What's the worst accent in the U.S.?

[hollywood926]

I am watching Dr. Phil now (don't ask me why, please) and these people are from Southeastern Ohio or I will eat my shoe.

It's the worst accent in the nation.

(and I grew up in the area so I am allowed to say that)

[bigwillq]

1. Boston

Anything with the word worst, it has to be Boston!:evilgrin:

[mr_hat]

2. Air ah... No. That's the accent of Camelot.

[maveric]

4. Boston is the Fuckin-Best!

What ah you? Some kinda retahd or sumthin?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

8. Here's a link to remind you of Lawrence, maveric!

http://home.earthlink.net/~lnkn/retarded.wav

[maveric]

23. I LOVE IT!! I must send it to my brother who's in San Jose.

Thanx Kathy!

[candy]

11. I agree====How ya doin?

[bigwillq]

20. You're retahded

for calling me a retahd!:P

[sniffa]

71. you're wicked retahded

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. Get outta heah!

No F'in Way! Nooo Yawk is way worse!

[redsoxliberal]

14. Fuck awf you bastahd.

I'm havin chowdah far dinnah.


Just so ya know, I find that the Bawston accent is second best to the English accent in the whole world.

[Tektonik]

15. I agree Boston is the worst!

LA Valley talk is like totally better than a Boston accent.

[redsoxliberal]

32. I have a fuckin idear for ya bastahd

why don't you go down to fanuel hall and scream that as loud as you can?

[Tektonik]

50. That's another thing!

Pronounce Faneuil (Fah-nohy) correctly you French hating bastards!

[MAlibdem]

74. FAN-U-AL

[Tektonik]

100. Fah-nohy!

:P You damned freedom fry eating batards!

[MAlibdem]

108. WHAT!

We don't pronounce it like the French b/c we don't like the French - this is Boston remember - it's because that's the way we say it, and always will.

Also:
Worchester is pronounced "Wuhster"

[jdots]

87. Boo-austin is Pissa compared to Surf Dude Lingo

the stoned out Greatefull Dead Follower " Cheech & Chong " accent is mighty trying .

[Tektonik]

112. Nooooooo waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay duuuuuuuuuuude!

Where is Boston, anyways? :evilgrin:

[Raiden]

25. Idear...

I love the Bostonian/New England accent... except for that, "ideaR"

Otherwise, its the best. The worst would have to be backwater Eastern Kentucky hicks. I hear it all the time. :(

[Skittles]

27. LOL

a lady from Long Island at work said, "I have an idear" and I said DID YOU JUST SAY *IDEAR* ???? OMG it killed me.

[no name no slogan]

28. The "conservation of Rs" theory

"Idear", "Cuber" have Rs in Bahston,

Yet "Cah", "Pahk", "Yahd" do not.

When you drop an R, you just attach it to an "R-less" word.

It all comes out even in the end. ;)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

46. Exactly! We do speak the King's English heah, aftah all!

:D

[Kahuna]

43. I used to cringe everytime Kerry would say, "idear." Ugh..

Not cool, dude.

[Left Is Write]

36. Oh, I love the Bahston accent!

Did you leave the tahnic in the cah when you pahked it?

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

84. I love Boston/New England accent too.

I guess I probably like it because I grew up in that area of the world.

[calico1]

39. The very deep South

I can't understand what they say most of the time!

[jonnyblitz]

62. i think New York is much worse

I hate that accent!

[MAlibdem]

73. Hey!

You want some of this? St. Patty's day is two weeks away, my fightin spirit is stirring. Not the time to make us Boston Irish mad. (or really anytime, especially with alcohol involved)

[BornaDem]

3. New York

[Book Lover]

12. Which one?

We from Queens don't speak like those from Brooklyn who don't speak like those from the Bronx who don't speak like the transplants in Manhattan....

[BornaDem]

41. I don't know what part of N.Y., but it's the one shared by...

Senator Schumer and that raving idiot on the radio, Somebody Savage. Every time I am going up or down the dial hunting for a station and I hear that lunatic, I think it is Schumer until I hear what it is that he is saying. If you are from N.Y., perhaps you know what part they are both from.

[Mizmoon]

61. Oh yeah

well I don't like the Waynesburg, PA accent. It's all vowel-ly and consonant-y and stuff :P

[Book Lover]

65. I thought Savage was from the Bay Area?

I believe Chuck is from the general NYC area, but I'm not positive.

[drumwolf]

125. Savage Weiner is now in the Bay Area, but he's a Bronx native. n/t

[DelawareValleyDem]

69. I though Savage's accent was lung cancer

[Zuni]

88. Savage is from the Bronx, I think

I think I have heard him say that.

