# My argument for why Standard American English really is "no accent" - **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-argument-for-why-standard-american-english-really-is-no-accent/592101 "2011-08-09T17:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-argument-for-why-standard-american-english-really-is-no-accent/592101/1 "2011-08-09T17:14:07Z")
And I’ve gotten at least one Brit to agree: Because no matter how thick a person’s accent might be, or where it’s from in the whole wide world… when they SING their accent disappears. (With some rare exceptions). They pronounce the words in singing them the way I do when I speak. I am always startled when someone like Sia or the lead singer from Garbage speaks and this incredibly thick accent comes out, (Australian & Scottish, respectively). Judging from their singing alone, I would be expect them to speak exactly the way I do. The most frequently heard exception to this is Southerners singing country music. But there’s a lot of Southerners singing other kinds of music and their accent isn’t noticeable. I would never have dreamed that Harry Connick hailed from Louisiana when he was crooning Sinatra tunes, for example, but the man has a very thick accent when he speaks. Less so now, but still unmistakable. Therefore, since the majority of English-speaking singer’s accents disappear when they sing and they sound like someone who speaks Standard American English,I contend that Standard American English is as close as it gets to representing a genuinely neutral pronounciation of English. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-argument-for-why-standard-american-english-really-is-no-accent/592101)._