I watch a lot of programming on a podcasting network called Twit.tv (Twit stands for This Week In Tech). Most of the people on the channel are writers, and with some of the folks, it can be hard to listen through their vocal mannerisms.
Two very notable ones are Jolie O’Dell and Harry McCracken. She knows her subject inside and out, and is a very bright person, but she has a very high voice and a tendency towards “baby doll” - which reduced her apparent intelligence by a good 50 points. Harry speaks in a monotone - zero variation in pitch. Again, a very bright man, knows the tech sector thoroughly, but actively unpleasant to listen to.
But the person who did the voice recording for Chicago’s “L” should never have gotten the job. Half the time, he’s not pronouncing the work “next” correctly. Some times he got it right, but half the time it’s “Belmont is necks”.
What region does that? I’d rather cope with the omission of a “t” or two than hear the t sound replaced with “d” such as a glass of “wadder”. Yes, I’d like that much “bedder”. GAH.
There’s a character on a new show called Backstrom, and she has a Russian accent. It made me realize that I don’t particularly care for how English sounds with a Russian accent. I got nothing against Russian people, it just feels to me like they are physically straining to speak English. I kind of feel this way about English with a French accent, too.
It’s quite possible that I don’t like how Hollywood does Russian and French accents (the actress in *Backstrom *is not actually Russian). But I have spent time with a French person speaking English and once our conversation turned into a fight, I was just so annoyed by her voice. Blech.
I am irrationally put off by Arianna Huffington’s accent. I don’t dislike her, or what she has to say. But I find it almost impossible to listen to her. I’m sorry. It’s irrational. Accents in general don’t bother me. Some I actually enjoy.
OK, now I’ve had it. It’s ME you hate, isn’t it? “Latter” and “ladder” sound exactly the same comin’ outta my mouth. Wah-Ter. Lat-Ter. Nope, if I say that out loud it sounds affected, like I’m trying too hard.
it’s not may fault! Blame my parents for raising me in the land o cheese.
(You’ll really gnash your teeth if you ever heard me say “ocean” and “open”. The first really has a Wisconsin OH - OHH-shen. The second has a spurious M that I have no idea where it came from - OHM-pen.)
Given the demographics of the “El”'s passengers, is it perhaps a case of them deliberately pronouncing half the time in AAVE and half the time in White Midwestern?
I’m only semi-serious here, but stranger things have been done …
I’m just having fun. I love accents. I’m a fair mimic. Catch me on a good day, and I can riff in a foreign accent, like an Indian call service person, that’ll have 'em rolling in the aisles.
Trouble is, I don’t think accents are “funny”. They just are what they are. I’m not trying to insult someone by copying their accent. But it can seem that way. So I feel guilty. I was raised liberal and Catholic, so I get double the guilt.
On the other hand, that recent Jeopardy winner who answered the clue about the “film with Owen Wilson and Bonny Hunt” with “Caahs”, I thought I’d missed something. I thought they were going to reject his answer. I think Alex stumbled until he “translated”. What the heck did he say? I’m still chuckling. I’m a bad boy…
I just sat through a two hour HR class where the instructor had a pronounced Midwestern accent (oh yes you do have an accent, Midwesterners). Therefore, the word ‘talent’ became something like ‘teeyallent’, with that weird ‘a’ sound that’s common to the region. Normally, I can deal, but since the class was entirely about strengths and talents, I had to hear her say it approximately 792 times.
A dear friend of mine is from WisCAAHNsin so I’m hep to the OHH-shen thing, but I’m not familiar with anyone putting an “m” in “open”. Just exactly how does that go?
Yes, especially baby-talk by men. Kids, OK, I can understand, but you’re supposed to grow out of “Chowcuit miwk” talk, not use an excuse like, “I lived in a lot of different states when I was a kid.”
I think that one is just me. I’ve never heard anyone else do it. (I didn’t even know I was doing it until someone laughed at me, like “what the heck did you say?”) . No idea where it came from.
Just say it like you are meditating. “ohm”. Then add the normal -pen. There is a definite but small “mmm”. People repeat it back to me as OOHMMM-pen. It must sound really weird! Probably the mix with the Wiscahnsin “O”.
The only thing close I’ve ever heard is a guy I work with, from Louisiana. He adds a mysterious N into the word “put”. He says “punt”, but it doesn’t sound like “punt” in football, more like the U from “put” but with an N. Poont? I’ve never heard him do it with any other similar words.
