"Ugliest" US accent?
 

The things the BBC report on...

Must be a slow news day :eek:

BBC News - BBC Pop Up: Why do people like bashing Pennsylvania?

Re: "Ugliest" US accent?
 

Yes but the item is actually dealing with that issue of unfair perception.

I used to have a Cornish neighbour who said 'wersh' for 'wash'. :lol:

There's another good one on that page about voodoo.

Re: "Ugliest" US accent?
 

I remember going on a training course many years ago when I first started work in London where it was implied that we should avoid putting people with 'certain regional accents' on the reception desk!

Steph McGovern, the BBC Breakfast business correspondent also spoke recently about the discrimination she faces with her (and my) Smoggie Teesside accent.

Re: "Ugliest" US accent?
 

What abaht my Essex accent? Typecast or what? :lol:

Regional accents seem to be well-represented on the BBC news though.

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It's a toss-up between Chicaargo and hard-core Noo Yawk. :nod:

Re: "Ugliest" US accent?
 

Never really noticed accents in Chicago when I worked there, nothing obvious anyhow, but maybe there are a lot of transplants there without accents.

Brooklyn NY accents are not kind to my ear, I don't care for it, along with Boston drives me bonkers having to hear it, no clue why, I just dislike the sound of those accents.

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The Rochester accent is pretty hard to beat for sheer nasaliness ... and they pronounce the hard 'A' too ...

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Haha, I had one Massachusetts native tell me of his accent: "It's really a Churchillian British accent, y'know... from Winston Churchill."


Now whenever I hear a really broad "Bahst'n" (Boston) accent I can almost hear the old radio tones of WC. :lol: As in "We will nevah nevah surrendah!"

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I'm with Pulaski on New York, or maybe New Jersey. Texas drawl doesn't bother me as long as the kids don't start on it..then I'll have to get new batteries for their shock collars:lol:

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Little Miss P has a local (to NC) soft-southern accent, .... with occasional words featuring Sheffield vowels thrown into the mix. :blink:

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The fake one that too many British people affect having been here a month or two.

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Who here will admit to having an American influence on their own accent?

I don't..no friends...just the way I like it.

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I use some American expressions just to be perverse, like "I'm good", "perfect!", "regular" and "right back up in yo' mutha****in' ass".

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Only to be understood sometimes.

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I used to live in Vancouver, and regularly adopted a faux-accent just to get through the lunch line at Subway.

"I'll have some... to-may-does, some ledduce, gherkin... uh I mean pickle, oh-reg-a-noe... and a bottle of wah-der." :lol:

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As long as you put them in ironic quotes:)

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Southie...they sound pretty stupid...and Aroooooostook County folks are pretty special too....

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Bottom 5 worst US accents (IMO):
5. Minnesota. Pseudo Scandinavian sing-songy and dreadfully "folksy".
4. Baltimore. Entirely pronounced out of the nose, slurring/lazy and often yelled at top volume.
3. Kansas City midwestern. Saying "byackpyack" instead of "backpack". Super flat As, swallowed Rs. Even more grating when spoken by a female.
2. Charlestown/Revere/Lynn Boston accent. Like sticking a metal file in your ear. Harsh.
1. Pittsburgh. Combines many of the worst traits from above: nasal, folksy, flat, grating. Just awful.

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Nasal, that's what I find grating. My next-door neighbour over there sounded like a goose.

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I hate that hillbilly NC type of southern accent such as Kelly Pickler's. And I'm so over the y'all thing too.

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Boston...

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I know someone who talks like that, it's bizarre. I know he's from the Midwest somewhere, I'll ask him where exactly.

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I suspect you are referring to Northern Minnesota since that accent was quite common among Scandinavian immigrants when I was a kid in Northern Minnesota. However that accent is getting mush less as the immigrants are dying off. When that accent completely disappears, that'll be a shame for future generations since that was part of the character of Northern Minnesota.

The deep south accent is also dying off and suspect that accent will also completely disappear.

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I don't have any problem understanding any American accents no matter where there from , I'm from North Yorkshire so I've had plenty of traing , I still can't understand my family over the phone when they ring up from Sheffield , I just pretend I know whats said , cost too much money to keep asking them to repeat everything ;)

Re: "Ugliest" US accent?
 

How much are you paying? :confused: If you're paying much more than about 1¢/minute then you're paying too much. :nod:

Re: "Ugliest" US accent?
 

Reassuring to know that Boston accent is high on the list considering we're moving there this month! :lol:

We're going to try hard not to pick the accent up and the missus has already said that she will have Metro FM or similar North East radio on in the house 24/7 but we're both likely to pick it up. My accent is fairly neutral but will change whenever i'm talking to those with strong links to where i've lived in the past. London Estuary with the parents or definite hint of Geordie when catching up with the inlaws! :o

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While the Boston accent is distinct, I know I had a roomate in the service from Baahstan who kept his kaahr down at the hahbah in a garraage.

He was easier to listen to than the Puerto Rican Bronx man, oh jes.

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Depends where in Boston...it's not all bad. Mostly it is though :lol:

But most folks seem to be imports, only tend to find the strong accents from the natives around southshore, where it's hard to understand them.

Re: "Ugliest" US accent?
 

Yes I am with you there. Just been on a cruise out of Charleston, SC to the Bahamas - worst 5 days of my life - surrounded by Hillbilly/Honey booboo morbidly obese, badly dressed loud people. Only place we could get away from them was in the gym - no-one ever went there! OH came back 5lbs lighter!

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I agree, but I think the true home of the Boston accent is Lynn/Revere on the near north shore

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Charleston's actually a beautiful place with great people and one of my favorite cities in the US.