# Is a southern accent sexy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2017, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583 "2017-06-10T11:24:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/21 "2017-06-10T16:05:08Z")
Southern US accent sexy? No. BBC British? Whoa yeah! Of the English as a second language accents, I loooove a soft Italian accent. Makes me gooey inside. ---
**Author:** ![LicketySplit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@LicketySplit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LicketySplit)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/22 "2017-06-10T16:33:18Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I think is it but I am biased since I grew up here in NC. I’m a guy and I am talking about women’s accents. These days with so many transplants there are not many people with southern accents left around here. Women can comment on this too. > > On the other hand a woman with a NY/NJ accent is a big dislike for me. And I lived for a few years as a kid in NJ before I moved to NC. > > A friend of mine from NJ told me he thought his GF talked with a more southern accent when they were alone. First let me say that I grew-up in California and now live in Texas. I always found a southern, especially a Texas accent on a woman (there is a difference, btw) to often be sexy. On a man I think a Texas drawl is more pleasing than a Southern accent. Which usually connotes somebody from one of the Southeastern states. For example, if I could have a voice and accent like anybody, I would choose Matt McCoughnahey’s. (sp?) It’s just the perfect level of drawl. Not too much. Every woman I’ve ever heard mention it think’s it’s super sexy. After several years here, a few of my Cali friends said that I had developed a slight drawl. This, when I visited back there last year. My wife–a Yankee–also says I have a Texas drawl. I myself can’t hear it. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/23 "2017-06-10T17:33:04Z")
They maybe would be, but Hollywood killed it. Nothing is worse, or unsexier, than an actress “way over-Southerning”, as Cro called it on MST3K. There are actresses from the south who have had it beaten out of them at acting school, only to be replaced in films by Minnesota-born actresses “over-Southerning”. Like Jessica Lang in “Streetcar”, a virtual parody on bad theater. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/24 "2017-06-10T17:41:25Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I think a point of confusion is that sometimes in TV or movies there’s someone with a really sexy voice. Who also has a Southern accent. So a Southern accent is sexy, right? Another potential factor is that many, if not most, Southern accents on TV and in movies aren’t real. In the _Seinfeld_ episode where Jerry is captivated by the sexy Southern accent of George’s ex-girlfriend, the actress is from Brooklyn. Depending on the skill (and restraint) of the performer, it can come across as dead-on or cartoonish. Christina Ricci evidently had Foghorn Leghorn as a vocal coach for her role of Zelda Fitzgerald recently. I don’t think she ever actually said “ah do de-CLAY-uh!” but it would’ve fit right in. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/25 "2017-06-10T18:17:56Z")
Southern France, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/26 "2017-06-10T18:42:01Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Southern accents are not sexy at all. > > Italian & French accents are very sexy but I don’t think any US accent is sexy. Some woman told me I had a pretty ‘French accent’ and I was like WTF ! I have a speech defect , and some guys think it’s sexy . :smack: I don’t think a Southern is sexy, I dated a guy from the south , he was sexy to me not his accent . I agree you with I think Italian & French are sexy and I think Hispanic accent is sexy. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/27 "2017-06-10T18:54:20Z")
A good friend of mine is from Birmingham, Alabama. I could listen to her read grocery lists, her accent is so wonderful. I don’t personally know any Louisiana Cajuns, but I sure like the accents I hear on TV and in film. Mrs. Shark is a life-long Manhattanite and I really like her accent. However, I don’t find the “outer burroughs” accents very sexy. Her brother, also a Manhattanite, sounds as she does; his wife, on the other hand, is straight outta Queens and kind of sounds like Fran Drescher. It’s amazing how much accent difference can be found within a 15-mile radius. Another hate: “Utah speak.” It’s not the “alternative grammar,” it’s the tone and accent that can make a speaker seem really dumb – getting rid of my Utah accent was a priority when I left home. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/28 "2017-06-10T20:10:47Z")
It’s a fine line between sounding sexy and sounding like you have brain damage. A few people can pull off the sexy, but the vast majority cannot. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/29 "2017-06-10T21:54:15Z")
Eww, _no_. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/30 "2017-06-10T21:59:25Z")
Hell no. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/31 "2017-06-10T23:04:31Z")
I spent many years in the south as a kid, and my relatives are mostly southerners. NO. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/32 "2017-06-10T23:12:30Z")
The [2013 film _In A World_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294677/reference) was written by, directed and starring Lake Bell as an aspiring voiceover artist who winds up coaching other women on how to speak. One particularly enjoyable bit was a lawyer who had been looking for a job for ten months, who hadn’t been successful because she sounded like a “sexy baby” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IGLXMXX_OOc/maxresdefault.jpg "Sexy Baby Vocal Virus") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGLXMXX_OOc) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/33 "2017-06-10T23:19:33Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > It’s a fine line between sounding sexy and sounding like you have brain damage. A few people can pull off the sexy, but the vast majority cannot. Kathleen Turner in _Body Heat_ and Elizabeth Peña in _The Incredibles_ pulled it off. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/34 "2017-06-10T23:21:02Z")
All accents are sexy. Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/35 "2017-06-10T23:21:09Z")
Yes. But not all. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/36 "2017-06-10T23:23:48Z")
All accents are sexy. ETA: But seriously. Speak to me in any accent, and I melt. Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/37 "2017-06-10T23:23:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Yes. But not all. Such as? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/38 "2017-06-11T01:51:35Z")
The Mrs. is of the south, but not truly from the south. Her parents were both born and raised in Alabama, but she grew up as an army brat, and ended up not spending a lot of time south of the Mason Dixon line as a result. That also resulted in her speaking a relatively un-accented typical ‘american’ english speech pattern in her day to day life. But get her back with her family, or ask her to speak ‘southern’ and she can drop into a deep, deep Alabamian accent with ease. For some reason, hearing her speak with this accent will immediately kill any romantic inclinations I might have. And she knows this. And thus avoids doing so, unless such an outcome fits her plans. I suspect this effect on me is because she vividly reminds me of her mother, grandmother, AND great grandmother when I hear her speak like that. Now these 3 ladies were all wonderful people, but NOT in that sense. So I guess I’m a victim of conditioning when it comes to my reaction to the southern accent. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/39 "2017-06-11T14:59:49Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Such as? Strom Thurmond. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583/40 "2017-06-11T15:29:59Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Most Southerners don’t differentiate “pen” and “pin” either. > > The only thing about Indiana speech that I hate is the use of the word “pop” instead of “soda”. When I hear “pop”, I get an urge to pop someone in the face. (And it’s doubly worse when the “pop” turns out to be Pepsi, not Coke). Other way around. Pop is not a soda. It’s one of the ingredients of a soda, but it’s not even the main ingredient. That would be ice cream. A soda also requires whipped cream and syrup, and optionally a cherry. Calling a glass of pop a soda is like calling a bowl of chocolate syrup a banana split. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-southern-accent-sexy/788583.md?page=3)