# English and Australian accents : what's the difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811 "2003-07-16T04:40:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/41 "2003-07-18T05:29:21Z")
Many people from Adelaide and Perth say the O sound in ‘no’, ‘toe’, ‘slow’ etc as ‘oy’. This gives noy, toy and sloy. It is not as pronounced as this written description might suggest, though it is noticible. The differences in accents over here are not as obvious as those that exist within the UK or US, which is understandable considering we have not been here that long. I agree with **Princhester** - I am also sceptical that one could distinguish between a Sydney/Melb/Bris accent. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/42 "2003-07-18T08:07:46Z")
I’m pretty doubtful that there are distinct regional Australian accents. Travelling east, I notice small differences in the use of idiom but I’ve never picked up a difference in accent (rural dwellers aside). People may claim South Australians or Queenslanders or Western Australians sound different, but they usually base that shaky conclusion on a few isolated anecdotes. I’d be extremely surprised if someone could identify the state of origin of a random sample of Australian speakers based solely on their accents. It’s usually the ex post facto, “Ah, I _thought_ you were from Perth” – i.e., complete bullshit. **Princhester** : Neighbours is still showing on tellie. Tonight, 6:30pm on Ten. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/43 "2003-07-18T11:16:13Z")
Ahh, you’re right, **Narrad** what I should have said is that Neighbours would have gone out of production long ago had it to rely upon Australian ratings, but because the poms love it so much, it keeps getting made. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/44 "2003-07-18T11:34:58Z")
And talking of Aussie soaps, re the rising inflection: I have been known to watch the occasional 😉 Aussie soap, and have noticed a vast difference accent-wise between soaps of the 70s and 80s (The Sullivans, Sons and Daughters, A Country Practice, The Young Doctors … the accent which reminds me of my native Suffolk) and soaps of the 90s and 00s (Neighbours, Home and Away, etc … the “rising inflection” accent) . This rising inflection, so I have read, _started_ in Melbourne among the “teenage girls of a particular demographic” as **Princhester** says, but has since become more widespread. I particularly notice it being used by people of all ages in DIY progs on Discovery H&L channel. Yeah, ok, I watch a lotta telly\* … 😃 😃 😃 Julie \*( **Narrad** , do Aussies _really_ spell it “tellie”??) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/45 "2003-07-18T12:40:25Z")
There _are_ regional differences in the Australian accent, but they are usually very, very slight, and even then only seem apparent in some people. Rarely, it is indeed possible to correctly guess where a person is from without prior knowledge. For most places, it’s impossible to tell. Sydney and Brisbane accents, for example, seem identical to me. Some Melburnians mix ‘a’ and ‘e’ in certain words. These people will say they come from M_a_lbourne, and buy record _e_lbums. Darryl Somers (washed up Aussie TV personality) does this very markedly. Adelaide folks (not sure about the rest of South Australia) often have trouble pronouncing a terminal ‘L’. I remember one TV reporter who had a strong version of this accent saying, “There was a fatoow accident in the Adelaide Hiws last night…” Oh yes, and they come from South _Austraya_. Country people generally speak more slowly that their urban cousins, but I don’t think this is a uniquely Australian phenomenon. Generally, however, the posters in this thread who have said there are no regional differences are correct. They _are_ there, but you really have to listen out for them. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/46 "2003-07-18T13:03:53Z")
If it ends in ‘ey’, then you’re from Queensland, ey? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/47 "2003-07-18T13:29:20Z")
Was gonna mention that one meself, ey? …not really an accent thing, but it _is_ a dead giveaway yer a canetoad. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/48 "2003-07-18T23:20:28Z")
I would have said it was a dead giveaway that you’re a kiwi, actually, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Xenomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e8c25b/32.png) [@Xenomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xenomorph)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/49 "2003-07-19T00:42:19Z")
Just to chisel in wiff the South African accent thing (being on the ground here), there are actually quite a few different accents here. Their tend to be the Afrikaners “Sarf Efrican” and “Ag ja well no fine” as well as the more English bunch (the vaguely British/Australian) sound. Of course there are also the Zulu/Xhosa/Coloured accents which are totally different as well. Accents here tend to be divided by race/culure instead of geographical location. English speakers from Cape Town and Pretoria would sound similar to each other and totally different form Afrikaners from Pretoria/CT, who again would sound similar to each other. The funny thing is, I went up to Pretoria recently and the people there all thought I was a foreigner, which I thought was pretty damn funny 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/50 "2003-07-19T02:33:50Z")
Test subject checking in here: Aussie living in the US. I’ve been here for three years now, and i’ve lost count of how many times i’ve been asked “which part of England” i’m from. We should be fair to our American friends, however. I mean, we might be able to pick an “American” accent, but how many Aussies or Brits could pick the differences between a mid-western accent, a North Carolina accent, a Louisiana accent, a Brooklyn accent, a Baltimore accent, a Texas accent, etc., etc. These accents are no more or less different than the difference between Aussie and the various Brit accents. And the American accents i listed account for only a small fraction of those you hear in this country. Americans are far from the only ones who have trouble. When i lived in England, i knew Londoners who couldn’t tell the difference between a Yorkshire and a Lancashire accent, despite the fact that, to someone like me who was living in Yorkshire, the two sounded distinctly different. I agree with those Australians who have said that Australian accents are not as strongly regional as American and British ones. The main regional differentiations are rural/urban; apart from that, educational and socio-economic criteria are more important in determining the “harshness” of the accent. There are, however, some rather distinctive “ethnic” Australian accents. For example, first generation Greek Australians have a distinctive accent that is very Australian, yet shows a strong influence from their Greek immigrant parents. Similarly, first generation Vietnamese Australians have their own particular brand of Aussie accent. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/51 "2003-07-19T05:41:29Z")
