I love an Australian accent, too. There's a great video on Twitter now of an Australian woman interviewing Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

jasdip, the "Boston" accent, the range of which I can't speak to, has many characteristics but one is to drop an "r" where it belongs and sometimes put them in where they don't belong. This is been traced to areas of England, a source of migrants to the area, where such pronunciation habits are also used.

Car park becomes ceh pack, in a nasal way.

Wanda can sound like wander. Other eastern accents do this too.

The accent that I'm referring to is nothing like the Boston one, Elmer. It's quite soft, just a fo instead of four. Very lovely indeed.

There are many regional accents in England as well as class-related accents, both of upper and lower varieties.

Elmer, you reminded me of when I first moved to NY and had a friend from Queens. She was always talking about her daughter, Vanesser. I thought it was such an unusual name until I saw it written -- Vanessa. I've also noticed that some of my relatives in New Orleans sound like they're from Brooklyn. I was told it's because both cities have a large population of Italian descent and that influences the accent.

I lived in the NYC area for decades. Even though I am now in the mid-west, I still lose my R's. I hear myself say dresser "draw" instead of drawer.

There is a harsher speech here but it's not Fargo either.

If you want to hear some great Bahston accents, watch This Old House. Roger the landscaper has a delightful Boston accent. Not sure he’s still on the show. Norm, Tom and Rich all speak Bostonian, too.

I love accents too, especially UK. Actually, I love everything about the UK. A psychic once told me that I lived in England in a previous lifetime. As far as myself, I thought I had a speech impediment while growing up in CT, just outside of New York. My "r's" were non-existent and still are many times. People still comment on how I say certain words.

Elizabeth....I say drawer the same way. My husband is always telling me that tomata is not the right way to say that word either.

Tomata? That's not right? :-)

Commonly heard in an English working class accent -

Sometimes the th sound is replaced with an f

So with becomes wif.

Pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd.

I was born and raised in CT, lived in TN the past 35 years. While working in a school over summer break and walking in the hall talking to coworkers, a teacher yelled out in a thick southern drawl "kunetikut". I stuck my head in the classroom and she told me her husband was from CT and that I had the same accent as he did. I laughed and told her I wasn't the one with the accent.

Anyone remember President Kennedy and 'Cuber' ?

As a kid I heard a lot of accents, particularly 'old country' Italian, also lots of others. When I told my dad they were hard to understand, he told me I had to listen fast...

I now live in central FL, and there are a multitude of accents, unlike where I lived in TN, where most were variations of 'southern'. I reminds me of my childhood, in a very good way.

My DMIL is a Yorkshire lass. She moved south after the war, worked for the headmaster at Eton. She changed her accent in a hurry! She moved to Canada. Now her English friends back home tell her “oh, no, you have that horrible North American accent!” But I think she has a lovely, soft, English accent. I can’t place all the regional and class accents of the Brithish, so what do I know?

I do a daily cryptic crossword that happens to be English, and besides the -re/-er spellings, and cricket terms, I have to remember that the homophones account for the absence of the /r/

This is a great thread. My DH is from Pittsburgh. Their accent is quite easy to detect as many of you likely know. When they are talking about something being “ for sale” they instead say that it is “ for sell”. Their favorite football team is the “ Stillers” .

Our DD currently lives in London. I have always loved visiting London ( long before she moved there) and so enjoy listening to the accent. They somehow swallow the middle of a word making it tricky to understand. “ Bottom” becomes “ bah um”. Asking for directions is a hoot because DH never has any idea what they said.

Grapefruit, I enjoy watching British shows, and yes, they often leave out the t's in the middle of words. Bu-er instead of butter.

My husband is from Massachusetts - south of Boston. His father was a builder and he worked for his dad summers when he was out of school. He always thought it was a "shot" circuit (short circuit) and a "draw" (drawer). I'm from Ohio and when I go home (after living in New England for over 40 years) I'm accused of the accent. And when I come back, people comment on my "R"'s.

When I was a kid, everyone of my grandparents generation in my family and beyond, were immigrants, and all had accents. So, my child’s logic told me that when you get old, you get grey hair, wrinkly skin, slower gait, and don’t speak as well.

i have my WAZE navigation app on my phone set to the australian guy. he hasn't gotten me lost yet!! :D

I've noticed that some citizens of the UK add an "R" between words if the first ends in a vowel and the second begins with a vowel. Not sure which word the r is attached to though. Example: bananer and pear, or banana rand pear.

