Yep. It’s in Phoenix too. Many, of the teenagers and young adults here say stuff like, “We went to this party last night, and we had such a good time?” “It was so sick?” Ick. Slang, and uptalking. It does not get worse.
The only thing I have to say about a strong Japanese, or Chinese accent is that it’s probably the hardest to understand. Well, for me anyway.
“Life is hard…but God is good”
Nope, that ain’t the hardest to understand, at least not in my experience. Back when I did computer support, I had to give phone instruction to a number of foreign people. The hardest one to understand was a Russian named Valeriy. All his words sounded the same; I don’t think he ever used a consonant. And if I had to stop by his office (I’m sure this was just his personal problem, so don’t take this as a racial slam), he had the most godawful vulture-like carrion breath I’ve ever had the misfortune to experience.
Some aspects of the Indian accent bother me, not because of the accent but because of the language differences. Are there only present-progressive verbs in India? It’s never “I wonder”, always “I am wondering” when I talked to them…
Ariana Huffington’s.
“Shut up! I’m having a rhetorical conversation!”
There is an accent that I’ve heard from a lot (but not all) of my Canadian callers that I haven’t been able to place. But it makes me want to reach through the phone and pull just their spleen back through. It sounds like the uptalking that was described, only add a shot of novacaine to their tongue.
Southern accents piss me off when the person is acting stupid. Because I hate disliking people for race or anything, but I’m too ingrained with drawl=inbred, so when they start acting that way… oooohhh… worse than those uptalking canadians. But I like the drawl when the person isn’t being a bumpkin, so that balances a bit.
Anyone I can’t understand even after they’ve repeated themselves earns a special place in my heart (you know, that blackened little bit at the bottom left after the first bitch I dated slept with my best friend…). Thick indian, ebonic, or oriental (I’m good with japanese, the rest I can’t get) accents make it really hard for me to understand what they’re saying, and since these people have to be my eyes and hands over the phone, I can’t help them. And as much as I don’t like my job, I don’t like being unable to help people even more.
http://www.madpoet.com
Clerks - Just because they serve you doesn’t mean they like you.
And this one time? At band camp?..
Anyway, the absolute worst accent has to be the “Woosta” accent from middle- to western-Massachusets. Horrible, just horrible.
Applying computer technology is simply finding the right wrench to
pound in the correct screw.
Absynthetic wrote:
LOL. After seeing American Pie, this was the most memorable thing to me. Don’t know why. I would say it just to get a rise out of people.
Also, Absynehtetic, great username.
I grew up in the south so I’m pretty familiar with it. People don’t believe I’m from there, though, because somewhere around 16 or 17 I tried NOT to sound like I was from the south (example: saying ‘dog’ like ‘log’ instead of like ‘dawg’ which is the most common below the Mason/Dixon. And not using phrases like “fixin’ to.” Drives me nuts. And my Mom says it often). So, going to school with people from other parts of the country and the world, traveling a bit and moving out west have pretty much left me without an accent. Except when I’m really tired or drunk the southern begins to sneak out.
I am large,
I contradict myself,
I contain multitudes.
~Walt Whitman
melanietarrant said:
Yo, you gotta problem?
While the average Bronx accent (similar to other NYC boroughs and lower Westchester County) doesn’t sound like Broadcast Standard, it certainly isn’t “harsh.” Certain Midwestern accents, with their flat vowels, are more grating than any NYC accent (with the exception of Fran Drescher’s, but her problem is largely associated with the nasal quality of her voice).
BTW, you might want to mention to your friend that “Guido” is an unflattering term for those of Italian heritage, and is best left unused, unless you want to look like an idiot.
I once had a teacher who had lived in different places and picked up the worst combination of Texan, Canadian and British accents. It was as if someone with a Texan accent was trying to imitate an english accent VERY VERY badly.
Most Midwestern dialects aren’t particularly flat in vowels, actually. (Midwestern is pretty much the locus of as low a dialectical inflection as we have in America). I have to disagree on Fran Drescher’s annoying vocal qualities being unique to her–virtually all of the 100 or so female Long Island students I’ve had sound like her cousin–the nasality is part of the package. On the other hand, my NYC friends tell me that “Guido” (and “Guidette”) don’t refer to all Italian-Americans, but mostly to the big hair types.
Long Island, in my experience, is the worst. Upper South (Tennessee, South Carolina, etc.) runs a close second.
Also, I have to say that French accents generally grate on my nerves.
Bucky
Oh, well. We can always make more killbots.
crackwise wrote:
Ah, a self-loathing southerner. Brainwashed by Hollywood into believing that a southern accent is a badge of ignorance and/or racism. Watched one too many episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies as a child.
I don’t mean to bust your chops, crackwise, but it breaks my heart to see someone from the South who is apparently ashamed of the fact, to the point of actively trying to lose your accent, and to the point of being embarrassed by your mother for her use of the southern idiom.
Sad to say, you are not alone. I live in Atlanta, where I have been motified to see people flocking to “accent reduction” classes. Why do we all need to sound like we come from Kansas?
Wear that accent with pride. Use it to prove to folks outside the South (who may not know) that not all southerners are ignorant or racist. Help to erase some of the stereotypes. And by all means, be proud of your home and your family.
I’m with JillGat on this one. I love regional accents. Let’s celebrate our diversity rather than rushing to homogenize the country. This country is gonna be a mighty boring place when we all speak, dress, think and act the same way.
[/ rant] […Stepping down from soap box.]
Shadowfox
“The dead have risen, and they’re voting Republican!” - Bart Simpson
Well, I have a friend, he’s from Scotland and has lived in North Carolina for years and years. His accent cracks me up constantly. It’s not bad, just very unique- scotish/southern. I love it! But what do I know? I’m from Bawlmer, hon.
Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it.
Bucky said:
True, which is why I said certain Midwestern accents are flat. I’m thinking specifically of some people I know that, IIRC, are from Wisconsin and Iowa.
Yes, there is a certain nasality to NYC speech, but the grating honking that comes from Fran Drescher is unique to her - God help us if everyone here sounded like that.
Long Island accents are different from the rest of NYC. Two outstanding characteristics: 1) The “g” in the dipthong “ng” is given a hard pronunciation and is elided into following words that begin with a vowel (e.g., “Long Island” ends up sounding like “Long Guyland”). 2) The “aw” sound that is usually attributed to New Yorkers (e.g., “cawffee” for coffee) is pronounced with the lips pursed even tighter than usual, so that the “aw” sounds more like “oh-aw.”
I agree with you that a full-blown Long Island accent can be pretty annoying, but I haven’t actually met that many people whose accents were that bad (and I have lived and worked in the NYC metro area for all my 33 years). A 100+ students sounding like that … what your school do to attract them all - advertise exclusively in northern Nassau County? 
“Guido” and “Guidette” are indeed intended to describe a specific subset of Italian-Americans who dress, groom and behave like Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei did in “My Cousin Vinny.” I have lots of Italian-American friends (in addition to my SO) who will use those terms to describe certain people. However, it is NEVER intended as a compliment, or even as a general descriptive term.
It’s also one of those terms that would be regarded as especially insulting if used by someone who’s not Italian-American or a close friend. melanietarrant’s friend is apparently not a part of the Italian-American community, otherwise they wouldn’t use the term “Guido” for just anyone with a Bronx or other NYC accent. Under the circumstances, I would suggest that neither she nor her friend use the term in general conversation, and particularly if they ever found themselves in the I-A neighborhoods of NYC or Philadelphia.
I’m not sure if Ebonics and “rappa” lingo are one in the same, but it’s that latter that bugs me! Words like “ah-ite”= alright, “gon”= going to, etc. I like regional dialects, usually but this one always gets me. I worked at a record store for a few years, and dreaded rap fans (black AND white) because they didn’t speak English (or ANY real language!) the most simple words take on really inane spellings. “Tha”=the, “2”=two/to/too… It’s SO ridiculous!
Or maybe I’m just that un-hip!
Sweet Basil
Didn’t get voted for a damn thing!
(thanks guys…)
Oh yeah, (“ah yee-uh”) I forgot this:
After a while I started telling these folks “Look, I don’t know this artist, how do you spell the name?” What I didn’t anticipate was what should have been most obvious- people that can’t talk, can’t spell!!
Didn’t get voted for a damn thing!
(thanks guys…)
to clarify that “guido” crack.
i never once heard that term before a year ago.
the friend who used the term is a new york city italian named Tony.
i pictured a “Vinny Barbarino” type with a leather coat and one eye brow.
I honestly thought he made up the term to describe the thugs he used to get into trouble with.
I didn’t realize it was a real term, and i’m truly sorry if i offended anyone
One of my quirks:
I hate think, guttural Scottish accents, but only on women. With men, it’s ok. On women, it sounds, I dunno…not repulsive (that’s a bit strong) but just kind of dirty.
I know I have no basis for that and Scottish women aren’t dirty (anymore than women in general–WHOA! CHEAPSHOT!) but that’s the first thing that comes to mind when I hear it.
Case in point: Shirley Manson from Garbage. Yuck! I hate hearing her talk.
Oh, bite my ass, Fillet. If the Midwestern accent is so terrible then why are the news anchors trained to emulate it? It’s because most words are pronounced correctly using Midwesternese. For example, I start of my day with a cup of coffee. Pronounced cough-ee. My mother in law (back East) drinks cwah-fee, whatever the heck that is! 
Prairie Rose
If you’re not part of the solution you’re just scumming up the bottom of the beaker.
Bite MY ass, Prairie Rose. If you read my post, you’ll notice that I said certain Midwestern accents, not all. There is no single Midwestern accent - people I’ve known & worked/went to school with from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri & Kansas all sounded different from one another. In fact, I had a conversation today about this topic with a friend who lives in Madison, WI, and he felt too that there were definite distinctions that could be made.
Sure, some Midwestern accents are pretty neutral; that’s why so many phone order companies reside in Nebraska, for example. But broadcasters are not taught “Midwesternese.” The form of English preferred for national broadcasters is referred to as - ta da! - Broadcast Standard. Reporters/anchors may be coached to suppress their own regionally-flavored speech, particularly if their accent is quite strong (like a Texas drawl), but they don’t visit a vocal coach to learn how to speak just like an Iowan, for example.
melanietarrant, given that your friend is Italian-American, it could just be that he had a specific picture in mind (e.g., Vinny Barbarino) and assumed you knew that it wasn’t a catch-all term. My apologies if I sounded harsh, but I had visions of you or your friend making a comment that would raise hackles unintentionally. Since he used it in conversation with you, you are obviously part of the “in” crowd, anyway. 
No offense given or taken.
“Broadcast standard” is also referred to as “Nebraska standard” for pronunciation. I grew up in Wisconsin–nope, not a haven for flat vowels. Cornell was the home of lots and lots of Long Guyland types–you’re right on that pronuncation, but people who grow up in NYC have generally been awful at hearing accents. For the record, one of the things I do is teach accents and dialects, so I’m not just pulling this out of my…hat.
Fran Drescher over-emphasized, but she didn’t make up the nasal quality out of whole cloth.
Bucky
Oh, well. We can always make more killbots.