What do you think is the most attractive accent and the most annoying?

I like the British accent and the Australian accent. The southern accent is annoying to me. The New York accent is also annoying.

I like a Cajun accent.Scottish too.
As for annoying,I can’t think of any.I don’t like close talkers though.XD

Russian and latin is the sexiest, asian and southern are the most annoying, to me.

@Summum British, yes!! Gorgeous , classy !!

I think I need some more coffee. I read this first as most attractive scent. I like all the different ways people speak, as long as they keep their distance. Like lucille I don’t like close talkers.

For me it’s a combination of accent and timbre. For example, someone with a high-pitched, nasally, squeaky voice and an Edinburgh accent (and I like Edinburgh accents) would not sound good to me.

@noelleptc Yep ;)

@noelleptc Jersey accents are funny, aren’t they. I can’t believe I was raised there. I doubt you ever get rid of them totally. I can always detect when an actor or singer is from NJ.

Do you mean New Joysey? Grin

Both of us are nuts for British accents.

I like New York, Philadelphian, and Irish accents.
I don’t like Southern accents, or Russian or Chinese.

I have never heard one single actor or California singer fake a Texas accent correctly. They just can’t do it . They can fake the Carolina’s and maybe Tennessee but Texans are really different. I mean, comical !
How many singers of popular music try to fake “Texan?” Most of ‘em. Nowhere close. lol Why can’t they sing in their native accent? Why do they have to try to sound like Texans?

There’s no such thing as a British accent. Cockney, Scouse, Northern Irish, Glasgow, Geordie, West Country, Norfolk, Belfast, Edinburgh, Highlands, Brummie, Yorkshire, Estuary, Lancastrian, Stoke, Welsh, Leicester, Leeds, Manchester, etc. there are many regional variations.

The female South African accent is probably the worst. It sounds like nails on a blackboard.

I’m with @Summum

Love the Brtish & Aussie accents.

I worked for an import company as their accts. receivable person and spoke, daily, with customers all over the world.

We had a large segement of clients in the South, predominately Georgia and the Carolinas.

I would often start talking with a southern twang after speaking with southerners all day. lol

Like: Scottish.

Dislike: Southern, Russian, and Aussie.

British is my favorite. The BBC newscaster can say anything and it would be believable.
That said I find any accent interesting – and a bit exotic.
My accent is boring, mid Wisconsin, US average. (Used to be Long Island but I ditched it when young. I can switch it on at will.)

I love British and Australian accents.
Jersey and Long Island accents annoy me.

Like: Scotch, Irish

Dislike: Southern U.S., Jersey, Long Island, inner-city-rapper-wannabe

I think the Liverpool accent, by way of the Beatles, is the most charming and wonderful accent of all. Ringo has almost lost his, but Paul still pretty much sounds the same.

I also love Scottish accents and Irish accents, although I would not be able to distinguish any regional differences from those countries.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a British accent that I didn’t like, although there are definite differences in the way they sound from The Queen, to Emma Thompson, to Eric Idle, to Paul McCartney to the farmers in the Cotswolds and elsewhere. I have an especially fond love of Alan Rickman’s voice because it’s British and extremely sexy!

I saw a wonderful documentary some years back called The Story of English that explained how some of the accents came about and changed with migration and progress over the years. They said that English is definitely a living language and so changes more often than you would think. They even pointed out that Queen Elizabeth’s accent has changed quite a bit since the 40’s up until now. They did interviews with all sorts of people all of the UK, Ireland, the US and Australia. Some of the accents that have not changed very much in the last 100 years are in some of the more isolated villages of Britain and areas of the south in the U.S. and Appalachia. It was very interesting, because there were lots of accents that I could barely understand at all, but they still sounded wonderful.

On the other hand, I don’t care for American “gangsta speak” and New Jersey and Long Island and New York accents don’t sound very pleasant to me.

