# accents that are so bad they sound like mental retardation **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 20, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220 "2009-03-20T22:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/41 "2009-03-22T05:40:08Z")
You’ve got to listen to this [guy](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2726360877915189818) for a while to appreciate the accent; he has Maryland plates on the car he’s working on, and so the Baltimore accent should be correct. I found this a month or so ago as I was preparing to replace my own water pump and to be honest I’ve never heard this exact accent before. On the other hand the video was amazingly helpful, and of course I understood everything. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/42 "2009-03-22T12:06:26Z")
> [@What\_the\_deuce](#): > > I tried to find a youtube video of the Baltimore accent that I heard but I kept coming up with videos like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrVbikDcAsY), which are too comprehensible. > > I’ve never seen the wire, but I found a [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-uY7P3pe4) of Snoop, and she seems to be closer to the mushmouth I heard in Baltimore, but still too comprehensible… I can’t look at youtube at work, but there is a segment of Snoop buying a nail gun at a Home Depot type store that is hilarious. The salesman is showing her a nail gun that uses a cartridge and she starts talking about shooting people with different caliber guns and you can tell he doesn’t have a clue what she’s saying. Worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/43 "2009-03-22T14:24:17Z")
> [@What\_the\_deuce](#): > > Ah, I should have been more specific: Philadelphia, which has a very different accent from Boston. > Sounds like the male announce [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jWUd3Sf4lY). > At least, I think that’s what it sounds like. You see, to me, that sounds like no accent whatsoever. 🙂 > > I have nothing bad to say about “Atlantic Canada”, as I’ve never been there so I don’t know what it sounds like. He doesn’t have an accent, though, at least not anything notable. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the\_deuce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71e660/32.png) [@What\_the\_deuce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the_deuce)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/44 "2009-03-22T14:50:37Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > He doesn’t have an accent, though, at least not anything notable. Go ask one of the Aussies or Brits in this thread whether he has an accent. 😉 Although it’s not too far from the General American accent, There are definitely non-standard features of [Philadelphia talk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_accent), although my personal speech is missing a lot of these because of my unintentionally pedantic style of speaking. I do say the “flat a” funny in limited contexts (mostly before the letters “n” and “m”). I was trying to get rid of this, but found that people couldn’t understand me! :eek: One day, I asked someone where I could find a “scanner” and they were like “What? I never heard of a scanner. What’s that?”. I said “You know, for scanning documents into a computer.” “Oh! Yeah, you mean a _scayanner_. Yeah, there’s one on the 3rd floor.”:smack: ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/45 "2009-03-22T16:06:16Z")
> [@What\_the\_deuce](#): > > Go ask one of the Aussies or Brits in this thread whether he has an accent. 😉 > > Although it’s not too far from the General American accent, There are definitely non-standard features of [Philadelphia talk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_accent), although my personal speech is missing a lot of these because of my unintentionally pedantic style of speaking. > > I do say the “flat a” funny in limited contexts (mostly before the letters “n” and “m”). I was trying to get rid of this, but found that people couldn’t understand me! :eek: One day, I asked someone where I could find a “scanner” and they were like “What? I never heard of a scanner. What’s that?”. I said “You know, for scanning documents into a computer.” “Oh! Yeah, you mean a _scayanner_. Yeah, there’s one on the 3rd floor.”:smack: Fair point. Also, I’m from Philly as well, and grudgingly admit that I’ll probably never fully get rid of that accent, so to make myself feel better I pretend there’s no such thing. Also I know I make myself sound retarded when I very carefully over-pronounce w_ah_-ter, but if I don’t it becomes “wooder,” so really I sound stupid either way. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/46 "2009-03-22T16:07:10Z")
**What the deuce?** , are you a native Philadelphian? The wiki article you just linked to states: > [@](#): > > The Philadelphia dialect is, however, **in most respects similar to the dialects of** Wilmington, Delaware and **Baltimore** , together with which it constitutes what Labov describes as the “Mid-Atlantic Dialect”. This jibes with my own experience as well. I was born in Philadelphia, raised and went to college in the near suburbs, and then lived for three years in Maryland, and I have difficulty distinguishing between the Philly and Baltimore accent. (I don’t have a thick Philly accent, either – I don’t say “wooder” for “water” or “beeyouteeful” for “beautiful”, for example – probably because my parents aren’t native Pennsylvanians.) Anyway, to me the Philly and Baltimore accents are a lot alike. (Maybe the Philly accent is more nasal.) What differences do you hear? ---
**Author:** ![What\_the\_deuce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71e660/32.png) [@What\_the\_deuce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the_deuce)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/47 "2009-03-22T16:41:18Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > **What the deuce?