He has a very pronounced lisp though---reminds me of Harvey firestein

[xmas74]

6. Mine.

It's a cross between the UP (Upper Michigan), Wisconsin w/ a little SE Illinois thrown in and, of course, the can't-decide-between-midwest-and-the-south accent of Missouri.
Some people just can't understand me.

[maveric]

7. Southern/Texas

Just grinds on me.

[BikeWriter]

104. Well, I'm from the Texas Gulf Coast and I don't have an accent!

[ceile]

110. I'm from Houston, no accent n/t

[fudge stripe cookays]

113. Not all areas of Texas sound the same.

Austin folks resemble California. Just very mellow-- not much accent at all. I have TONS of people think I'm from California. I lived in Austin for over 20 years.

Dallas is pretty twangy. And annoying. I'll admit.

West Texas-- I could listen to West Texans all day. They have this wonderful, friendly DRAWL. Slow, comfortable, easy-going-- it makes me think of big skies, long highways, and Joe Ely.

East Texas have the very twangy annoying "Deep South" sound. If you hear soemthing you hate, 5 will get ya 10 it's from someone from around Tah-ler, and you are hearing an East Texas accent.

Scientific speak from a language afficionado and Texas native.
FSC

[CubsFan1982]

9. Southern Illinois transplants...

To the northern part of Illinois. People around here used to sound normal. Now they sound like they just ate roadkill possum at the trailer park after marrying their sisters.

[elehhhhna]

10. People from Decatur IL sound worse than East Texans!

[Nailzberg]

58. And they reeek of soybeans

Man, that smell SUCKS

[IntravenousDemilo]

85. I'm surprised my boyfriend Terry hasn't weighed in on this

Since he's from Decatur IL (and he does say "warsh", which is pretty endearing, really). Where are you, terrya?

It's hard for me to decide which American accent is the most grating, because I'm from Canada, and therefore:

a) all US accents sound a little, oh, say, trailer-parkish except for standard broadcast pronunciation and Minnesotan, and

b) we Canadians have a hell of a time deciding anything.

[terrya]

86. *ahem*. I'm from Decatur, Illinois.

I don't know who you've been talking to from Decatur, but for the most part we have rather flat Midwestern accents. I have my little quirks, accent wise...like pronouncing Washington as "Warshington"...but other than that, if there was any way I could sound LEAST like East Texan, I don't know what it could be.

[jswordy]

93. I'm from illinois, and "flat Midwestern accent" sounds like...

"Yer gnat goink bowlink with Bab."

LOL...it's true!

[fit4life]

120. You don't have flat accents!

I live in Springfield and also lived in Mt. Pulaski for two years. I'm actually a transplant from Mississippi though, and you Decatur folks don't have flat accents. I just don't know how to describe it. lol

[Nailzberg]

57. Southern IL is a cool accent, except when you say "WARSH."

e.g. warshing the car, warsh some clothes.

[Zuni]

91. That is baltimore too...

we warsh in hawt warter

[ET Awful]

13. I won't use an ethnic category or a city, I'll just give an example

Fran Drescher.

'Nuff said.

[barb162]

17. but isn't that just a nasal problem more than an accent?

[ET Awful]

44. If it's a nasal problem, it's a frickin' epidemic of nasal problems

:)

[Bridget Burke]

83. I got a call about a little payment problem (long since settled)...

The lady making the call was not as rude as she could have been. But she had THAT accent.

I expressed concern about her health--was she congested or something? Her reply was much clearer. Apparently her "problem" came & went.

Just like my Texas accent comes & goes.

[Nikia]

16. the Wisconsin accent

When I moved here from Ohio, I hated it. To here people talk with this strong accent really annoyed me. Now I talk sort of like that.

[no name no slogan]

35. It could be the northern IL/southern MI bleedover

You know, like "bag" has a long a, yet "sack" has a nasally short a.

Try pronouncing "bring back the sack, jack". If it sounds really horrid, you know you're doing it right.

Now, us here in MN, OTOH.....now THERE's an accent!

[CubsFan1982]

54. We have no accent.

We speak perfectly modulated, unaccented, pure American English. The way God meant it to be spoken. :P

[DrGonzoLives]

89. Hey now, guy, be nice there

Dem's good people there in Wisahnsin, no need to be rude or nuthin.

[AllegroRondo]

99. Oh, ya, its a nice place, doncha know.

[faithfulcitizen]

101. YES!!! so true! it's a WI, IL, and fargo sound all in one!

hideous, I tell ya! I love southern accents tho', especially like the LA region :)

[Ravenseye]

107. Love It

When i lived in wisconsin for a bit I had a girlfriend who's parents totally had the accent. She didn't though, but could do it perfectly. Cracked me up in bed.

