# Do you get irrationally irritated by accents / voice traits? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332 "2015-04-23T01:21:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/81 "2015-04-27T14:40:04Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Really? Are we going to play variety/accent/dialect/sociolect/idiolect/code change/bidialectism here? In that case I hope you’ll address the fallacy of saying “British accent”. > I really don’t think that the OP was going for the linguistics lesson. You were the one who referred to the stereotype speech pattern that typically accompanies “nelly” behavior as an “accent”, which it manifestly is not. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/82 "2015-04-27T17:50:43Z")
The only one that really grates on my ears is what I _think_ is some kind of NYC accent- probably Bronx or Queens. It’s whatever Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea rap in, and what others (Minaj) seem to talk in all the time. Whatever accent that is just makes my skin crawl. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/83 "2015-04-27T18:34:39Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The only one that really grates on my ears is what I _think_ is some kind of NYC accent- probably Bronx or Queens. It’s whatever Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea rap in, and what others (Minaj) seem to talk in all the time. Whatever accent that is just makes my skin crawl. Oh sweet fancy Moses , yes. I was afraid to say anything because it is AAV (I guess?) and I know some people will consider that racist. But, oh well, I’m an equal opportunity dialect mocker. Ms. Azalea’s in particular makes me homicidal, and now that I’ve seen a picture of her, she’s ugly too. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/84 "2015-04-27T20:06:35Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Oh sweet fancy Moses , yes. I was afraid to say anything because it is AAV (I guess?) and I know some people will consider that racist. But, oh well, I’m an equal opportunity dialect mocker. Ms. Azalea’s in particular makes me homicidal, and now that I’ve seen a picture of her, she’s ugly too. The funny thing is that Iggy Azalea’s actually Australian. Her actual speaking accent is Aussie, but her performing accent is whatever that grating business is. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/85 "2015-04-28T00:11:36Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The funny thing is that Iggy Azalea’s actually Australian. Her actual speaking accent is Aussie, but her performing accent is whatever that grating business is. That only makes it worse, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/86 "2015-04-28T00:29:08Z")
I am particularly annoyed by “Airline Pilot” speak. They all seem to adopt a “laid-back good-ole-boy” pattern that has an indistinct southern twang. I am quite certain that all airline pilots were not born and raised in northern Louisiana. Some are certainly from New England, some from The Bronx, some from Idaho. But every single one use the same pattern of speech when they are making their in-flight announcements. Guys, just talk normal, OK? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/87 "2015-04-28T02:10:01Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I am particularly annoyed by “Airline Pilot” speak. They all seem to adopt a “laid-back good-ole-boy” pattern that has an indistinct southern twang. I am quite certain that all airline pilots were not born and raised in northern Louisiana. Some are certainly from New England, some from The Bronx, some from Idaho. But every single one use the same pattern of speech when they are making their in-flight announcements. > > Guys, just talk normal, OK? I haven’t / don’t fly often enough for this to have gotten on my nerves (obviously someone named \*\*Icarus \*\*would!) but I know exactly what you’re describing. I would call it smarmy. On the subject of flying though, I have noticed the flight attendants do this weird sing songy thing when they’re giving their preflight spiel. Kind of like Chandler on _Friends_- “. . .the hills are alive with the sound _OF MUSIC_” where their voice goes up and down at weird times. Same with tram and ride operators at amusement parks."if you look _TO_ your left, you’ll see the parks _MANY_ examples of _NATIVE_ primaaaaaates. I like to call _THAT_one the _GORILLA_my dreeeeams. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/88 "2015-04-28T02:13:18Z")
Sofia Vergara is worse than fingernails on a blackboard. Most Spanish accents don’t bother me, but theres something abut her whinny sing-song voice that bugs me. Aussie accents are quite nice. I like most British accents. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/89 "2015-04-28T02:35:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Sofia Vergara is worse than fingernails on a blackboard. Most Spanish accents don’t bother me, but theres something abut her whinny sing-song voice that bugs me. > > Aussie accents are quite nice. I like most British accents. Now you people are just ruining Sofia for me:) Pretty much it’s only “non standard” American accents that irritate me. Off hand I can’t think of a foreign accent I don’t like. There is a certain regional British accent - I think I was told it’s Essex maybe- where the ladies talk in a high, sing songy voice that can be kind of grating after awhile. Some of the far Eastern languages aren’t too pretty but I don’t usually mind when the speaker is speaking in accented English. Why do I hate America?:smack:😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/90 "2015-04-28T02:46:42Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Why do I hate America?:smack:😉 Because _A Horse With No Name_ is a really stupid song. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/91 "2015-04-28T02:55:37Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Because _A Horse With No Name_ is a really stupid song. Not only that, but they sing it with a weird, borderline twang. And they’re not even American. For shame. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/92 "2015-04-28T13:12:11Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I am particularly annoyed by “Airline Pilot” speak. They all seem to adopt a “laid-back good-ole-boy” pattern that has an indistinct southern twang. I am quite certain that all airline pilots were not born and raised in northern Louisiana. Some are certainly from New England, some from The Bronx, some from Idaho. But every single one use the same pattern of speech when they are making their in-flight announcements. > > Guys, just talk normal, OK? It depends on which airline you’re on. e.g. About 25% of Delta’s pilots live in Atlanta and most grew up in the South. About 30% of American’s pilots live in Dallas and a vast percentage grew up in the TX, OK, LA, AR area. About 2/3rds of Southwest’s pilots live in Houston or Phoenix. United has a huge Chicago contingent and another cadre from Denver, offset by a pile from Newark. Regardless of carrier if you get a crew of New York- or Boston-based folks they sound like it. If you mostly fly one airline on one route, e.g. going to see relatives someplace, you’ll tend to always draw crews from the same base. Who’ll mostly sound similar. I sound like what I am: a guy originally from LA who lived in the Midwest for 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/93 "2015-04-28T13:30:36Z")
According to **The Right Stuff,** it isn’t Louisiana but rather Chuck Yeager’s West Virginia accent that pilots effect. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/94 "2015-05-01T15:46:05Z")
I’m going to amend what I said earlier about not minding regional accents. Every afternoon for the past three days, I’ve had to attend an online conference where one of the speakers sounds like she could be a friend of Katharine Hepburn in _The Philadelphia Story_ and it’s almost unbearable. She also talks slowly and drawls out every word. And one of the men has a bad headcold, and another sounds like a narrator of a 1950s educational film slowed down a bunch. Insufferable! ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/95 "2015-05-01T22:33:15Z")
Whatever accent it is from New York that shows up a lot on Friends- Janice has it, a girl who Joey dated (who by the way was friends with Janice) in the first season has it, it’s about like Fran Drescher. It’s very grating. In general, I like Southern accents. But the one Rue Maclanahan used on The Golden Girls annoys me to the point I can’t watch more than one or two episodes at a time, despite it being very funny overall. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/96 "2015-05-02T13:01:28Z")
I just took the Megabus from Kansas City to Chicago. I got to talking with a fellow passenger from New Haven, Connecticut and she had \*\*exactly \*\*the same accent as Lois Griffin from _Family Guy_. Nice person, but I don’t know if I could be around someone who sounded like that day in and day out. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/97 "2015-05-02T14:01:44Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > There was an interesting This American Life segment recently about how they get a lot of complaints about “Vocal Fry” when they have young women report stories. He went on to say that before that they would get complaints about how young women would end non question sentences with rising inflection like a question. Before that it was them using the word “like” to much and so on and so on. His thesis was that the specific complaint was whatever the trend of the day is but the bottom line is some people just don’t like hearing news or authoritative commentary from young women. This is exactly the thing I was referencing in this thread — [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18334519#post18334519](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18334519#post18334519) ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/98 "2015-05-03T04:43:34Z")
That mm-mm noise people make when they somehow can’t manage to say ‘you’re welcome’ grrrrr. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/99 "2015-05-03T14:59:04Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > That mm-mm noise people make when they somehow can’t manage to say ‘you’re welcome’ grrrrr. I think you misspelled “no problem”. 🙂 Which itself rates at least a grrrrr and maybe a GRRR!! ---
**Author:** ![SuperGadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@SuperGadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperGadger)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332/100 "2020-03-01T09:38:52Z")
Irrationally irritated by accents and voices? Only so much so that I have to mute them! American women with their bl\*\*dy awful nasal whining and affected so-called “Vocal Fry”? oh, yes: off goes my volume controller and if you want to experience an American whose narration causes your nerves to jolt whenever he pronounces a word beginning with a vowel, try (for as long as you can stand it), the git used during Spacex updates by YouTube’s “Engineering Today” - the initial vowel sound of every sentence and most words such as “And” - “Is” get\* barked \*at you at twice the volume. How rare it is to hear an American of either sex speaking in a manner acceptable to most intelligent individuals raised in the UK: allied to this, I despise the average American’s continual repetitions of words such as “Like” - “Gotten” - “Aluminum” - “Nucular” and many, many more and their insistence on misspelling and making up their own words - and as for their grammar, words fail me. My viewing entertainment is also ruined by American audiences whooping, screaming and whistling their appreciation every few seconds, e.g. punctuating comedic observations made by people such as Bill Maher: try YouTube’s “New Rules” Maher shows and see how long you can stand his moronic audiences… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-irrationally-irritated-by-accents-voice-traits/718332.md?page=6)