# Recognize this Accent (or Dialect, or Speech Pattern or Whatever)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877 "2008-02-16T13:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/1 "2008-02-16T13:18:10Z")
Listen to the woman in [this youtube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORCJ8QaE45w) (she starts speaking at 0:10). Her speech sounds a little… off, but I can’t quite pinpoint why. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanne_Bell) says she was born in Florida, educated in St. Louis, and has lived in southern California. None of those places are known for particularly striking accents (as opposed to, say, Boston, Minneapolis, or New Orleans). Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/2 "2008-02-16T17:35:53Z")
I can’t add any useful information, so I’ll just add my utter disdain and hatred for this idiotic TV show. It’s like someone wanted a Mythbusters clone, but with clueless people, 0 science, and more crashes/explosions. Before this turns into a personal pit post, I’d just like to add that every time that female in specific opens her mouth and talks, all I can think of is punching. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/3 "2008-02-16T17:57:52Z")
Well, she talks for about 3 seconds, so that’s not much time to do an analysis. What about her speech patterns in that brief time period makes you think she has anything but a standard American accent? I didn’t detect anything regional about it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/4 "2008-02-16T18:22:55Z")
There’s a little Valley accent there, though not very prominent. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/5 "2008-02-16T18:31:29Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] There’s a little Valley accent there, though not very prominent. [/QUOTE] That’s what I heard as well. Definite bit of SoCal in there. (Especially at 0:16). ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/6 "2008-02-16T18:31:48Z")
You know, people think I have an accent, even though I was born on the west coast, and still live on the west coast… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/7 "2008-02-16T19:06:30Z")
I don’t hear any strong accent in her speech either. The only thing I noticed was the slightly elision of the _l_ in “simulate.” Her name is apparently Deanne Bell, FYI. ---
**Author:** ![ulpilotrmh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f14d63/32.png) [@ulpilotrmh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ulpilotrmh)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/8 "2008-02-16T20:37:25Z")
[QUOTE=BrandonR] I can’t add any useful information, so I’ll just add my utter disdain and hatred for this idiotic TV show. It’s like someone wanted a Mythbusters clone, but with clueless people, 0 science, and more crashes/explosions. Before this turns into a personal pit post, I’d just like to add that every time that female in specific opens her mouth and talks, all I can think of is punching. :smack: [/QUOTE] I absolutely agree. I watched the first episode and came to the same conclusion. I don’t intend to watch another. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/9 "2008-02-16T21:24:37Z")
Well unfortunately Youtube is running painfully low on Smash Lab clips, so regrettably I can’t give you more of her. By way of comparison, listen to the “Snacky Smores Presents: The March of War” newsreel in _South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut_ (no Youtube there, either). Her speech reminds me of the narrator of that clip. Not being a speech therapist, I can’t really describe what it is about her accent, other than to say that her vowels sound “flat.” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/10 "2008-02-16T21:34:19Z")
In my opinion, her accent sounds American. A subset of American I have designated “quite hot actually”. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/11 "2008-02-16T22:11:41Z")
San Fernando Valley. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/12 "2008-02-16T22:29:43Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] San Fernando Valley. [/QUOTE] That “accent” may have originated in the Valley, but is pretty much all pervasive among younger women and girls these days. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/13 "2008-02-16T22:42:55Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] That “accent” may have originated in the Valley, but is pretty much all pervasive among younger women and girls these days. [/QUOTE] I’d identify it as Sorority girl as much as Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/14 "2008-02-17T00:27:14Z")
I’m from Florida, and I’m around teenagers all day, being a substitute teacher, and I think she sounds completely normal. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recognize-this-accent-or-dialect-or-speech-pattern-or-whatever/437877/15 "2008-02-17T03:02:48Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] That “accent” may have originated in the Valley, but is pretty much all pervasive among younger women and girls these days. [/QUOTE] I don’t know if it actually originated in the Valley so much as the Valley is the closest place to Hollywood where that accent was prevalent, i.e. the closest example of SoCal suburbia.