Chicagoan's have a neutral midwest accent, but the words they use are unique. For example, they say bye bye for goodby. I picked up that habit when I attended the University of Illinois at Champaign, IL. A large number of students in that University are from Chicago.

Other accents are present on that campus. Another standout is New York. Surprisingly, there exists a goodly number Jewish students from New York City. I asked a Jewish student in my Dorm why he was here instead of somewhere closer to home. He said it was simple. There are many more students in New York wishing to attend college than there are spaces in their city colleges, so parents look to the Midwest where it is not as crowded. The U of I happens to have large body of Jewish students, it offers studies they desire, its a good school, out-of-state tuition is reasonable, and most of all, it is located is a rural area away from large cities where there isn't much mischief to lead their young ones astray. If you get on your bicycle, leave campus and ride for a couple of miles to get out of town, you will be surrounded by corn, soybean, and hay fields and University plots and orchards; You turn around and go back to campus.

Yes, the interpolated “r” drives me crazy as while I normally speak with an Australian accent, my natural accent is mid-western US, so I don’t add the “r”. In Catholic school the expression “hallelujahrin the highest“ just grated on my nerves.

The glottal stop replacing the “tt” in words like “bo—om” and replacing “th” with either “f” or “v” depending on the word are typical of the Cockney/East End (working class area) accent.

What most people think of as an English accent is referred to in England as “RP” or Received Pronunciation”, which is essentially the accent they learned at Oxford University if they didn’t speak like that already. Until fairly recently you couldn’t get a speaking job on the BBC unless you had an RP accent.

Colleen, the first thing hubby and I did was set the portable GPS to a female Australian. So, thank you! :-)

There are actually different Australian accents, believe it or not. The one you’re hearing is probably the one we’d call an “educated” Australian accent. The New Zealand accent is similar, with some slightly different vowels (which we tease them about)”. It’s because of the different mix of early settlers- more Scots in NZ, more Cockneys in OZ.

But in some more working class areas and further out in the country, the accent becomes very strident and can be quite unpleasant and difficult to understand for non-Australians. Eg The long “I“ as in “strident“ becomes “oi“, so “stroident” with a grinding emphasis on “stroi”.

Ah, much like Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee!

I love Spanish accents, Asian accents and Slovak accents. French and British accents never really did anything for me. Except for Liverpool accents because, you know, The Beatles.

Yes, Jasdip! Back in the 60s a humour writer brought out a book called “Let Stalk Strine”, which means “Let’s Talk Australian“ which “translated“ words which are mangled by the more strident accent.

Fun story, I have a deep south accent and was waiting at the gate of an airport. Two ladies (turns out they were sisters) came and sat next to me asking if boarding started. When I told them it had, they asked if they could sit with me on the plane to listen to my accent. They were from California and loved my soft southern accent. We had a wonderful time on the flight.

Great story, Raye!

I talk to people on the phone, and at the end I always thank them for their time and their input. I also often comment how much I enjoyed listening to their accent. That always brings a laugh. I try not to say it too much anymore though, as I don't want to get reprimanded for being 'unprofessional' and just thank them for their time. I've sometimes been told them I'm too friendly :-)

I once worked with a girl who was from the States. Where I can’t remember. She asked me for a pin one day. I told her I didn’t have one. She looked at me funny. Another girl had to tell me that she was asking for a pen. Even when we pointed it out to her it still came out pin even though she thought it came out as pen. My dear MIL was from Belfast. Even after 60 years here she still had a thick accent even though she would say she talked “good Canadian”.😀. One day she called in to the radio and won a contest. A few minutes later she heard a recording of her voice. She was shocked! She said “I sound like a fisherman’s wife or our Nellie ( her sister back in Ireland)

Louise, when I first arrived in Texas from up North I noticed people said “pin” for “pen”, but they often said “ink pin” (ink pen) so that helped a lot!

I find Australian and English accents comical, which is entertaining, but never sexy.

I find this more comical than sexy, but others may disagree.

I like a Bronx accent from a New York Italian. That's what I find sexy. I also like some accents from the American South.

I've seen some commercials for a show called "Maine Cabin something" and can't understand a word their saying, neither can my hubby. I've traveled and had plenty of friends from other countries and had no problem understanding people with foreign accents.

