WORST ACCENT IN AMERICA - THE OFFICIAL THREAD

People are listing the Southern accent, but I think most of you fail to realize that there are a few distinct types of Southern accent.

There is a very genteel form of the accent that is very easy on the ears, closer to a British accent, and then there are very abrasive redneck-y forms of the accent.

Think Charleston or Savannah vs. the West Virginia backwoods.

I don't mind the Boston accent, actually, and the New York accent has grown on me quite a bit. I think the Midwestern accent is very annoying, but it has a bit of innocent naivety to it. Makes it hard to hate it. I think a Chicago or Wisconsin accent on a guy is kind of funny. Reminds me of John Candy or something.

I really dislike the Maryland, PA and New Jersey accents. Those are probably my least favorite. Although I have to admit that it is usually the women speaking it that bother me, I cannot really recall any men with those accents that bother me too much.

BoomBoxxer wrote:

People are listing the Southern accent, but I think most of you fail to realize that there are a few distinct types of Southern accent.

There is a very genteel form of the accent that is very easy on the ears, closer to a British accent, and then there are very abrasive redneck-y forms of the accent.

Think Charleston or Savannah vs. the West Virginia backwoods.

Also, and this is important, you have to remember that Hollywood has done a TERRIBLE job with the Southern accent. They never get it right, make it sound awful and usually apply it to a villain. Having grown up in the lowcountry, I cannot stress how terrible Hollywood is at Southern accents. Just another FYI.

I think the Gullah accent is my favorite in the world. It is a mix of Southern genteel with a tinge of Jamaican/west indies. Very unique to the lowcountry. I love it.

Also, there are parts of the South that have accents that sound very Northeastern, like the outer banks natives and the Louisiana bayou.

Example:

Providence, Rhode Island. It's like Boston but actually way worse.

New Jersey

Some of they NYC, downstate NY tawk!

hillbilly

I can only kind of tell the difference among southern states, I can sometimes tell the difference between Tenn, Miss, and NC but sometimes it all just blends into southern.

Northern Minnesota - North Dakota - oooohhhhh!

I lived in Iowa for a number of years and there was an accent that roughly diverged at I80, which bisects the state in north-south halves. The southerners say warsh, and the twang is sort of hillbilly-redneck. Northern Iowans are more like Minnesota and Wisconsin (but more like Madison/Minneapolis, not Duluth which is very distinct).

Have spent most of my life in the West where everyone's a transplant.

I know that I am over-posting here, but I just wanted to share an example of Gullah. I just feel like it is such an extremely dignified accent:

https://youtu.be/iCd5W4gwJsI

I second Long Island. I went to a SUNY school with a student population that was 40% from Long Island. It drove me insane.

A lot of them were snotty brats too which made me hate the accent even more.

A lot of them were smoking hot too which made me hate the accent a little less.

To each his own.

The Great Lakes/Midwest accent is the worst. It actually did not even exist before the 1950s. There is no explanation for it. It just happened. Pop, cop, hop become Pap, cehp, and hehp. It is pure nails on a chalkboard.

Second worst is probably the SoCal surfer accent. It is also completely artificial and new.

Precious Roy wrote:

The Great Lakes/Midwest accent is the worst. It actually did not even exist before the 1950s. There is no explanation for it. It just happened. Pop, cop, hop become Pap, cehp, and hehp. It is pure nails on a chalkboard.

Second worst is probably the SoCal surfer accent. It is also completely artificial and new.

No, the Great Lakes accent is not new. It is leftover from Nordic region settlers: Norway, Sweden, etc. Much different from the SoCal prefab accent.

Not proof, per se, but a funny example for reference:

Easily Delaware/Philly.

You crazy if you don't like the northern MN accent. When I visited I melted for the cute waitresses and their accents. Dontcha know? You betcha.

Did you go to the University at Buffalo? Because this pretty much describes my experience there. They thought they were better than everyone else even though they were going to a state school in Buffalo, NY....

Staten Island and the Jersey Shore have got to be near the top of the list as well.

Louisiana Bayou

Seriously mate? wrote:

Did you go to the University at Buffalo? Because this pretty much describes my experience there. They thought they were better than everyone else even though they were going to a state school in Buffalo, NY....

Staten Island and the Jersey Shore have got to be near the top of the list as well.

Yo,Yo,Yo...Brooklyn is in da howze!

quaker oats wrote:

I vote Boston. There is nothing genteel about it, nothing classy, nothing good about it. Brooklyn (to be honest I don't hear it that often anymore) is second.

What do you think?

What I think is -- you don't understand the difference between a Beacon Hill Boston accent, and a Southie Boston accent. Am I right?

Boston Accent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLwbzGyC6t4

Yous guys are all wrong.

Philly.

Seriously mate? wrote:

Did you go to the University at Buffalo? Because this pretty much describes my experience there. They thought they were better than everyone else even though they were going to a state school in Buffalo, NY....

Staten Island and the Jersey Shore have got to be near the top of the list as well.

I went to Cortland, so most of them were probably even a little dumber than the Long Islanders at UB. There is a lot of families on Long Island therefore there is an absurd amount of SUNY students from there.

I agree though, a very distinct and pretentious bunch.

I live in Pittsburgh, and (although it is somewhat rare) the stereotypical Pittsburgh accent makes me cringe.

Tim Hutchings (when he's in America, which is too often). Very harsh voice.