*hard to write this accent, but you know what it sounds like*

"oh yah. That's good, oh yah. Yah right theer. That's the spot, oh yah. Doo me like a wild tiger. Oh yah."

and so on...

[Skittles]

18. California Valley Girl

worse than southerners

[hollywood926]

22. I can beat that!

I an from West Virginia (across the river from SE Ohio) and now I am a California Valley Girl. Imagine that combo.

[Skittles]

26. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

oh no you DIDN'T. Don't EVEN talk to me! :7

[Zuni]

96. I had a good friend growing up whose father was from WV

could not understand a damn word he said. He just mumbles.

My friend told me everyone in that part of West virginia is a mumbler.

[ikojo]

19. I don't like what I call the rural midwestern twang

It's kind of like a southern accent but not quite. At any rate I loath it.

[hollywood926]

29. I think that might be what I am talking about...

I can't bear it. It's like a southern accent, only with worse grammar and fewer teeth.

[Art_from_Ark]

55. You wouldn't want to hear me talk, then

because even after years of living overseas, I still can't shake that twa-a-a-ang

[Elidor]

21. East Kentucky

I've lived all over the country, from Alaska to Georgia, and Kentucky takes the cake. Took me six months to understand what those people were saying.

[Technowitch]

24. People who pretend they're from Texas

Like that guy in the White House, for instance.

Genuine Texas accents are kinda nice.

[Zenlitened]

30. Pillows

Too many pillows can make a room look cluttered.



Oh... wait. Did you mean some other kind of accents? :)

[hollywood926]

42. LOL! eom

[tinfoilinfor2005]

31. I love Cajun music but don't care for the accent in ordinary speech.

Also my accent which is essentially northern Michigan. I haven't lived there in many many years, but I still hear it when I listen to myself on my answering machine.

[moez]

33. I've lived all over -

I think Pittsburgh and Chicago are absolutely awful - Hawaii's not far behind.....

[Patiod]

82. chic-caig-o?

I had Chicago clients in last week and it was like nails on a chalkboard.

[yellowdogintexas]

34. upper midwest accent bugs me too. It has a sort of flat nasality

to it that is very different from the New York/NewJersey nasality.

The mountain people in Eastern Ky, Tennessee, and West Virginia do have a very strange accent. I am from Ky, but from the western side, and our accent is much more fluidly southern, less nasal.

However for some fun, try to keep up with a heavily accented rural Louisiana Cajun when she is talking fast!!!! I love the accent but really have to concentrate

[Left Is Write]

37. I am not flat or nasally. Really.

[moez]

38. Oh my Gwaaaa-ed!

I'll bet you are!


<updated because I misspelled gwaaaa-ed>

[Left Is Write]

45. I'll bet I'm not.

:D

I'm sure you could peg I'm from Minnesota, but I don't sound anything like the people in the movie Fargo.

[moez]

47. OK.... you're right..

I had you pegged for a Pittsburgh-er. And to imply that a lifetime denizen of that armpit could speak in any way other than nasal is just..... well, let's just say it's HIGHLY unlikely.

Actually, the Fargo dialect isn't too bad...

[coreystone]

40. I guess, superficially, that would depend upon one is used to listening...

2!

??

[Stop_the_War]

48. Redneck n/t

[Dervill Crow]

49. Pittsburgh

I think it's similar to Ohio. People say dan-tan instead of downtown. One of my cats seems to have a Pittsburgh accent. He says me-AA with a short A sound.

[SmokingJacket]

51. Picksburg is an accent all its own. I love it! nt

[Beware the Beast Man]

56. Meow n' at!

When are yunz goin' dahn Gahn Iggle and gettin' me more Friskies? Don't be a jagoff. :)

[Patiod]

79. Pitts. friends talking about "Dawn" - didn't know who they meant

"You know, Dawn-ald" Same thing happened when they were talking about bawns. Bawns? Yeah, you know, Barry Bawns. That accent is like nails on a chalkboard.

[Dervill Crow]

102. Yep, my hubby's name is Dawn-uld.

Last night I called him in to see if he could figure out Gahnt Iggle (I did!). 'n at. I had forgotten about that, and always did wonder how to spell yunz. Git adda here. I still say that occasionally and people think I'm upset with them.

In my work I have to interpret lots of different accents, but I've never heard anything quite like Pittsburghers. We lived in Pgh for a year, and I did a lot of nodding and trying to look like I knew what people were talking about. My sister-in-law invited us to go to the truck pool (pull), which I guess is some sort of monster truck thing, which I really love, but I declined on the pool because I don't swim.

