American accent you find most annoying?

[closeupready]

23 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	New York
	4 (17%)
	Boston
	2 (9%)
	Deep South
	12 (52%)
	Midwestern
	1 (4%)
	California
	1 (4%)
	Alaskan
	0 (0%)
	Other (specify below)
	3 (13%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[NYC_SKP]

1. Proudly ignorant. It's found all around the country.

Folks who deliberately mispronounce words.

IE "eye-talians", instead of Italians.

People know better but wear their ignorance with pride.

[closeupready]

2. That's a good point.

[bluedigger]

4. Hope it's OK if I'm ordering a sammitch.

[orleans]

51. or happy valenTIMES day

ugh

[dawg]

75. Teen Girl Squad speaks to this issue ...

[greatauntoftriplets]

68. Absolutely!

I know someone who calls the country you reference It-ly.

[arcane1]

3. Whatever you call that accent? You know the one? Where everything is a question? Even statements?

[bluedigger]

6. I think it's Jewish you're talking about?

One of my friends always "likes" it when I talk like his parents on FB.

[arcane1]

9. LOL I'm thinking more of that white, SoCal "Valley Girl" type of accent

Bonus points if creaky-voice is included.

[bluedigger]

11. No way! Barf me out!

[Populist_Prole]

31. It's called "uptalk"

Quite annoying.

[pipi_k]

42. I think?

That's probably more a speech pattern?

Than an accent?

But whatever?


I hate it too?


Hee hee

[arcane1]

44. Good point?

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. other - those that speak Faux News/unhinged far right-ese

[Wait Wut]

7. That Yelly one.

Y'know...the one that I don't listen to because it's loud and obnoxious and intended to sound threatening, but just makes me wanna punch someone in the face.

[Chan790]

8. Valley. So much the CA valley accent.

"Like, so, totally?"

[closeupready]

10. Yeah, that's the one for me, too - if accents had metaphors,

Californian is verbal sign language. Many of that state's residents seem to skip critical thinking required in order to communicate well verbally, and go right for T&A, flash cards, and explosions.

[ailsagirl]

29. But isn't that more lingo than an accent?

I am a native Californian and sure as hell don't talk like that! In fact, I was told that I have no discernible accent.

And, BTW, I understand that the most dominant accent in the US is the southern accent.

I like the fact that we all pronounce words differently-- it would be so boring if we all sounded the same.

I also like to point out to Europeans that there IS no such thing as "an American accent." Not with all our diversity.

[Throd]

37. Go to Huntington Beach.

I moved there right after high school and was astounded that a lot of people really did talk like that without a hint of irony.

[ailsagirl]

39. I think we're mixing up "accent" with "slang"

This explains it far better than I.

Key Difference: Accent is a mark used to show the stress on a syllable or to pronounce with emphasis. Slang is a type of language that consists of terms, which are regarded to as unofficial way of speech.

http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-accent-and-slang

[Throd]

43. It was both. They sounded weird and used odd words.

[ailsagirl]

53. Yikes!!

Double-whammy!!

[Throd]

12. Joisey

[KamaAina]

13. What exit?

[name not needed]

14. Nobody talks like that here.

I'm sure people have in the past, but they've all been killed.

[Chan790]

16. I used to encounter it up around Tuxedo when I lived in Yonkers.

North of the City, far bank of the Hudson. It's like where stereotypes go to die.

[Electric Monk]

15. 'Fargo'

https://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/yahoo-tv/how-to-master-the--fargo--accent-in-7-easy-steps-172633866.html

[geardaddy]

96. People don't really talk like that here in MN

Not even old people. It's an over-the-top take on the upper midwest MN-ND accent.

[NightWatcher]

17. I guess not many here have ever been sweet talked by a Southern Belle

[Xyzse]

76. That's what I was thinking as well.

If you listen to the guys, it just makes me cringe how bad it sounds.

However, the way Matthew McConaughey is done well.
I wish I could imitate that drawl.