🙋 been here 32 years from across the pond. Still get asked where I am from.

She asked me for a pin one day. I told her I didn’t have one. She looked at me funny. Another girl had to tell me that she was asking for a pen.

The exact same thing happened to me, Louiseab, when I first moved to the South from the North. And it was in a freshman English composition class, of all places.🙄

...when I first arrived in Texas from up North I noticed people said “pin” for “pen”, but they often said “ink pin” (ink pen) so that helped a lot!

Ha! Yep, this is true, bpath. Perhaps we should let them in on a little secret: If you pronounce “pen” correctly, you can omit the “ink” part.😉

But Sammy, the thing is, what’s “correctly” in one accent is not always “correctly“ in another.

Jasdip, you should look on YouTube for videos of an Australian sportsman nicknamed “The Honey Badger”. He’s a hoot and uses a lot of very Australian turns of phrase.

I'm from Virginia. I don't hear the difference in pin/pen or windy/Wendy.

Everyone has an accent!

We‘re rewatching Flight of the Conchords and I still hear “Brit” instead of “Bret”. Love this show.

Edit to add, we haven’t watched it in a few years. That was Sutton Foster in season 1 episode 2!

Another one I remember was when I was working as a dispatcher for public works in the town we used to live in. One day, one of the supervisors called in on the radio. He had a thick Scottish accent. He asked me to get him a mop. Huh? I kept asking him where he wanted it. He had to repeat himself and I still didn’t understand what he wanted me to do. It was very uncomfortable. He was getting irritated. Finally, one of the Other supervisors explained that what he wanted was a city map.

Funny story. We had a contractor, originally from Greece, do several jobs on our former house. (I’m pretty good with various accents. In college, more than one of my classes were conducted by people whose English was quite limited and I was the one who shared my notes with the rest of the class.)

So, one day when he was replacing the roof with his crew, he rang my doorbell. He was asking for something, but I couldn’t understand him. Figuring it was a request for some sort of tool, I called my husband over. Finally, I figured out he was asking for a onion! “An onion?“ I asked. “Yes,” he replied, “we got pizza for lunch and we wanted onion on our pizza.”

I’m with Lars on the English and Australian accents. That Buff Man video nearly had me in tears:)

As far as English accents go, I come from Norfolk, which imo has the worst regional accent in the U.K. There are some I quite like ie from Newcastle (Geordie) and maybe Bristol which has a nice sing songy softness to it, but generally I’m not a big fan of any of them.

French or Italian all day long for me.

I thought the Norfolk accent was totally understandable, maddie. But my mother used to have a Geordie neighbour who I really had to focus on to understand. Mom used to think he was a Cockney for whatever bizarre reason, but finally I asked Geoff where he was from. “Newcastle,” he announced. I knew.

I usually don't have problems understanding people with accents but Indian accents are all over the place and some of them I can't understand at all. I think it may be the area in India they are from and the dialect they spoke. I find the ones who constantly put the emphasis on the wrong syllable of words to be the worst.

I worked with a contract programmer from the Ukraine for a short time and I couldn't understand her English at all either. Not sure she could understand me any better as she didn't follow my instructions very well. Had to let her go after a few months.

I hear more and more young people talking with the glottal stop thing -- "boh um" for bottom, "moun un" for mountain, etc. I'm no where near London/Cockneys so where is it coming from? Is there a new pop culture persona who talks like that?

One local-ish pronunciation I don't care for is "air" for "are". "How air you?" I should ask the next person who says that, 'what does a pirate say, "ARRRRGH" or "AIRRRR"? I can't think of any other accent that bothers me, although some are more pleasant or understandable than others.

Coming from the understandable aspect colleenez, I agree there are other U.K. accents that are much harder to understand than a Norfolk one. It’s more the overall sound of it I don’t like. It’s often depicted as someone who’s not too bright, and a bit of a rough n ready country bumpkin.

In the video the question about Norfolk sayings wasn’t answered but it made me think if any came to my mind. I immediately thought of one my Nan used to say a lot, which was ‘Loada squit’. This was her response to anything she didn’t agree with.

Another was ’You’ll get a ding round the lug‘ which was a jovial (never inflicted) threat of getting a clip round the ear if I was misbehaving.

More British accents

Sexy?

Get me a fan Lars!

Here’s a few more, with a bit on our lovely Aussie friends, and a mention on Sth Africa.