound dodgy.

Bang on with those two, plus that weird 'innit?' accent some Britsh born Asians have. Other than that I like regional accents.

I'm not sure it's a British born thing. I went to a lecture once, given by a Doctor who looked and sounded like he came from India or thereabouts. Throughout he would say "isn't it?", but not always seemingly as a question or for affirmation, it was as if the term had lots of meanings and contexts. But "isn't it" sounded much more polite than "innit" and it sounded good, so much so that I felt I wanted to use it myself.

Scottish and Irish female accents are the best. South African male the worst.

It's weird how you aren't aware of how much of an accent you have yourself until you hear a recording of your own voice. Mine comes out as Southampton with a hint of bumpkin

Not really accent but more of a pronunciation issue, I have always pronounced "calm" & "palm" as "cowm" & "powm", and "nearly" so it rhymes with "Burley", not "yearly". No idea where that comes from, no-one else I know pronounces them like it so it's not a local thing.

Scottish and Irish female accents are the best. South African male the worst.

 

 

It's weird how you aren't aware of how much of an accent you have yourself until you hear a recording of your own voice. Mine comes out as Southampton with a hint of bumpkin

 

Not really accent but more of a pronunciation issue, I have always pronounced "calm" & "palm" as "cowm" & "powm", and "nearly" so it rhymes with "Burley", not "yearly". No idea where that comes from, no-one else I know pronounces them like it so it's not a local thing.

Your username is very apt in that case...

Bristol/West Country chav accent a' la Vicky Pollard really irritates.

Australian but not all Australian just the whiny ones that are on Biggest Loser that the missus keeps watching, and they call us whinging poms!

Oh and Canadian!

Most accents are good apart from;

South African

Australian

New Zealand

Indian sub-continent

Bristol

Strong London/Cockney accents on women.

Wierdest one for me is Bristolian. Massive urban City populated by people that sound like they've just got of the milking stool at their Farm!

Oh, dislike brummie and scouse accents.

White Jamaicans.Any accent spoken in gay (male) is nice too.

Wierdest one for me is Bristolian. Massive urban City populated by people that sound like they've just got of the milking stool at their Farm!

Fortunately inbreeding means this accent will eventually die out!

I like a female with a foreign accent, esp Welsh or French.

Worst accent in the world has to be Pomponian. They sound like cockneys with their heads kicked in, how they can claim to be part of Hampshire and speak like that is beyond me.

Why can't any one apart from Southeners speak the 'English' accent properly without sounding like a pwoper Londoner??? This includes Americans, Canadians, Aussies et al.

The Southampton accent confuses me - I can recognise it when I hear it but that's quite rare nowadays as it always seemed to belong to older family members. Is it disappearing? If so, is there now a new So'ton accent?

Young people in Southampton speak what's called 'estuary english' now, spread across the whole of the south-east from places like Staines and Kingston. I love the old Southern accent though, with the slight burr.

My favourite accent on women has to be Irish, can't beat it. Worst is probably North-East (Humberside, Geordie etc).

Northern Irish is a horrible accent, not to fond of the Scottish either.

Like the Welsh accent.

Southern Irish for me, love it.

Just remembered.the accent I hate the most - Mancunian.

Northern Irish is a brilliant accent so it is!

Wierdest one for me is Bristolian. Massive urban City populated by people that sound like they've just got of the milking stool at their Farm!

Orroiyt my loverrr! I have a lot of family living there and love the way they all speak. Next time you are talking to someone from Brizzle, try and get them to say the word 'ridiculous' and see if you can restrain yourself from cracking up at it.

Accents really are a fascinating thing to me. I never really considered Southampton folk to have much of an accent until I moved away, and now I realise not just how pronounced it is, but also how different it is on either side of the Itchen. My girlfriend is from Cumbria and she reckons I have a very thick southern twang, but I would never have guessed the origin of her accent because although she grew up in Kendal, her father is a Laandaner and her mother is from Devon.

I used to know a lad who had a Welsh mother and an American Father, and he spent various amounts of time in each country while he was growing up. His was possibly the oddest accent I have ever heard (with the one exception of Steve Maclaren's Bizarre attempt at sounding Dutch)

I love the sound of a broad Lancashire accent like Jane Horrocks' and also the gentle sound of a woman from the southern counties of Ireland.

I will add a +1 to disliking brummie (did anyone hear Sebastian Vettel trying to do a brummie accent on Top Gear? Hilarious!) and I also find that people from Ulster always sound like they are being very defensive about something which grates on me a bit.

