What accent do you really hate? and which one you love?

"In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty -
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone.....
As she wheeled her wheelbarrow.
Through streets broad and narrow.
Crying: Cockles and mussels
Alive, alive-o!"

I'd really love to go to that fair city sometime soon......and to Ireland in fact, as I've never been.....I've only seen it in the misty distance across the channel from the Galloway coast in south west Scotland.....and that was Northern Ireland. And you can see the Isle of Man as well. I have a really good mate who lives in Anglesey, Wales and he tells me that on an exceptionally clear day you can clearly see the Wicklow Mountains just south of Dublin from the Welsh coast.

Dublin is supposed to have some really beautiful Georgian style architecture. It is officially Georgian in style but I don't suppose the Irish are over keen on it being called that! ;-)

***I have had Americans mistaken me for and Englishperson, when in actual fact, I am a 7th generation Aussie***

Hee hee! The Americans must be some of the most confused people on the face of the planet when it comes to identifying accents as they are so rarely exposed to them, and unfamiliarity breeds confusion for them.....now it seems as if they think that the Aussies are English and the English are Aussies!

I remember one guy at uni with a broad Brummie (Birmingham, England) accent and he said his Dad's was even broader and when his Dad was on holiday in Florida with his Mum he had to keep repeating himself and told to speak slower because people there confessed that they had difficulties with Aussie accents! Aaaaw bless!, don't you just love them? ;-)

och no!.....I forgot my name in last post. Not to be confused with the prolific Guest in all the other posts.....

i like the Yorkshire accent. i get really anoyed when people say i sound a bit southern (ive only been to london twice and Devon i can count on my fingers other than that ive never been south!), my accent changes depending who im talking to ( i think its because im worried they wont understand me). on the most part ive got a nice soft north yorkshire accent but when im drunk thats when the broad yorkshire accent really comes out!! and there's nowt i can do about it!.

You've got to remember that Northern accents are different to southern and western accents because of Viking influence, Yorkshire especialy as it was the main viking kingdom of England. The sameas other parts of Britain northern regions clung on to their own languages till relativly recently. What remains are distinct dialects (the three ridings of Yorkshire act as a good microcosm for this). These old regional languages are still alive in a sence as English is made from the sum of their parts. Two of my favourite words that Yorkshire have given are : Reckon and Arse (should be pronounced like its spelt you silly yanks!...Ass? pah!)

You should see modern English as a very fluid language which is constantly creating words and taking words from other languages. Maybe why it is so popular around the world, as you can make it your own if you so wish. (sound a bit hypocritical after that ass/arse comment haha)

Other favourite accents are New York and New England (other yank accents ar'nt so nice) I also like Canadian and native american/candian.

scandanavian women sound great when they speak english, they sound english but yet there is a kind of twist on it? what do you reckon?

I like West Welsh, Lowland Scotish and some Irish also. i abide other english accents exept cockney and scouse which anoy me no end.

I loved the Scottish accent I heard over here: http://www.ku.edu/~idea/europe/scotland/scotland4.mp3 . I also like a bunch of English accents, including the Cockney accent.

I like the Brooklyn and the New England accents (kah-kees).

I don't like my own accent, which is Russian :)

I don't think that too many accents really annoy me. What I don't like is when the accent is so thick, that I have a hard time understanding what the person is saying. This applies to most any accent. When the accent is thick, but I *can* understand the words, then I don't care.

Just to comment on the Rugby talk on page 14. I watched those tries in slow motion a fair few times and they where both fair and square. Ireland beat us and good luck to them. We need to get used to loosing everything again, i think weve got a bit cockey after the world cup 3 years ago. I read an article explaining the phrase "its not the winning its the taking part", according to this scot thats because English men feel its a victory that they've managed to walk off the pitch with out some ones ear in their pocket... apparently we've got a lot of pent up anger! explaining past agressions to our neighbours seemingly.

I will say this about the England- Ireland match mind, the irish did throw a few punches... just not cricket!!...or rugby rather ;)

Other favourite accents are New York and New England (other yank accents ar'nt so nice)

Why? Is it that non-rhotic thing you like?

Excuse me while i go look rhotic up.... haha

Right, ive looked it up. In some ways my accent is rhotic, and in others it is not, some times i would pronounce right=reet like when i say "It'll be reet" other times i will drop the Ts in butter, i think ive got a fairly mixed up accent according to this rhotic blurb.

erm i dont think I have any set perameters in my mind as to what makes a nice american accent or not. Like, the New Jersey accent is nice (i only know it from Kevin Smith films, so i may be way off the mark) where as Lloyd Grosman's accent (Boston i believe) gets right on my baps. Ive heard Will Wright of Sim city fame speak, i think he's got a good accent, though i dont know where he is from. Al Franken also has a great accent.

Maybe i like American accents that are the total antithesis of the British accents i like? Whoooo knows!

>Queenslanders are very broad with a slow drawl, New South Wales have a nasally twang. South Australians sound like a mix between an English aristocrat and a South African and us Victorians have a slight English affliction, but that also depends on what part of Victoria (or Melbourne) you are from

Now there's a number of generalisations, all way off the mark. Put "some" or "some of" in those clauses and there may be some accuracy in them.

Jim C hasn't included any Aus accents in his faves, but he may be relieved to know that we all know how to spell and pronounce arse.

And where you get the R in it is a total mystery. And why you insist on writing it in there, while completely refusing to say it.....

Think of it as a soft R, its definatly there when we say it, not an R as you have previusly known it! ;) or its because we drop Rs in most words ( not gonna start spelling "words" "wods" . Like some kids in the UK say ass now, you can definatly tell the difference, (you just want to slap the little scallies round the face). Its spelt with an R because it comes from ars, which is from sweden i think?

Do NAs pronounce ass (bottom) exactly the same as ass (the animal)?

"Arse" is considered pretty crude in places where it is used (and "butt" is often thought more vulgar than "bum" in those places), but I get the impression that "ass" as used by Americans is considered merely slightly impolite slang by them, which can lead to some embarrassment for their audience when they use the term in conversation with people from other countries.

> And where you get the R in it is a total mystery. And why you insist on writing it in there, while completely refusing to say it.

According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary:

Old English aers = Old Frisian ers, Middle Low German ars, ers, Middle Dutch aers, e(e)rs (Dutch aars, naars) , Old High German ars (German arsch), Old Norse ars, rass, Germanic arsaz, Indo-European orsos.

The 'r' is certainly pronounced in standard British English, I cannot think of a word it rhymes with, but the first part of the word sounds similar to the word 'are'.

The 'r' is a length marker. The American "ass" is derived from "arse" as indicated by Ed.

"Arse and "ass" have different meanings and different pronunciations.

"Arse" refers to the backside, "ass" is a donkey or foolish person.

However one could say "stop being an arse" which would mean the same thing as "stop being an ass".

In south west England the 'r' tends to be rolled slightly, which makes the word sound cruder in my opinion.