[Ravenseye]

105. Jeetjet?

My favorite Pittsburgese....

Jeetjet?

Nojoo?

[Dervill Crow]

126. LOL eom

[SmokingJacket]

52. Boring old Tom Brokaw American.

I LOOOOOOVVVVEEEE American accents. I think it's cool that Philadelphia and Pittsburg have completely different accents, even though they're in the same state. I love trying to guess where people are from.

If you have an accent: don't lose it! I grew up all over and just sound blah.

[Rabrrrrrr]

53. Southern, including Texas, southern IL, and southern Ohio

Generally, they're just pretty g--amn yucky. Some of the more refined, educated versions of those accents aren't bad at all. But otherwise, yuck.

[CottonBear]

123. I wouldn't classify those as southern.

Texan could be in its own southwesternwestern category. Ohio and Illinois are midwestern. My boss is from southern Ohio, so I hear that accent a lot.

I love southern accents, especially those from the North Carolina Mountains/Piedmont (Think Charles Kuralt). The Southern accent and dialects of the Southeast is directly descended from Elizabethan english of the original Scots-Irish immigrants.

[CO Liberal]

59. George W. Bush's

He sounds like a mentally-challenged redneck on meth.

[solinvictus]

63. Bush

"We need to make certain that Eye-ran give up it's nyue-cu-lur ambitionications." His malaproprisms could be used for a drinking game.

[JI7]

76. Bush's "southern" accent is fake

that's why it sounds so weird, not that he sounds great in whatever his natural accent is.

[CottonBear]

122. *'s "accent" is an insult to true southerners like me!

Bush can barely speak at all. What an idiot.

[solinvictus]

60. Long Island, NY

"Deah, would you pouah me some cawfee?". No offense, please, to New Yorkers, but it is distinctive as hell.

[Hans Delbrook]

64. You mean Lawn Guylan??

Like fingernails on a chalkboard.

[WI_DEM]

66. none, they are all unique

[CottonBear]

124. Hear, hear! I second that!

I never think I have an accent until I travel far away from the south.

[ronnykmarshall]

67. Southern Nevada/Northern Arizona

I swear I need a translator when I go to Vegas.

:silly:

[medeak]

77. everyone in Vegas is from somewhere else

can't imagine what you're speaking of

I hate the Utah twang.

[GOPBasher]

68. Deep south. Mississippi and Alabama, for example.

[BiggJawn]

70. Hoosier

Wisconsin meets Hazard County.

[bif]

72. West Vrginia=The worst

Nails on chalkboard!

[MAlibdem]

75. My friend has a mix of Maine and New Zealand

he got the worst parts of both, it's pretty awful

[Trailrider1951]

78. Gee, hollywood, I went to school at OU in Athens

and those folks down in eastern Kentucky have them beat by a country mile!

[hollywood926]

94. I believe you...

it's kind of the same general accent, though, isn't it?

Great school, by the way!

[TyeDye75]

80. From an outsider

I think the worst is whichever accent Kelly Osbourne is speaking in.

I think the best are Louisiana and Minnesota

[Patiod]

81. Are youse ready to order yet? -- Phillyspeak is pretty bad

Only thing worse is being asked "Do youse want wudderr?"

The thing is, unless you've been here or know a real Philadelphian, you've probably never heard it. NO ONE (except Tina Fey and Cheri Oteri from SNL) can do a Philadelphia accent (remember Cheri Oteri's nasty neighborhood lady?) Most actors, including Sly Stallone, who lived here for a while but was originally from NY, do Philly it like it's a New York accent. (see: Cold Case)

No, you have to torture the damned vowels a lot more and force it through the very front of the mouth. "Nahow" is "No" Plus, you hit the "Rs" very hard, rather than dropping them like NY/New England. So you drink "wudderr", not "wudda".

I do market research for a living, and we were interviewing people from the heart of the city, with very heavy Philadelphia accents. The Chicago clients (who had obnoxious Chicaigo accents themselves) kept insisting the respondents had Brooklyn accents.

Uh, no (or nahow, as the case may be).

[regularguy]

97. Youse forgot to mention that the names

"Ann" and "Ian" are pronounced exactly the same.

[DrGonzoLives]

90. New England

Can't stand it.

[bettyellen]

98. starting with conneticut and moving north till you hit the pole.

they don't know the difference between their "A"'s and "E"'s and it makes me crazy.

[bobthedrummer]

92. Mississippi and Louisiana rural folks talk an alien language to me.

Dat rite.