Another sub-topic:

Are there certain individuals, or certain scenes in comedy or drama that you always come back to when you want to mimic a particular accent?

For a Yorkshire accent, I always think of Monty Python: 1) "One o't flayrods gone out askew on treadle", or 2) "We 'ad to lick rord clean wit' tung".

For a scouse accent, I try to channel one of The Beatles.

For a cockney, I'll mimic Harry H. Corbett: "You dirty ol' man!"

Others?

Worst accent in the world has to be Pomponian. They sound like cockneys with their heads kicked in

But they don't really, just their hoolies and wannabes, there so desperate to be Millwall, they've lost their own identity. I've worked down there on and off over 3 decades and it's developed over that time to something now that's a cross between mockney and Australian. When you wind them up they get all confused and garble all sorts of strange sounds like "faaaack orf you scaaaaammer caaaant....grrrr..oym gonna smash me own tayn up loike", funny things like that.

Thing is all the older gits down there still have the typical Hampshire townie accent like Southampton, Basingstoke,etc. (different to the thick sounding 'ampshire country folk - apologies if it applies ) and can be mistaken for a London-ish accent by northeners.

Young people in Southampton speak what's called 'estuary english' now, spread across the whole of the south-east from places like Staines and Kingston. I love the old Southern accent though, with the slight burr.

 

My favourite accent on women has to be Irish, can't beat it. Worst is probably North-East (Humberside, Geordie etc).

Having lived out of Soton for 20years I can assure you every time I head back the youngsters still sound like yokels.

Like a good, p!ssed off belfast/jant accent and yorkshire birds; cant stand mancs and anything west of soton.

I was smashing a bird from Birmingham on holiday once. She started talking dirty and said "stiiiick it rooigght uup me cooouuunt". I lolled.

Having lived out of Soton for 20years I can assure you every time I head back the youngsters still sound like yokels.

Really? In my 20 years on this earth i've lived in Southampton and Basingstoke, and all the young people sound the same to me in the South.

^^^ is that Eli Wallach in your avatar ?

Really? In my 20 years on this earth i've lived in Southampton and Basingstoke, and all the young people sound the same to me in the South.

Mate, really

I've lived away from the city since '94 - some of the edges of my accent disappear at times, but whenever I go back to Southampton I can really hear the accent, in a way that is pretty distinct from other southerners. I know quite a few people from up and down the south coast, and there are definitely differences to be heard.

The shift in the accents up here in the North West are much more pronounced, though. Right where I'm sat, it's 100% scouse, zoom out 10-15 miles to places like St. Helens, Leigh, Warrington and Wigan, each place with its own accent. Just amazing, especially when it comes to local dialect. Know what they call a cut-way in Golborne? A gennel. A f**king gennel

Know what they call a cut-way in Golborne? A gennel. A f**king gennel

Its a twitten round here.

Its a twitten round here.

An "entry" in Liverpool.

They also say "lolly ice" instead of "ice lolly".

I am fond of the way they put a -y on the end of everything, though.

"You been down the Kwikky, lad?" = "Has young sir just returned from the local Kwik Save"

I miss having my ampshire accent not sure what I have now . But a great accent is a really good Orkney accent . Like whit looked tha dae beuy

I find it strange how people can change accents without realising. Although born in Sothampton, I grew up just outside Liverpool, before moving back after leaving school. At the moment I speak what I consider a normal Hampshire accent, but if I get into a conversation with a scouser, I automatically switch back to scouse.

But can you tell the difference between a Brummie accent and a Black Country one?

 

To me they are as different as a a Scouse from a Manc.

You've lived up there too long mate! To me a thick Brummie & a thick Wolverhampton accent sound the same.

The only accent I can't abide is a posh one. If someone starts speaking to me with the 'plum accent' I'll just switch off, thing 'twt' and walk off.

As for Scousers? I remember way back talking to a couple of Everton fans outside of The Dell once. I couldn't understand a word one of them said - and he couldn't understand me either - his mate was a translator. Seriously - it was that bad. I often wonder how the hell he got in life not understanding a word anyone said...

Talk to a proper Glaswegian and you're screwed. Can't understand a word.

The USA accents? I can handle pretty much any of them apart from a slow Texan one. FFS - just get on with it mate - seriously in the time it takes them to order a beer I could have got 2 (and necked the 1st one already). It is painful to talk to someone who takes 3 hours to say 10 words.