** , are you a native Philadelphian? The wiki article you just linked to states: > This jibes with my own experience as well. I was born in Philadelphia, raised and went to college in the near suburbs, and then lived for three years in Maryland, and I have difficulty distinguishing between the Philly and Baltimore accent. (I don’t have a thick Philly accent, either – I don’t say “wooder” for “water” or “beeyouteeful” for “beautiful”, for example – probably because my parents aren’t native Pennsylvanians.) > > Anyway, to me the Philly and Baltimore accents are a lot alike. (Maybe the Philly accent is more nasal.) What differences do you hear? I grew up “close enough” to Philly. Since many of my childhood friends say “wooder”, I think I can qualify. I’m not sure why you have trouble distinguishing the accents of the two cities, maybe because you are too used to both of them. Regardless, the Baltimore accent I’m complaining about is the really, thick mushy accent that I found in a few encounters, not the “standard” Baltimore accent that you can easily find on youtube. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/48 "2009-03-23T11:59:35Z")
While I would like it to be clear that I personally believe that Australian’s have the most hideous accent that is possible (I have to say that…I’m a KIWI!) when I was travelling the accent that made people sound incredibly stupid was the Kiwi accent! I love our accent-AT HOME- away from home we sound as thick as pig shit (and that’s through KIWI ears!). I can’t understand how American’s understand the ‘Flight of the Conchord’s’ boys…I love the way they they stayed true to our daft accent! I will say it…the New Zealander’s accent makes them sound simple (Not as bad as Aussies though!). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/49 "2009-03-23T15:06:29Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > **What the deuce?** , are you a native Philadelphian? The wiki article you just linked to states: > This jibes with my own experience as well. I was born in Philadelphia, raised and went to college in the near suburbs, and then lived for three years in Maryland, and I have difficulty distinguishing between the Philly and Baltimore accent. (I don’t have a thick Philly accent, either – I don’t say “wooder” for “water” or “beeyouteeful” for “beautiful”, for example – probably because my parents aren’t native Pennsylvanians.) > > Anyway, to me the Philly and Baltimore accents are a lot alike. (Maybe the Philly accent is more nasal.) What differences do you hear? ITT: posts that you read to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire music. ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/50 "2009-03-23T15:27:06Z")
> [@bbs2k](#): > > I’ve often wondered why we even need the letter “R” in the alphabet… So that those of us raised in parts of Missouri (pronounced Muh 'zurrrrr ee) have something to rest on when we talk. I’ve gotten rid of most of my hick accent, but I just can’t shake the over-pronunciation of the R. I know that to many native Chicagoans I sound like an idiot from the boonies, but hey, thick Chicago accents give me the impression that the person is uneducated (and I do know that’s not true). ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/51 "2009-03-24T22:41:57Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > There is no absolute standard in language. People who don’t talk like you sound funny, but you sound funny to them. You need to get out more. Surely we all can agree that Geordies sound like idiots, no? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/52 "2009-03-24T23:54:43Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > You’ve got to listen to this [guy](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2726360877915189818) for a while to appreciate the accent; he has Maryland plates on the car he’s working on, and so the Baltimore accent should be correct. > > I found this a month or so ago as I was preparing to replace my own water pump and to be honest I’ve never heard this exact accent before. On the other hand the video was amazingly helpful, and of course I understood everything. So, can I bump my own response regarding the Baltimore accent and the example I provided that no one wants to comment upon. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![What\_the\_deuce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71e660/32.png) [@What\_the\_deuce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the_deuce)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/53 "2009-03-25T15:23:35Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So, can I bump my own response regarding the Baltimore accent and the example I provided that no one wants to comment upon. 😕 That’s the “normal”, comprehensible Baltimore accent in your video. The accent I’m complaining about is the twisted, incomprehensible accent you find in some isolated areas, closer to the “Snoop” video that someone posted earlier. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/54 "2009-03-25T15:40:15Z")
That video was very educational, thank you. 🙂 There is a noticeable difference between the Philly and Baltimore accents after all, it seems – in B’more it’s more “wa(r)ter” than “wooder”. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrVbikDcAsY) another classic Baltimore accent. Do people really find these incomprehensible, though? [Chris Matthews](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLIasbt_0xE) is from Philadelphia. [And here’s another example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn6wZpOSZ64) of the Philly accent. The vowel sounds are similar to the Baltimore accent…both regions “smear” them, to my ear. “Light” becomes “luh-ight” and "don’t " becomes “deh-on’t”. (These really are some ugly accents, aren’t they? :o) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/55 "2009-03-25T18:06:19Z")