[Iggo]

109. I have.

Oh my, yes I have.

[Packerowner740]

18. Can't stand the Boston

If there is an er at the end of a word it is not pronounced ah.

Fever is not fevah.

[Skittles]

100. my English mum would have disagreed

and remember, it was HER country's language

[MissMillie]

117. Not only is it "fevah"

but some of work in Boston and live in Wisstah (Worcester), and we eat chowdah. I used to live in Lestah (Leicester) and I worked at Hahvad (Harvard) so I know all of this without question.

[Art_from_Ark]

19. More and more, I'm beginning to sound like

Hillbilly Bear Paw Rugg

[CBGLuthier]

20. I see DU's usual hatred and bigotry against all things southern is still a constant

Anyone else bored with how fucking predictable this place is?

[Arugula Latte]

27. A poll on accents is "hatred"? Really?

[OriginalGeek]

55. Before I even opened the thread

I knew that would be the results.

Would I get alerted if I said "fuck all y'all"? I better not then. But you's guys what voted southern can kiss my grits.

[kentauros]

64. It is certainly a good method of showing DU's bias.

If it had been posted in GD, then just multiple the above results by 5 or 10. One could also accurately surmise that the majority of DUers live in either the NE or the NW. The vitriol lobbed from those areas of the country at the southern states is palpable.

It's just too bad that so many people are so shallow.

[Sherman A1]

62. Well for one

I find no accents unbearable and always enjoy talking with a cousin who lives in rural NC. Love the way her voice sounds when we talk. I like you had a pretty good idea that southern would take a pretty good hit before I clicked on the poll and frankly find the poll to be something of a rather negative call out in general. It simply does not further the discussion at all.

[Phentex]

69. I like all accents too. It's what I find interesting about the US...

I also know there are many different kinds of southern and I love that.

I have relatives in Wisconsin, New Jersey and Mississippi as well as here in Georgia. It's a blast to listen to everyone when we are all together.

I think this poll is divisive but at least it'll save me some future typing.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

21. I love Rachel Maddow but her accent drives me nuts

She has kind of a midwestern accent where she stresses the "r" sound ("rrrrrrrrr&quot and the "l" sound deep in her throat.

[ailsagirl]

28. But she was born and raised in the SF Bay Area

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

33. It might come from her parents

And wide sections of California have been settled by midwesterners. Maybe she had them around her at school. Rachel's accent isn't as thick as some people from the midwest who have very pronounced "r" and guttural "l" sounds but I can hear it when she says a word like "old". The "l" is said in the back of the throat and dragged out. It's a testament to how much I like her for me to listen to her, as the midwestern accent is the one I don't care for. I like all the others, Boston, Brooklyn, southern, Maine, etc.

[ailsagirl]

116. That could very well be true

I don't know if her parents were Californians by birth-- it's so hard to know much about accent origins but it's sure fun to speculate!

[Populist_Prole]

32. I know what you mean about the uber rhotic "rrrrrrrr" thing.

My aunt used to care for an elderly French woman and I cracked up when she said that when she hears Americans talking, especially in a group, it sounds like a bunch of people just saying "RARR RARR RARR".

I know it was an exaggeration, but I know what she meant.

[mackerel]

59. I think she's from Castro Valley which is about 13 miles from Oakland, CA

[Solly Mack]

22. I speak with a Southern accent.

Who knew it had an added bonus? lol

Bless your hearts!

[The Second Stone]

23. W.F. Buckley Jr.

accent.

[Populist_Prole]

24. I don't know the region or name of it, but the faux high-class/measured tone one.

You see it depicted mostly by teens or 20-somethings on TV. Most noticeable thing is pronouncing seeming every vowel with a shallow short "u" sound. "Wet weather" comes out as "Wut Wuthuurrr".

Makes people sound like airheads.

[mysuzuki2]

25. I'm glad I live in Wisconsin.

People around here don't have an accent!