I think it’s funny when people attempt different accents, too. Take Hugh Laurie, for example; upper class (but not a twit) and Oxbridge-educated with the accent to match, singing a hot jazz number from the 1920s. Hahahahaha! His trying to sing like a jazz guy is so funny, it’s cute.

I like, in general, RP English, Edinburgh accents. Lawn Guyland and Joisey don’t do it for me. And I find the accent I grew up with (sounds like the folks in Fargo) really funny.

I have a total soft spot for Russian/Ukrainian accents. Anything from that region of the world. I love all accents, none of them “annoy” me. I can enjoy a southern drawl just as much as I would enjoy listening to someone from Scotland. I just enjoy spoken word, I guess.

All you people saying you like British accents but you don’t say which one. There are so many here. My favourite is the North East/Geordie accent and my least favourite is West Midlands/Birmingham.

I get totally turned on by Russian, German and Italian accents. I don’t like French accents. And that’s the one I have, haha.

I like British,American,Japanese,and French accents. And I find myself so hard listening to Norwegian accent.

@downtide I said Liverpool. Paul McCartney has the most divine accent I’ve ever heard.

@Kardamom the Scouse (Liverpool) accent can veer from pleasant (Paul McCartney’s) to incredibly annoying very quickly (see Jamie Carragher for an example).

@downtide The Brummie accent is great, though a Black Country accent can be a bit much. The Lancastrian is my favourite (I work in Yorkshire, oh dear)

Naturally, British. Some forms of French accents, Spanish – Australian can be pretty good too.

Some Indian accents – are not annoying, just hard to understand. Some deep Scottish accents, good luck figuring those out :)

Most attractive would be either Polish or Hispanic

Most annoying would be both Boston, MA and all of North Carolina.

Oooo, Spanish accent. I love that!

I have a lovely new friend from Ghanna, and her accent is delightful.

I speak Spanish with a Chilean accent since my teacher was Chilean, so my ll’s sound like our j’s a little more and my v’s sound more like b’s.

I’m fond of the Edinburgh accent. I spent two weeks there and loved it. I remember talking with one cabbie in particular. I couldn’t understand every word she said because she talked really fast, but I didn’t mind because it sounded so good!

Not sure about least favorite accent, though. I don’t mind southern U.S. accents as much as some people who have posted.

Although an accent is a delightful change from the mundane, it’s more important to me that I can understand what someone is saying.

I’m with @Dr_Dredd with regards to the Southern accents of the U.S. My favorite one comes from the mouth of Michael Nesmith of The Monkees. Some of you older Fluthers may remember him. And I think Bill Clinton has a very charming accent. Apparently so charming, that he can charm the pants off of some people, heh heh. And Bill Moyers has a very sweet sounding accent and so does Dolly Parton and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Not sure what part of the U.S. Morgan Freeman hails from, but he has a fabulous voice/accent combo as does James Earl Jones. MF’s sounds southern, but JEJ’s sounds like he might be from Maine, does anybody know?

So if you put James Earl Jones, Geoffrey Holder and Morgan Freeman in the same room, would the universe implode of awesome low baritone/bass awesomeness?

@noelleptc That is really sad to hear about Morgan Freeman. He just seems so wonderful. : (

@aprilsimnel Your whole group with the addition of Alan Rickman would just knock my socks off! Wouldn’t it be great if the 4 of them got together to read some piece of classic literature? Like a poem or a famous short story or do a 4 man play. OMG! I’m getting all excited for this venture. How on earth do you get people who organize this kind of stuff to listen?

Are any of the Fluthers out there playwrights? Maybe someone could actually write a brand new play that was custom made for the 4 of them! Squeeeee!!!!!

I love Kölsch and Bavarian.

@noelleptc I guess as long as he says hi to her, that’s ok. Hmmm. One armed huh, must have some strong guns on him, huh? Is his son an actor too? Ask your aunt if his son also has that fabulously deep voice.

I think Shawshank Redemption is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, because of MF. I’ve watched it about 15 times.

@Kardamom Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees!

@aprilsimnel I’d love to be in the same room with that baritone awesomeness!