Please name the most annoying regional accents that you've come across. First place would be that nasal bark that New York Cityites have. Second would be that sheep (bah) talk that Boston Irish have. Teddy Kennedy is the perfect example. Though it is not regional but ethnic, I can't stand the black urban ghetto talk. The worst English on the planet, maybe the worst accent of any language.

Rammie, I don't know about your speaking voice, but your writing is the most annoying regional type!

Baaahstahn!! I went to "paaak my caar." They don't say the "r" when they are supposed to, and then tack it on needlessly where it should not be--aka, what a great "idear." No! It's idea, no "r"!!! Argh!!
Know someone from North Carolina who stresses the first part of words like INsurance, UMbrella, Tv, etc., which is much cuter and funnier than the Boston accent. Also has tons of funny phrases, like "hotter than two mice making love in a wool sock." (!)

If this isn't a troll, it bloodywell should be! What an obnoxious proposition! Trouble with trolls is they almost always pose a nasty question that reveals a secret antipathy the writer already has, despite the pose that he/she is just trying to get a rise out of people to get attention and feel superior.

Well, anyway, here I am about to rise to it because at least on (Chris) seems to have taken the invitation seriously:

I'd be willing to be that Rammie and Chris have an accent they aren't even aware of -- I've met people from Connecticut, California, and everywhere in between who think their speech is "pure" and everyone else's is accented. I'll be D*Mned if I'll spend time trying to explain about intoning every sentence as if it were a question (California), jaw-clenching (Connecticut) or the various quirks almost everyone has.

And I'd also be willing to be that Rammie and Chris have an accent that can annoy all kinds of speakers of the English language -- an American accent, blunt, flat, r-gargling, know-it-all, and loud.

Rammie, go soak your head in an echoing barrel and listen to the sound of your own idiotic insularity. Isn't spring break over yet?

Here's a solution: Stay home. Turn off your radio and television. Pull the blankets over your head.

Of all the assanine posts that have showed up here this one takes the cake. That's with a desert fork by the way. And I waited for someone else to bring this to the top otherwise I wouldn't have helped it along.

I personally get a kick out of hearing accents/dialects/words and phrases native to certain parts of the country. Maybe it's because I've lived in a lot of different areas (military wife), so I'm used to being exposed to diversity. I like to take on the personal challenge of trying to guess if a person I meet is from Alabama as opposed to Mississippi, or Minnesota or the U.P. of Michigan. ;-) Differences in our accents as well as other areas of our lives make us unique.

LOL...

Anything can be annoying...

"accents?" .. IMHO .. would be very low on most everyone's list.

I think accents are awesome.


especially as a language major...

As one of my Georgia-born professors said when Jimmy Carter was elected." We finally have a president without an accent".

I like most of them. Have to say that the "flaaat" vowels of the midwest tend to grate on my nerves, especially the "a" sound , but then again , I say "ahnt" for aunt and "vahse" for "vase".

Michele, from New England/New Yawk area

...I never said some accents don't get on my nerves...I'm a great mimic...
(I hate those smiley things, but how else does one express?)

This post is far more annoying than any accent....

Wouldn't life just be wonderful if we were all exactly the same?

Bravo, Fodorites, for not giving in to the nasty narrow-minded insecurities so pervasive in other travel forums! Fodor's Travel Talk is a place where intelligent travellers can openly share ideas and information and inquirers can inquire with no threat of being judged. Hooray!

Ted Kennedy does not have a Boston accent. He has a Kennedy accent.

I think the range of regional accents across America is one of this country's more interesting aspects! Quite a few years ago, Robin MacNeil (late of the MacNeil Lehrer Newshour) did a fascinating PBS show on why folks speak as they do in various parts of the country. Viva accents!