I’m Canadian and I can easily detect the difference between an Australian vs. English accent. Regional differences are no problem either. And as for American accents, I have been to Ohio and lemme tell you - that’s just across the border and there is a very distinct accent. In some cases, it was downright hard to figure out what they were saying! Eg. “Meal Deal” become “Miiildeew”. Not very appetizing 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/52 "2003-07-19T16:36:56Z")
Thanks for the responses everybody. Even though ahm an uhmerrican, I can tell some accents apart - e.g. cockney vs. Aussie, but not necessarily all others. I think I’ll go with the other poster who said they thought Birmingham was toughest to distinguish from an Aussie accent. 😉 Also, the guy I mentioned in the OP had been going to school in Texas for a few years, so who knows if his accent had been bastardized. ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/53 "2003-07-19T19:10:17Z")
When I visited the U.K. back in the 80’s, I was surprised at the diversity of dialects. It was as if they were proud of their accents and hung on to them. The first night I went to this quiet little pub where the bartender spoke like a british hick, “oi’ve got an idear…,” sounding like the “flying sheep” sketch from Monty Python. Later I went drinking with a computer programmer with a real gutter sounding dielect. Cockney sounding, but with a bit of a slurring sound. Took a little practice to understand the folk in Edinbourgh. Just like watching Benny Hill. It took a few episodes to pick up everything he was saying, although his non-dialog physical comedy was always superior to his spoken word. Terry Thomas comes to mind as having a very distinctive accents. A couple of weeks ago, I sparked a conversation with a cute lady at the YMCA before an exercise class. I guessed her dialect to be northern England. I likely lost some points, she was from Melbourne. My thought is that the bulk of british immigrants to Australia came from certain regions, and that their accent most resembles those regions. So a related question for British dopers would be, what British accent sounds most like the Australians? IMHO, the most “American” sounding english outside the U.S. and Canada comes from Dublin. Although I have been told that is only because they talk slower when they are drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Agback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Agback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agback)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/54 "2003-07-19T21:49:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mhendo \* > \*\*Test subject checking in here: Aussie living in the US. > > I’ve been here for three years now, and i’ve lost count of how many times i’ve been asked “which part of England” i’m from.\*\* Well, I’m in Australia and I have lived here all my life. And hundreds of my fellow-countrymen have asked what part of England or what part of the USA I come from. Dozens have even told me which part of one of those countries I come from. Others have told me that I come from South Africa, or Canada. Conclusion: even Australians cannot pick an Australian accent. Regards, Agback ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/55 "2003-07-19T22:34:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Agback \* > \*\*Well, I’m in Australia and I have lived here all my life. And hundreds of my fellow-countrymen have asked what part of England or what part of the USA I come from. Dozens have even told me which part of one of those countries I come from. Others have told me that I come from South Africa, or Canada. > > Conclusion: even Australians cannot pick an Australian accent. > > Regards, > Agback \*\* Now that is truly bizzarre! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/56 "2003-07-19T23:40:11Z")
Another possible reason for being unable to discern differences is the remarkable ability of the American accent to annihilate others. Few Australians (or Brits) would maintain a strong accent of their own after residing in the US for any period of time. It seems then little wonder that Merkins (especially those who have not travelled to Oz or Britain) find it difficult to distinguish between them because the accents that they _do_ hear are a hybridized English/Yank or Aus/Yank, and bear little resemblence to the accents that would be heard in our homelands. And on preview **Agback** , I have had the same question asked of me too many times to count. I put it down to my culcherd upbringing (and the fact that the people asking me have never heard me swear and scream like a fishwife). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/57 "2003-07-20T05:37:46Z")
Re the OP: There’s a difference?😉 I was blessed to live in a small town here in the states that had a disproportionate number of Aussies, Kiwis, and South Efricans. You get used to hearing them after a while, dontcha know. One day a couple of Yorkshiremen rolled into town. There was no doubt they were English. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/58 "2003-07-20T13:21:38Z")
I’m a Californian, and I can tell the difference between an English, Australian and Kiwi accents. But I once had trouble understanding an American Southern accent when I was a teen. Someone wanted to know where to find the “all”. Took me a bit to realize he was looking for _oil_. I’m planning to visit a friend in Tennessee. She thought it was a good idea, but she said people wouldn’t be able to understand me. (I got this image of me going up to an old dude and saying, “Yo, dog. 'Sup?” Not that I say “Yo, dog.”) ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/59 "2003-07-20T13:22:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kambuckta \* > \*\*Another possible reason for being unable to discern differences is the remarkable ability of the American accent to annihilate others. Few Australians (or Brits) would maintain a strong accent of their own after residing in the US for any period of time. \*\* I simply think it’s just lack of experience. Anyway, i know this fellow who was originally from South Africa, but lived here for many many years, and unless he was trying hard to sound “American” (which he could do well), his accent plunged into South African and he was pretty much unintelligible, particularly when drunk. I remember spending 40 minutes with him trying to understand what was probably a 20 minute conversation. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811/60 "2003-07-20T13:29:55Z")
It’s quite simple really. Aussie: **G’die mite, thraw anatha shrimp on the baahbie, ya nong.** Pommie: **Hello old chap, do please put another prawn on the barbecue, there’s a good fellow.** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-and-australian-accents-whats-the-difference/188811.md?page=4)