accents that most irk you

[Pua'i Mana'o]

(kudos for Paul Ogata inspiring this thread by using the phrase "radio puker people" about how they sound).

I had two visitors last week who were both from the Great Lakes area and their voices hurt my ears. If either one of them talked for too long, it was a struggle to hear what they had to say, because the pitch of their voices (and horrors, their laughter) was killing me. These were nice, genuinely warm and humble people. Great senses of humor. But I would have traded my kingdom to hook them up to Stephen Hawking's voice box.

what about you? What accents get in the way of communicating?

[Leo Lakio]

Re: accents that most irk you

I find accents fascinating. As a voice actor, I studied accents (and how to duplicate them) years ago. I can do quite a few, some well, some poorly, but I can "mimic" people's vocal patterns in many cases.

There are a few accents that I find difficult to understand - those of northern England, near the Scottish border, come to mind right up front - but irksome? No, can't say as any irk me - rather, they intrigue me.

(Oh, and of course, I can do a "radio puker," though only in jest. My radio career has never required me to announce in that style, fortunately for all listening.)

[blueyecicle]

Re: accents that most irk you

I kind of agree with Leo,
I thought it might bother me all the accents here but instead it fascinates me.
I find it charming, endearing and interesting.

There are some accents that are just plain lazy, some that are very uneducated and backwoods and some that are just southern. Then the occasional Irishman here as well.

But I am finding it is hard to communicate with some of the very thick and more backwoods characters. For some reason I cannot understand but one or two words, it is like a foreign language, and I feel guilty for not being able to "get" what they are saying. Especially when they are refering or speaking to my very open mouthed boys!
And they look at me to translate (both of them!) and I have NO clue what is being said! LOL But it's funny either way and we stumble through.

All of them are very completely different and reflect aspects of their personality and culture.

[buzz1941]

Re: accents that most irk you

Everyone on the other end of the Jack In the Box drive-through intercom

[Leo Lakio]

Re: accents that most irk you

Everyone on the other end of the Jack In the Box drive-through intercom

...says the man whose HT handle starts with "buzz..."

[1stwahine]

Re: accents that most irk you

Everyone on the other end of the Jack In the Box drive-through intercom

HAHAHAHAHAHA

My stomach sore from LAUGHING!

Auntie Lynn

I forgot to put mine. Microdots. I mean Micronesians!heheheh

[Random]

Re: accents that most irk you

*ponders*

Nah! Not going to incite a flamewar here. I keep my dislike and annoyance to myself

[scrivener]

Re: accents that most irk you

When I was growing up in Waipahu, my side of town was still mostly Japanese and Chinese, and I found the Filipino accents annoying and difficult. But as I got to know more people who owned these accents, I almost didn't even notice the accents anymore, and now although I still find many phrases amusing (especially "po-set" for "faucet"), I don't find it the least bit irksome.

I used to find Malaysian accents rough and difficult to listen to, but in college I made friends with students from all over, including Malaysia, and now I barely remember what it was about the accents that I found difficult to listen to.

And I LOVE the accents of the northern midwest, up around the Great Lakes! Love them!

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: accents that most irk you

I used to get annoyed with foreign accents, until I realized how much the world hates Americans.

[pzarquon]

Re: accents that most irk you

A fair point.

One of the sweetest experiences of my life was hanging out in a cozy pub in Auckland, New Zealand. My coworker and I were just relaxing and making friends with whomever walked up... and we only noticed later into the evening that we were suddenly holding court at a table with half a dozen pretty women.

"We just love your American accent," one said, with of course her wonderful accent.

"We have accents?" we asked.

A good time was had by all.

Of course, depending on where we were, being American wasn't always a plus. In which case, depending on the situation, we often claimed we were Canadian!

[Menehune Man]

Re: accents that most irk you

I love the British sounding accent that Fijians have.
It's not as strong as it is with someone from Englund and mixed with 'our' Polynesian slower style of speech, turns out really cool.

Doesn't irk me, but thick Filipino accents can be difficult for me sometimes.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: accents that most irk you

Ryan, your story reminds me of the time I was in Coober Pedy, on the edge of the Australian Outback (it's where they mine for many of the world's opals.)

I met a woman from Nova Scotia who was convinced that I was from Vancouver - because of my "accent."

Well, Seattle IS close to Vancouver, but...

[buzz1941]

Re: accents that most irk you

Maddie had trouble watching "Casino Royale" the other night -- the British accents were hard to understand for her.

Since I grew up near Hong Kong, I have no trouble with British accents.

Curiously, I once did an interview with a woman who teaches accents to Hollywood actors. She said she could identify, by accent, what part of the country people were from.

I asked her if she could identify where I came from. She said I had no identifiable accent, but I did have a slight Southern drawl -- which meant I was most likely a military dependent. She was right!

When I was a kid, certain parts of Oahu said braddah and other parts said blalah....

[MonkeyMan]

Re: accents that most irk you

At one point, the Info Tech division of Kamehameha was seriously considering outsourcing the institution's help desk to India!

I had a field day with that one, walking around and in my best Indian accent, reciting: "Aloha, my nem es Rajneesh, vot is your location end vot is de natur of your problem today? ... Kay-koo-aaah-nahh-owe-wah? How do you spell dat? Wot city are you in?"

Heh.

[Karen]

Re: accents that most irk you

Like a previous poster, I won't identify a single type of accent that is irritating because none of them are of themselves.

What I WILL share is that when any accent from any place is sooo hard to understand that I literally cannot communicate with the person, it can absolutely irk me if..........that person is in a busniess and I am forced to communicate with them. When I can't just smile very kindly and walk away, this is very irksome.

If a person can't be understood on the phone and again, they are in a business I am dealing with, this can be insanely irksome. No one should be in a job that they can fail to properly and easily conduct that business. My poor hubby, when active duty military many years ago, had to suffer a person handling his pay and records that hubby tried five times and could NOT understand the point they were making! No excuses, this is not only irksome but should be darn near illegal, it just should not be done or allowed.

When I don't HAVE to understand someone I do not get annoyed by any accent. I'm a native Texan and I would think the accent I had most of my life and still have a little, was disliked by some others over the years. No, I don't care, but in being fair, I couldn't allow myself to actually be annoyed by another's accent.