# Most unintelligible english accent **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2007, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692 "2007-12-20T11:36:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/1 "2007-12-20T11:36:37Z")
Scottish. I remember watching a movie once, with subtitles, and trying to figure out what language they were speaking. After a little while, I figured out it was english šŸ™‚ Iā€™m from California, US. Most of the crazy-ass accents in the US I can handle, and Aussie and all the England variants are understandable. But scottish. Oy. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/2 "2007-12-20T11:41:39Z")
hehehe Scottish isnā€™t really an English accent you know šŸ˜‰ Iā€™d amend that to ā€œEnglish languageā€ accent before you get some big hairy men coming round to educate you ! ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/3 "2007-12-20T11:51:56Z")
[QUOTE=zuma] But scottish. Oy. [/QUOTE] You might need to specify a city (or stay away from certain pubs). Iā€™m fluent in Glaswegian, but only when Iā€™m drunk. Iā€™m led to believe you greet an Edinburgh accent with (sorry, wiā€™) ā€œWot you looking at, yā€™ Edinburgh fuck?ā€ So my Glasgow mate tells me. Personally, Iā€™m no pussycat, but Scotland sounds pretty scary. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/4 "2007-12-20T12:04:19Z")
Thereā€™s quite a few different Scottish accents. I have trouble with people with strong Aberdeen accents, especially if theyā€™ve had a few drinks (which they invariably have). Boys and girls become loons and quines and the word ā€œwhatā€ becomes ā€œfitā€ for example. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/5 "2007-12-20T12:28:46Z")
I would probably say Glaswegian. That said, Iā€™ve been assuming one of my colleagues was from Glasgow for the past couple of years before he told me he wasnā€™t, so although I think Iā€™d be able to hear some broad differences, Iā€™m no longer confident. Hmmm, just found [this site](http://www.scottishquest.com/howscottish/game.html) and I managed to work out Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness (with the aid of the list, but not looking at the shapes) Orkney was a bit obvious and the other one I just felt sounded rural. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/6 "2007-12-20T12:55:01Z")
Iā€™ve met a couple people from the north of England who were more incomprehensible to me than any Scottish person Iā€™ve ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/7 "2007-12-20T13:00:30Z")
West Kerry in Ireland. ā€œCā€™mā€™ere tā€™me boy, you see yer man there, hrr whrr trrr boteprrr purrhtherr potorrup aftraplrr in de pub.ā€ And the hillbillies around Georgia, expressed best in _Deliverance_ with the chap who asks ā€œHuzpickinabanjaheahr?ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/8 "2007-12-20T13:21:56Z")
For me it was Scouse accent. Iā€™ve never had problems with other Northern accents in the UK, such as Geordie, but Scouse was beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/9 "2007-12-20T14:32:20Z")
The only time Iā€™ve ever had to use subtitles to understand an English langugage film was Ratcatcher, which was set somewhere in Scotland I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/10 "2007-12-20T14:36:14Z")
Whatever Brad Pitt was on about in the movie Snatch. Iā€™ve had the occaison to meet some Travellers here in the states and whatever they hell theyā€™re saying it most certainly isnā€™t in English. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/11 "2007-12-20T14:39:06Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] The only time Iā€™ve ever had to use subtitles to understand an English langugage film was Ratcatcher, which was set somewhere in Scotland I believe. [/QUOTE] Glasgow. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/12 "2007-12-20T15:13:11Z")
I was finishing up breakfast in a hotel eatery outside of London and I vividly remember this exchange with the waiter: Me: So how much is everything? Him: Yecht fifty. Me: Iā€™m sorry what was that? Him: Yecht fifty. Me: I, uhhā€¦, I donā€™t follow what youā€™reā€¦ Him: (Awkwardly holds up eight fingers). Me: Oh, **eight** fifty. Him: (nodding) yecht fifty. After he left, I turned to my travel companions and remarked itā€™s a good thing we were in an English speaking country. And to this day I have no idea as to the waiterā€™s place of origin or what the native tongue might be. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/13 "2007-12-20T15:58:11Z")
Were they speaking English with a Scottish accent, or were they speaking [Scots](http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language), the English-related variety of lowland Scotland which many linguists consider to be a different language? ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/14 "2007-12-20T16:53:42Z")
[QUOTE=zuma] all the England variants are understandable [/QUOTE] Youā€™ve clearly never heard Broad Yorkshire. Worse than _any_ Scottish or Irish\* accent. \*My Irish Story: My family lived in North Yorkshire when I was 12-14 years old, and after weā€™d been there about a year we went to Ireland to visit some distant relatives (my dadā€™s side is 100% Irish). I figured that the Irish accent would be easy to understand after hearing Yorkshire for so long, but for the entire first day I was utterly unable to understand my cousins. I donā€™t remember exactly where in Ireland we were, just that we were on some farm that was driving distance from Dublin. (Which I know doesnā€™t really narrow it down, because the entire island is driving distance from Dublin. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/15 "2007-12-20T16:55:56Z")
Geordies! Have not the faintest idea what theyā€™re saying, sounds like turkeys gargling under water to me ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/16 "2007-12-20T17:03:08Z")
[QUOTE=zuma] Scottish. [/QUOTE] The Scotish almost universally hate the English. Itā€™s a kind of prerequisit of being Scotish. I donā€™t hold it against them, Iā€™d hate the English if I were Scotish. Iā€™m English but if any big hairy angry Scotish people askā€¦ Iā€™m Manx. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/17 "2007-12-20T17:05:27Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Whatever Brad Pitt was on about in the movie Snatch. Iā€™ve had the occaison to meet some Travellers here in the states and whatever they hell theyā€™re saying it most certainly isnā€™t in English. [/QUOTE] He was a Pikey. It was explained to be not really a language, but a bastardization of several. I knew I guy from Ireland - He lives just south of Cork. I could understand him pretty well, unless he was drinking. From reading above, I guess thatā€™s pretty standard though. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/18 "2007-12-20T17:12:11Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] He was a Pikey. It was explained to be not really a language, but a bastardization of several. [/QUOTE] As I understand it, Pikey isnā€™t a very kind term for the same thing I described. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/19 "2007-12-20T18:16:46Z")
Jamaican English is incomprehensihible jibberish to me. Ever watched that movie ā€œThe Harder They Comeā€? I have to watch that movie with the subtitles on, because I canā€™t understand a goddamn word anyone is saying, even though everybody speaks English the entire movie. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692/20 "2007-12-20T18:23:17Z")
I once had to translate a significant part of the conversation in English between a Geordie (North East) and a Scotsman. They really could not make out each otherā€™s accents! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unintelligible-english-accent/430692.md?page=2)