Ten Most Annoying Accents - USA

[Dark Shadows]

1. Bronx – and generally most places around New York City - Female
2. North Jersey – Female/Male
3. Minnesota – Female/Male
4. Maine
5. Seattle – Female (squeaky voice – baby talk)
6. Arkansas
7. Eastern Massachusetts (Boston especially)
8. Wisconsin
9. Texas
10. San Fernando Valley (California) - Female

[LenInSebastopol]

I'll keep my ear out for Seattle's & Wisconsin's. I like a Minnesota sound, as it has a song-lilt quality.
As a lad in 1958 I was quite proud that San Francisco was the most accent-less, thus pure, American speech. At least according to Professor Hiyakawa, semantics professor and 10 years later S.F. State College Administrator.
Hated more than Nixon in the circles I ran in at the time.

[Barrie]

1. Bronx – and generally most places around New York City - Female
2. North Jersey – Female/Male
3. Minnesota – Female/Male
4. Maine
5. Seattle – Female (squeaky voice – baby talk)
6. Arkansas
7. Eastern Massachusetts (Boston especially)
8. Wisconsin
9. Texas
10. San Fernando Valley (California) - Female

I pretty much agree with this. However I like the Minnesota and Wisconsin accents. Arkansas are OK with me. I find black people with New York accents strange. So it must be the East Coast Accents that annoy me. I don't think I've heard the Seattle female voice.

Barrie

[Dark Shadows]

I worked for a company that was based in Minneapolis with a satellite office in Green Bay. I spent time with these people both in the office, at their houses for dinner and at the bars after work. Have you seen the movie, Fargo? Well it's spot on with the annoyingness. You betcha!

Also, I worked at Microsoft for a year and another Bellevue-based company the year after that. The female squeaky voice is very common and well-known around those parts. They even make fun of the women on the radio, and there was a PBS documentary about the Northwest way of speaking. There is a definate tone and way of saying things up there. It's subtle, like everyone says "can food" instead of canned food. Even the signs at the grocery store marking the aisles leave out the ned.

I pretty much agree with this. However I like the Minnesota and Wisconsin accents. Arkansas are OK with me. I find black people with New York accents strange. So it must be the East Coast Accents that annoy me. I don't think I've heard the Seattle female voice.

Barrie

[Clancy]

My pet peeve isn't exactly an accent, it's this weird thing that women do (I have yet to hear a man do it) with enunciation nowadays. They add consonants that don't exist to ordinary words. It's a sort of over-enunciation that I hear all the time on the radio and in person.

Instead of pronouncing "county" like coun-ty, they say count-ty, as if there's two of the letter 'T' in the word.

So, they'll say wint-ter instead of win-ter, should-der instead of shoul-der, stewd-dent instead of stu-dent and so on.

English is already one of the hardest languages to learn; if this continues, it just got even harder.

[podfish]

Len, I don't know how it happens that I end up replying to so many of your posts! I guess our interests run in the same themes, if nothing else
I had a friend from Nottingham (yes, the home of Robin Hood) who could do a fabulous job imitating accents from all over - several American dialects as well as lots of ones from the British Isles. I mentioned to him that we Californians were pretty boring, since we didn't seem to have much of an accent. I've often wished that I could reproduce his reply to me - he rolled into an incredibly funny imitation of our speaking style. I can't do it justice, or be specific about it at all, but listening to him totally rebutted any idea that our speech lacked unique characteristics.

I'll keep my ear out for Seattle's & Wisconsin's. I like a Minnesota sound, as it has a song-lilt quality.
As a lad in 1958 I was quite proud that San Francisco was the most accent-less, thus pure, American speech. At least according to Professor Hiyakawa, semantics professor and 10 years later S.F. State College Administrator.
Hated more than Nixon in the circles I ran in at the time.

[LenInSebastopol]

I pretty much agree with this. However I like the Minnesota and Wisconsin accents. Arkansas are OK with me. I find black people with New York accents strange. So it must be the East Coast Accents that annoy me. I don't think I've heard the Seattle female voice. Barrie

Are you from California? I am. A lot of the Black folks out here were from the South until WWII when they were "brought in" to work the ship yards mostly. After years of living with Black folks I too found it delightfully strange to hear a Black person speak as White folks. Now I don't like to hear to hear any other way. Malcolm X was right and that goes for foreigners as well: learn to speak English, properly.

[LenInSebastopol]

I've a strange need to hear that!
Thanks.

I had a friend from Nottingham (yes, the home of Robin Hood) who could do a fabulous job imitating accents from all over - several American dialects as well as lots of ones from the British Isles. I mentioned to him that we Californians were pretty boring, since we didn't seem to have much of an accent. I've often wished that I could reproduce his reply to me - he rolled into an incredibly funny imitation of our speaking style. I can't do it justice, or be specific about it at all, but listening to him totally rebutted any idea that our speech lacked unique characteristics.