# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/61 "2009-03-28T19:47:37Z")
I love the accents of the white woman teacher and the real-life Landsman on the Wire. Closest thing America has to a Scouse accent, in terms of weirdness. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/62 "2009-03-28T19:55:38Z")
Found a youtube clip of the accent I’m talking about; guy speaking at the beginning. Dunno if this is what **What the deuce?** is referring to-edit prob. not a similar example was posted above, tho a softer example. I don’t find it intelligible or stupid but it is unique. “No known abode.” Rofl. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzjlZlq\_CMQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzjlZlq_CMQ). Spoilers for season four and language NSFW. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/63 "2009-03-28T20:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=What the deuce?;10960171 I’ve never seen the wire, but I found a [video] ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-uY7P3pe4](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. [/QUOTE] I encounter this too often. I feel like I need a translator. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/64 "2009-03-29T03:42:02Z")
> [@Alma](#): > > 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). My wife, who left the South Side back in the 50s and has, to my ears, only occasional lapses into Gage-Parkese, used to do the insurance for workers for the City of Memphis. She had to adopt a southern accent to be understood. I spent my formative years in central Virginia and, if I’m not careful, pronounce “car” as “core” and “pen” as “pin” (and “pin” as “pin,” adding to the confusion). Drives my kids crazy. And I’m sure I mentioned this, but when in sales my customers were mostly from the East Coast, especially Boston. The rule of thumb was, if you couldn’t understand the caller, give him to me. So I also had Kiwis. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/65 "2009-03-29T04:19:20Z")
> [@Alienhand](#): > > That road don’t go nowhere, just stays right he-uh. Should be “That road don’t go no-way-uh, just stays right he-uh.” 🙂 I love Maine accents. They always sound as if they’re saying something really profound. > [@elelle](#): > > A note on indecipherable accents: I’ve heard it in Mississippi and New Orleans, with black citizens; there will be a regular talk with white people, then a different talk that can’t be heard as readily with white folks. I assume the second-to-last word there should be “black.” That linguistic habit was developed in slavery times, and was much more pronounced back then. There were a lot of advantages to it. They could talk about stuff without their masters understanding them. And a common form of resistance was playing stupid, so putting up a (false) language barrier was useful in that regard. (See Peter Kolchin’s American Slavery for further details.) ---
**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 29, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/66 "2009-03-29T06:27:59Z")
> [@alexandra](#): > > Found a youtube clip of the accent I’m talking about; guy speaking at the beginning. Dunno if this is what **What the deuce?** is referring to-edit prob. not a similar example was posted above, tho a softer example. > > I don’t find it intelligible or stupid but it is unique. “No known abode.” Rofl. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzjlZlq\_CMQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzjlZlq_CMQ). Spoilers for season four and language NSFW. Thanks, but that video’s not it. The Snoop video remains the closest to the incomprehensible accent I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220/67 "2009-03-30T19:48:40Z")
Can’t find the specific Carl’s Jr. commercial…although somehow somebody superimposed the audio onto a Law and Order Video…I guess it’s kinda funny… [Wasya eatin? A boigur?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3RtCZ4NG3s) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accents-that-are-so-bad-they-sound-like-mental-retardation/490220.md?page=3)