Oh, and to answer your actual question in the OP, it occurs to me there is one that give me a slight irrational reaction. People who use the “or” in words that have a “a” like “wash”. So they get “worsh”. It doesn’t sound like an accent so much as a speech impediment!
See, now you’re getting the hang of it! Go ahead, mock freely my friend; you’ll feel much better for it
Oh, and just so no one thinks that *I think * I’m The Arbiter of proper speech, I currently wear a temporary bridge that makes me sound not unlike Cindy Brady. And I’ve also smoked for thirty + years, so though I don’t have a raspy smokers voice, my voice is lower than it probably would have be if I hadn’t. You may all insult me now I’m sure I get on plenty of peoples’ nerves around here.
I feel like I say this every time vocal fry comes up here, but…men do this, too. It’s just harder to notice because their voices are deeper. IN FACT, I work with a guy who regularly speaks with vocal fry and it drives me crazy!
I have to listen to a lot of online conferences, tutorials, webinars, etc., as part of my job, and quirks in people’s voices drive me batshit. Lisps, baby voices, blocked sinuses, talking too slowly, having a distinct speech impediment…I’m sorry, but if you have any of these things, you should not be doing professional voice recording. Diane Rehm, you are the worst. I know you have a legit medical reason and your radio work is legendary, but I simply cannot listen to you.
Regional accents, though, don’t bother me. I’ll listen to the world’s worst accent (ahem Baltimore) for hours on end if the speaker has a pleasant voice.
I find many accents confusing, but can’t think of any that I hate. On the contrary, I have found a lot of new accents endearing after getting comfortable enough with them.
Guess that makes me holier than everyone in this thread.
By stereotypical, you mean an exaggerated accent like Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, or the common Indian on the street?
I watched that episode and the follow-up one, too. Alex said “Our champion has quite an accent…”. But when the went through the interviews after the commercial break, the champ told some story and the accent was absent. He’s from Norwood, MA, the next town over from my hometown. My husband and I noticed that the accent would mysteriously be present for some answers, then completely absent in others. We concluded that the “caaahs” answer was a very Boston-area-specific joke, an exaggeration. Once Alex pointed out the accent on the following show, the champ was no longer able to maintain the mostly-fake accent it without feeling sheepish.
Hey hey hey, what a coincidence – I have to listen to a webinar right now! And I can add “young women who sound like mopey teenagers” to the list of irritants. You’re supposed to sound like a professional when you introduce speakers and moderate discussion, ffs. LEARN TO ELOCUTE.
I’ve known people who actually sound like Fran Drescher without it being an act. I have declined invitations when I knew there was a chance of them being in attendence.
I can watch about 15 minutes of “New Yankee Workshop” without getting twitchy. Unfortunate since I really like the subject matter. There are a couple of other shows set in the same region that I can’t watch either. It seems the northeastern seaboard will be forever off limits to me.
Also, anyone that pronounces an 'r at the end of words ending in a. It’s ‘data’ and ‘idea’ dammit, not datar and idear.
I still haven’t quite nailed down the vocal fry thing- I listened to that TAL podcast, and didn’t really parse what portion of the voice constituted the vocal fry. Is it the slight “crackliness” in a voice? It just doesn’t seem to jump out at me as being annoying (at least the examples from This American Life don’t, anyway).
However, what I absolutely cannot stand is the affectation of a higher-than-normal speaking voice. Last night I watched the “TGS Hates Women” episode of 30 Rock, and the voice of Abby Flynn made me absolutely irrationally angry.
I generally like accents, and irritation may only occur if the speaker is unlikeable in other ways. Mispronouncing words due to ignorance (has this person never seen the word spelled, how would they ever think it was spoken this way??), or just plain laziness is another matter. Several of my family members have lost the ability to shape their mouths into an o. Forty is farty - I know that’s a St. Louis thing, as in Highway farty far, but it extends to every single word with that vowel. Short is shart. Horses are harses. Tornados are tarnadas. Windows are windas. It’s like they can’t make the effort to shape their mouths into an o shape. It isn’t just a southern or country accent. It seems to be a purposeful attempt at sounding as ignorant (they prounounce it ignernt) by corrupting words (and also breaking every rule of grammar ever taught) that drives me crazy. Maybe if the tone of voice was different it wouldn’t be as irritating, but it’s often angry and complaining, which makes it so much worse.