[Skittles]

61. WisCAHNsin

yes INDEED

(I lived there twice)

[mysuzuki2]

72. Ya got it right dere hey!

[Skittles]

77. Columbus

[Arugula Latte]

26. There is a certain type of Texas accent that is the worst, IMO.

I'm not sure what part of Texas it is from, but it is awwwful.

[DFW]

30. Philadelphia

Oh naaaayyooo, cumaawwwwn.

When I left for Massachusetts after five years, it was like hearing Simon and Garfunkle after hearing nothing but The Blue Cheer for five years.

[RebelOne]

104. I was born in Philadelphia and moved to Miami when I was 6 years old.

But I have never lost my Philadelphia accent. Sorry you don't like it, but I am stuck with it. I now live in Georgia, but do not have a Southern accent.

[DFW]

111. I definitely never got used to it.

As for Georgia, there are LOTS of people who settle there from the North who never acquire a Southern accent. Even Newt Gingrich was from Pennsylvania and never acquired a Southern accent, and yet he got to be Speaker of the House from Georgia. No shame in being stuck with an accent. My wife still detects an Anglo accent in my German after 40 years, and her German accent takes Anglos about two and a half seconds to recognize.

[herding cats]

34. I think I like most accents.

I can't think of one I've ever found really annoying. I enjoy regional flavor.

[ailsagirl]

41. Me, too

It would be very boring without them-- not to mention, impossible in a country our size!!

[Kali]

56. me too, it is more certain kinds of voices that irritate me than accents

love accents, and I love to be somewhere where there are multiple languages being spoken. Just love the feeling.

[tabbycat31]

35. NY

And I say this as someone who was born and raised in the NYC suburbs (my parents are not from NY and corrected us as kids if we spoke like we were from NY).

I listen to my friends with NY accents and think I'm watching a Geico commercial featuring the Brooklyn Bridge.

[UTUSN]

36. "Other" = Texas TWANG, "John WAYNE" crap n/t

[femmocrat]

70. That is the one that makes me cringe, also. Think w and Rick Perry.

[NV Whino]

38. California has an accent?

Who knew?

I've always been amused that British TV shows (generally speaking, but specifically MI5) represent the USA with a (horribly done) southern accent.

[ailsagirl]

40. I know what you mean!

Certainly we on the west coast have less of a regional flavour than, say, mid-westerners, southerners, or east coasters.

IMO

[closeupready]

50. lol - if you were unaware of that, you haven't been paying attention.

There are so many examples - a good recent one is from the most recent Survivor season - the Asian-American guy from the San Francisco area whose accent was SO thick, that it became a legitimate target of scorn from some of the other contestants. I'll see if I can find an example(s).

[Glorfindel]

45. Midwestern, as in "Hai, Aim Bahb, Am frahm Ahia, an' Aye wanna baht'l of pahp!"

Translation: "Hi, I'm Bob, I'm from Ohio, and I want a bottle of pop." Naturally, as a hillbilly from the southern Appalachians, I have no accent at all.

[Sanity Claws]

73. That sounds like LOL Catese

Are you sure you weren't talking to a cat?

[pipi_k]

46. Noo Yawk!

Makes my ears hurt



OTOH, I like the Boston accent, and I also like the Cajun accent

[Marie Marie]

47. Most annoying?

Whatever it is that comes out of Sarah Palin's mouth. Oh wait, not an accent - just stupidity mixed with screech. Never mind.

[Boom Sound 416]

48. Sometimes I wonder what a pirate from Boston would sound like.

[pipi_k]

65. Arrrrgh...

Shivah me timbahs!!

[Boom Sound 416]

67. ...

[alphafemale]

49. Full onslaught Cajun

I can usually not understand a bit of it.

What in the ever loving fuck?

[Rhiannon12866]

52. For me, it depends on what they're saying...

[Jamaal510]

54. I hate when people say either "like" in every other word or "hella". nt

[Xithras]

84. That's a Northern California accent.

The use of the word "like" is common in Californian English throughout the state, but "hella" generally pinpoints someone as being from Northern California. As a born and bred Northern Californian, I have to admit that I use it a lot more than I should. I grew up with it, and in this part of the state it's hella common.

