# Non-Americans, is the American accent "cool"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 5, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688 "2003-04-05T16:27:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jayseebee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/258eb7/32.png) [@jayseebee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayseebee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/21 "2003-04-05T22:01:28Z")
Yep, I think American accents are v. attractive. So are Canadians and South Africans. Not Australians or Irish though. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/22 "2003-04-05T22:33:01Z")
When I was working in Britain, my boss (she was about 23) kept wanting lessons on how to speak “American.” She also loved how I said goddam. ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/23 "2003-04-05T22:34:33Z")
I moved to England eight months ago, and my students LOVE my accent. At least once a day I hear, “Your accent is so cool!” ---
**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:** [April 5, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/24 "2003-04-05T22:34:36Z")
I need to get back to Europe. Or maybe I can find an Irish lass who digs American accents. Or an Australian. 😃 I knew a girl I met in New Orleans (who didn’t have a Southern accent – she was from St. Louis) who said I have a “surfer” accent. (I’m a native Southern Californian.) Chya! As _if!_ My first g/f’s sister thought I was Irish. Weird. My friend who moved to Tennessee said they wouldn’t understand me there. I told her that people have trouble understanding what I’m talking about _here_. Anyway… I need to take a trip overseas. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/25 "2003-04-05T22:35:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TTT \* > One example I remember from Colin Powell during the (first?) Gulf war, about the no-fly zone: ‘You fly, you die’. Concise, clear and convincing. It’s on a par with veni, vidi, vici. Funny you should say that, a few months ago a pointy-headed columnist here was complaining about the dumbing down of American english. One of his examples was the “baby-talk” **no-fly zone** phrase instead of the more sophisticated **flight exclusion zone**. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/26 "2003-04-05T22:41:40Z")
Depends who is speaking and what is being said;, for example the Texan accent can sound cool and assertive, or it can sound ignorant and threatening (no offence intended to Texans, honestly, please put the gun down). Personally (and I’ll cop some awful stick for this, I know), I find French accents rather cool, also Dutch, (some)Scottish and Icelandic. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/27 "2003-04-05T22:48:27Z")
Input from an American expat in Ireland … I encounter the rare person who loves American accents, but for the most part I get the feeling that they aren’t highly regarded here. I’m told fairly frequently that I have only a _mild_ American accent, and it always seems to be said as a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/28 "2003-04-05T23:05:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TTT \* > \*\*That said, the American idiom _is_ considered to be cool. Like **j.c.** said, people like to quote movie witticisms, even the ones that have become platitudes. There is a certain conciseness to American English that makes it attractive, a bit like the Roman sayings. > > One example I remember from Colin Powell during the (first?) Gulf war, about the no-fly zone: ‘You fly, you die’. Concise, clear and convincing. It’s on a par with veni, vidi, vici. \*\* I guess you have a point, but it’s odd hearing this from a Dutch person. I read a book on Bruegel’s painting _Netherlandish Proverbs_ the other day, and some of them are amazingly cool, like “pissing at the moon” for attempting a futile task. ---
**Author:** ![mrsface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@mrsface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrsface)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/29 "2003-04-06T01:07:52Z")
To me in England, all American accents sound more confident, articulate and relaxed than the English accent. Having said that, Irish, Scottish and Australian accents also sound more confident and authoritative, so it may be simply that familiarity breeds contempt. My favourite American accents are (a) the one spoken in parts of New York and New Jersey (not sure what you call it, but they do it on the Sopranos), and (b) the one country singers from Tennessee and the Appalachians speak - eg Loretta Lynn. I’m not so keen on the west coast accent, which sounds a bit bland to me. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/30 "2003-04-06T01:21:26Z")
Hm. I’ve always thought the _British_ accent sounded more articulate. I find the British sentence structure to be more complex than that used by Americans. Of course, most of the British I hear is on scripted television or is spoken by politcians. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/31 "2003-04-06T02:48:42Z")
I gotta find me some foreign girls who find my accent cute. This of course was my original, unstated purpose of this thread. Determining attractiveness of the accent. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Alan\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Q)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/32 "2003-04-06T02:57:14Z")
Accent? What accent? I don’t know about you guys, but _I_ certainly don’t have one! All together now: “yeah, right!”. –Alan Q ---
**Author:** ![S\_or\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@S\_or\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/S_or_L)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/33 "2003-04-06T03:18:33Z")
Most accents are OK, but the southern drawl is not. When Bush or Gore are making speeches it’s like they are in slo-mo. I tap my watch and wonder how long it will take them to say each word. ---
**Author:** ![Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Witch)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/34 "2003-04-06T04:09:28Z")
I hear ya **S or L**. Spit it OUT for God’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Burnt\_Sugar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@Burnt\_Sugar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burnt_Sugar)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/35 "2003-04-06T04:16:55Z")
I just love accents in general, so yeah, I do think the American accent is “cool”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/36 "2003-04-06T08:06:37Z")
I just love irish and scottish accents. And no, I do not think an american accent is ‘cool’. I do however know, and know of, lots and lots of people here in India who believe that speaking with an american accent somehow elevates them up the social ladder! I prefer the irish and scottish accents. ---
**Author:** ![herwono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9f8e36/32.png) [@herwono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herwono)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/37 "2003-04-06T09:52:13Z")
I like the more neutral accents. I also like people who pronounce their words clearly. Kind of like Colin Powell. Listening to Bush speak is torture to me. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/38 "2003-04-06T10:03:42Z")
Wow. It’s nice to know the American accent is sometimes deemed “cool”. Johnny LA: I have a bit of that “Valley Girl” accent too. A friend of mine from the South commented on that. Of course, he has a southern accent, so what does he know? 😉 By the way, I like Southern accents. They can be very sexy. The secret is: decent grammar. (My friend from the South has good grammar so yes, his accent is sexy.) None of us have to have excellent grammar (I certainly don’t), but the “I done good” and other abysmal examples of mangled grammar have _got_ to go. ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/39 "2003-04-06T10:05:12Z")
I particularly like the Southern US accent. The west coast (CA especially) is the easiest accent to understand. Very clear and spoken slowly. I moved to CA from the UK and lived there for 6 years. For the first 6 months nobody understood what I was saying so I had to slow my speech down. Because of that, when I came back to the UK it took about 6 months before I understood what anyone here was saying. Having said all that, I just love the Irish & Scandanavian (when they speak English) accents. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/40 "2003-04-06T10:42:07Z")
And here is were things get odd for me. See, I watch TV news, or movies, or Television shows, and unless the setting is a place that is known for having a distinct accent (the south or New England) the people all sound pretty much the same way I do. I’ve also noticed that, other than speed, the speech is the same in California as in Montana. There are some in Montana who affect a “cowboy” accent, but overall, the speech patterns are the same. So I don’t get it. What do people mean when they talk about a “West Coast” accent? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688.md?page=3)