> [@calm\_kiwi](#): > > I can’t understand how American’s understand the ‘Flight of the Conchord’s’ boys…I love the way they they stayed true to our daft accent! [Sound Clip](http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Flight_of_Conchords_Bret.aspx) Bret: I’m in a band. Woman: Cool. What’s your name again? Bret: Bret. Woman: Brit? Bret: Bret. Woman: Brit? Bret: Bret. Woman: Brit? Like, like Britney? Bret: Ah, nah um, B-R-E-T Woman: Oh, Bret. Bret: Yeah. Woman: It just sounds like Brit. I like your English accent. Bret: New Zealand. Woman: Oh, from New Zealand?! Bret: Yeah. Woman: I hear it’s beautiful. Um, there’s vikings there right? Bret: Ahhh…yeah. ---
**Author:** ![santosvega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@santosvega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/santosvega)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/56 "2009-03-27T21:05:59Z")
I for one have encountered the accent that I believe the OP is referring to. It’s not very similar to the Delaware or Philly accent at all to my ears. My recollection is that it was described to me as a specifically South Baltimore accent and my god it was fascinating. I’ve got a good ear. I can usually understand someone if they’re speaking some variety of English, whether I’m in the deep south or Downeast Maine; I can usually even decipher a thick Jamaican patois. But this “South Baltimore accent”, which I’ve only encountered a couple of times, was a mystery to me. I couldn’t begin to reproduce it. I was hanging out in Fell’s Point with my brother in the late 90’s and we were inevitable lured into a tavern that advertised a seven and a half hour happy hour. Who could resist? The bartender, an attractive and charming woman, spoke with what was to my ears a completely incomprehensible accent, and my brother, who’s got a master’s degree in linguistics, fared only slightly better. We’re both polite sorts, and got through the conversation without letting on that we had no idea whatsoever what she was saying to us and ordered a couple of Yuenglings. Good times. I don’t know that I can remember this bizarre dialect enough to even describe it. I remember at the time I thought it sounded like a combination of every other accent I had ever heard. When pressed by my friends to be more specific, I described it as the result of an unholy union between a heavy southern drawl, a thick Aussie accent, a little dose of Virginia, and, I don’t know, Swedish or something. Should you ever chance to hear it, you’ll know. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/57 "2009-03-27T21:51:45Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Which I don’t understand. There is nothing hotter than a Southern accent on a girl. Yankee girls say, “You may.” Southern girls say “Y’all may.” Great for team morale. I have a very thick, very pronounced Texas twang. People have made fun of me for my accent. I’ve developed an effective way of dealing with those people. I simply say “Fuck y’all.” ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/58 "2009-03-28T08:34:24Z")
> [@What\_the\_deuce](#): > > I’ve never seen the wire, but I found a [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-uY7P3pe4) of Snoop, and she seems to be closer to the mushmouth I heard in Baltimore, but still too comprehensible. What a great scene… ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/59 "2009-03-28T15:18:28Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > Well, I’m surprised that the southern accent hasn’t been brought up as retarded-sounding, seeing’s how that seems to be the popular sentiment. :rolleyes: For me, the Boston accent (and the rest of New England, for that matter) sounds very strange. I don’t think it sounds like drunk/retarded talk, just someone with a speech impediment where they can’t say R’s properly. For the record, most of New England does NOT sound like that. Only eastern Mass, parts of New Hampshire, and parts of Maine have that “where did my R go?” accent to varying degrees. Most of the people I know from the northeast (I’m including parts of NY and NJ in here as well) have almost no accent. And I’m not just saying that because we all have the same accent and we don’t notice, there really is hardly anything there at all. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the\_deuce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71e660/32.png) [@What\_the\_deuce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the_deuce)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/60 "2009-03-28T19:39:39Z")
> [@santosvega](#): > > I for one have encountered the accent that I believe the OP is referring to. It’s not very similar to the Delaware or Philly accent at all to my ears. My recollection is that it was described to me as a specifically South Baltimore accent and my god it was fascinating. I’ve got a good ear. I can usually understand someone if they’re speaking some variety of English, whether I’m in the deep south or Downeast Maine; I can usually even decipher a thick Jamaican patois. But this “South Baltimore accent”, which I’ve only encountered a couple of times, was a mystery to me. I couldn’t begin to reproduce it. I was hanging out in Fell’s Point with my brother in the late 90’s and we were inevitable lured into a tavern that advertised a seven and a half hour happy hour. Who could resist? The bartender, an attractive and charming woman, spoke with what was to my ears a completely incomprehensible accent, and my brother, who’s got a master’s degree in linguistics, fared only slightly better. We’re both polite sorts, and got through the conversation without letting on that we had no idea whatsoever what she was saying to us and ordered a couple of Yuenglings. Good times. > I don’t know that I can remember this bizarre dialect enough to even describe it. I remember at the time I thought it sounded like a combination of every other accent I had ever heard. When pressed by my friends to be more specific, I described it as the result of an unholy union between a heavy southern drawl, a thick Aussie accent, a little dose of Virginia, and, I don’t know, Swedish or something. Should you ever chance to hear it, you’ll know. I’m glad I’m not the only who’s encountered this abomination. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220.md?page=4)