[Jamaal510]

85. I heard that "hella"

started either right here in Oakland or in SF. It's no wonder why I hear it so much.

[Xithras]

94. Hunters Point or Hayward.

Depending on which version of history you choose to believe, it probably started in one of those two cities. Objectively, it looks like it got started in Hayward, and then spread into Oakland where it became common, and radiated outward from there.

Hearing it is still uncommon outside of California, and hella rare on the east coast. With so many people moving out of California over the past few decades, it's starting to become a bit more common in some of the surrounding states though. Much of my family now lives in Oregon, and according to my nieces and nephews the "California Accent" (including the word Hella) is common enough that nobody pays attention to it anymore.

[KamaAina]

115. Hunters Point is a section of SF.

Down in the southeast corner, near Candlestick Park (for now, anyway ).

It is the center of what remains of The City's African American community. Gentrification has followed a new Muni line down there.

[kentauros]

57. None. I love language and all of its dialects!

Now, what does annoy me is when people think I'm stupid and uneducated simply by my Texas accent.

Maybe that's the better poll to set up: How intelligent do you perceive people just from hearing their regional speech patterns (dialects)?

At least then some of us would get a nice list of whom to put on ignore

[OriginalGeek]

74. Right on

I love meeting people from somewhere else and hearing how they talk. I enjoy learning new phrases and expressions. Regional accents make life more fun. One of my favorite examples is the time I went to a former company's HQ in Maine and one of the old-timers there tells me "Ayeah, Ah knew you wuh the Flawda boy because you talk funny!" I was happy listening to that guy talk all day and we were just talking about warehouse management.

I dunno - I think it's pretty silly to be so annoyed by an accent (which is largely something a person can't help unless they go out of their way to drop it) that you can't communicate with another human being. IF a person actually gets annoyed by someone else's accent it's probably due to their own personal prejudices and maybe some self-reflection is in order.

And lest anyone accuse me of thinking I'm better than the annoyed ones, I am guilty of it too. When I was a kid in Texas we didn't like anyone from New York - that was mostly because we Cowboys fans hated the Giants (in the sports fan kind of way - not that we literally hated people) and so anyone with a NY accent was suspect.

As I got older I realized that was silly. I self reflected. Overcoming prejudice is as hard as overcoming your accent but even more worth the effort.


NOW I let people do or say something despicable before I hate them. Regardless of the accent.

[MissMillie]

118. You have a beautiful soul

someone who can celebrate life's rich tapestry....

[kentauros]

119. Thank you!

I certainly try to do that, mostly through all of the music of the world I like. And I really just enjoy listening to languages, whether I can understand them or not. They're all beautiful!

[PumpkinAle]

58. It's not the accents that I find annoying,

it is the people who try and correct every word you say that isn't their "state speak" i.e. Nevada should be Nevaduh and then they become all smug and condescending when you try and fail.

My ear isn't too good when listening to (any) accent that is heavy, but I try and usually laugh with the person when I mishear them - can lead to some interesting talks and lots laughter.

[Systematic Chaos]

60. Moon accent fucking drives me nuts.

[JoeyT]

63. I chose Alaskan because until this poll,

I wasn't even aware there was such a thing as an Alaskan accent, and no one else had chosen it, so I'm guessing it either isn't very common or isn't very noticeable.

[pipi_k]

66. I thought the same thing until

it occurred to me that it might have been a sly reference to Sarah Palin...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

71. Sorry, New Yorkers and New Jersians.

Fuggetaboutit.

Southern accents can really, really vary. They can be either very soft and melodic and pleasing to the ear, or they can be loud and trashy.

[blueamy66]

78. Hate the Midwest/PA habit of dropping "to be"

Car needs washed.
Dog needs bathed or walked.
Book needs read.
Laundry needs done.
Grass needs mowed.