[Zuni]

95. This is exactly how my father's family sounds:

and I sound a bit like it, being a proud son of Maryland. But my dad's family are from Baltimore for generations:

Merlin: Ah herd sarns at sod the hass a bat hunnert toms lass not. Itsem Ann Earl Canny farn gins.
Standard: I heard sirens outside the house about a hundred times last night. It's those Anne Arundel County fire engines.

Merlin: She raider boskle from Droodle Pork to dantan Ballmer wither oz clazed.
Standard: She rode her bicycle from Druid Hill Park to downtown Baltimore with her eyes closed.

Merlin: The Hard Canny Toms sayz the canny cancel pace pained bon ambalances.
Standard: The Howard County Times says the County Council postponed buying ambulances.

Merlin: Pitcher bane seat owen. Weer goon danny ayshun.
Standard: Put your bathing suit on. We're going down to the ocean.

Merlin: Ah sawn ambalance good dan Rosters Tan Raid a bat a huunert molls an air, nit was porn dan rain.
Standard: I saw an ambulance going down Reisterstown Road about a hundred miles an hour, and it was pouring down rain.

Merlin: It spaced a snaid mora. Better pitcher snay tars owen.
Standard: It's supposed to snow tomorrow. Better put your snow tires on.

[fudge stripe cookays]

117. BINGO!!!

See my post #115. I just tried describing the accent, but couldn't figure out how. You have more experience than me.

The "owen" for "on" is one of the biggies. Freaked me out first time I heard it!

FSC

[Dervill Crow]

130. Owen for on

That's a North Carolina thing, too. I must have replicated my mom's NC accent when I learned to talk, because I remember my first grade teacher trying to get me to pronounce vowel sounds like a good Oregonian. I was extremely offended because I was sure I was tawkin co-reckly.

[BikeWriter]

103. Nu Joisey!

[name not needed]

128. Nobody fucking talks like that here

And if they did, they'd be shot.

[BikeWriter]

131. I had a friend from there who had a helluva accent...

...It was quite an accent to us Texans anyway. One day he saw a Dalmatian dog. I'll spell this phonetically. He says, "Jeepahs, theres Spawky!" It broke us all up.

[auburngrad82]

106. Texas by way of Kennebunkport

Or maybe it's Washington by way of Texas.

Whatever...

[Mrs_Beastman]

109. I'm from 'Nerk' Ohio, and I agree

couldn't wait to get away from that drowl.

[hollywood926]

111. I'm familiar with Nerk. :-)

They have a lovely outdoor concert area...used to be called Legend Valley.

[Beware the Beast Man]

118. At least you ain't from the 'Burgh n'at!

How yunz doin'

[Mrs_Beastman]

119. doing good

:loveya:

[Lisa]

114. Bush's fake "cowboy" mumbling ...

Personally I don't have a problem with ANY regional or English-as-a-second-language accents -- they show diversity and add interest to the standardized academic English I hear in my workplace. (I will say that the southern "y'all" sounds more pleasant to my ears than the gutteral "youse" that some of us here in Canada employ ...)

But Bush's put-on "western" mannerisms irritate me. He's borrowing slang and enunciation from a whole bunch of areas between California and Florida, and then he has the nerve to call Hollywood "fake" -- I don't believe he is suppressing a real accent the way many of my southern or northeastern friends do when they are speaking in public -- he is making one up in the hopes of sounding more authentic. If he wants to impersonate a regional identity, he should pick one and stick with it -- but he can't be bothered studying a REAL accent the way an actor or linguist would, so he just makes things up.

[fudge stripe cookays]

115. Maryland

I can peg somebody from Maryland an instant after meeting them.

It's that weird way they flex their mouth around words. I can't describe it. You just have to hear them.

The first time I heard it was an interview with Gina Schock of the Go-Gos years ago. Now, we have a guy originally from Maryland in our local Dems club, and I'm fascinated yet reprelled by his strange accent.

FSC

[WeRQ4U]

116. Minnesota - Dakota - Wisconsin

Like in the movie Fargo.

Long "O" sounds on everything.

[Hardrada]

132. That is essentially my accent and it 's not geographic necessarily

but ethnic Scandinavian. I got it from my Norse speaking older relatives I am sure. I rather like hearing it since it means Home. We do a good job on pronouncing everything else except our "s" sound tends still to be sibilant, like a faint hiss.

[erinlough]

121. Macon Georgia in any eating place.....whole other language. n/t

[steve2470]

127. Orlando-an corrupted by New York and Chicago and Philly and

god knows where else :-) I can say this cuz I'm a native here.

[Magrittes Pipe]

129. Cudahy, WI. Hands down.

It's like if you took a retarded North Dakotan, and hit him in the head with a shovel.