[closeupready]

79. That's the first I've ever heard of that turn of phrase,

and I'm as Midwestern as they come (though I live in the much-maligned New York now, lol).

[blueamy66]

80. I'm in Indiana and I hear it daily

Heard it in Ohio as well. There's a term for it. Let me Google and get back to you.

Even saw it on a sign in an apt bldg...if thermostat needs changed, call the property manager.

[closeupready]

81. Well I'm familiar with "if ... needs changing, call Vinnie" or similar.

[blueamy66]

82. Can't seem to find it...,

Maybe a dropped participle....

[RobinA]

87. Seriously?

That's PA? I'm from PA and talk like some of those examples, but I never even thought about it!

[blueamy66]

89. The last time that I Googled it, PA came up.

I think it's mostly IN, IL and OH.

Drives me up the freaking wall.

[femmocrat]

92. It is common in western PA.

Don't know about the eastern half. Guess it needs looked up! hahahaha

[blueamy66]

98. LOL

😄😄

[a la izquierda]

99. I can't stand it...

But I heard it's the Amish influence. I have no clue if that's true, however.

[blueamy66]

110. Could be....

Now I'm going to really research this!

[gollygee]

102. That sounds British/Australian to me

I haven't heard it here in the Midwest anyway.

[Skittles]

83. any accent where a hard O is pronounced the same as a hard OO

for example, the words BOTH AND BOOTH would sound the same. I'm a home video fitness buff but have never been able to do FIRM workouts because their accents annoy me greatly.

[RobinA]

88. Isn't That

Canada? Hockey players (my only exposure to people from Canada talking) talk like that.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

103. What about an accent where the word "wire" is pronounced "war"?

I was a kid in Oklahoma in the 1950s and heard that accent a lot but I don't know what you call it.

[Skittles]

105. here in Texas when I hear OR pronounced as ARE

and "important" pronounced IM-PORDANT

[eShirl]

86. Any accent when it is used to form hateful words.

[raccoon]

90. Well, yall can kiss mah foot! nt

[closeupready]

91. Fuhgeddaboutit!

[a kennedy]

93. I really think this is an offensive topic.....JMHO

We're all here because of who we are, the sound of our accent is part of what makes us American. Sorry, not going to vote on this subject,and again, JMHO.

[Agschmid]

95. Upstate NY...

[geardaddy]

97. I don't really hate any accents

I'm an amateur linguist and find them all interesting. I might find some more pleasing than others, but they're all interesting to me.

-someone from MN who doesn't sound like "Fargo"

[d_r]

101. by "deep south"

do you mean the slow drawl of central Alabama, where o's are drawn out in u's? Or the twang of Eastern Kentucky? Or the sing-song of central Tennessee? or the aristocratic drawl of Virginia piedmont? Or the no "r's" drawl of coastal carolina? Or the extra r's of NW Georgia? Or the west florida crackerism? Or that unique new orleans whatever it is?

[MrMickeysMom]

106. You forgot the ultra twang of Dallas Texas...

Not a fan of it. Listen to H Ross Perot… It makes you want to go number 2.

[d_r]

107. lol Ross Perot is a great example nt

[Iggo]

108. I like 'em all...especially the Southern ones. (n/t)

[MannyGoldstein]

112. Which NY and Boston accents?

Bronx ain't Brooklyn, and Revere ain't Medford.

And the Kennedy accent is really a Maine accent, as far as I can tell.

[clarice]

113. The New England "Kennedy" thing. Bum did a baaaay bid a bum bum baaaayyy.nt

[clarice]

114. Here is a link of Jackie Mason doing Ted Kennedy and Kissinger.

[IronLionZion]

120. I hate fake accents the most

Like suburban white kids who try to act like urban thugs. Or Americans who put on a fake British or other European accent.

As for real accents, I hate anything with a twang, like Appalachian or Tennessee. The NY or Boston accents can be annoying or great, depending on the person.