# What accent would you want?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 18, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314 "2005-01-18T05:00:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TheOnlySaneOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheOnlySaneOne)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/1 "2005-01-18T05:00:29Z")
Now I’m sure we’ve all determined that people with accents get way more action that those who don’t. This has been scientifically proven in the movie _love actually_.
So my question to you is this: If you could pick any accent in the world to have yourself, which would you choose? Myself, I wouldn’t mind having a British accent.
---
### Author:  [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/2 "2005-01-18T05:01:33Z")
Irish. It’s just so… cute.
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/3 "2005-01-18T05:16:59Z")
I can have them all. For some reason, I am a natural mimic…after a bit of exposure, I start to talk like what I am hearing. It takes effort not to, and I am often accused of “mocking” someone because I have adopted their accent.
That said…Irish. 😃
---
### Author:  [@TheOnlySaneOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheOnlySaneOne)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/4 "2005-01-18T05:22:02Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> I can have them all. For some reason, I am a natural mimic…after a bit of exposure, I start to talk like what I am hearing. It takes effort not to, and I am often accused of “mocking” someone because I have adopted their accent.
>
> That said…Irish. 😃
Yeah, I’ve had that happen to me before. A few summers ago I was helping direct/act in a children’s show. The main director had some family in town for the summer from Britain and among them were two of the cutest kids ever. However, I found myself slipping into accent from nearly the moment I started talking to them. Not a very good thing.
---
### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/5 "2005-01-18T05:54:59Z")
Castillian. Or Portuguese.
Or maybe Manilan. I had an online relationship once with a Filipina and her accent was very sexy.
---
### Author:  [@Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horrifying_Howler_Monkey)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/6 "2005-01-18T06:12:18Z")
Texan, I love a Texas accent.
---
### Author:  [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/7 "2005-01-18T06:35:51Z")
Mandarin Chinese. I have the hots for the People Republic of China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman. She’s very take-charge.
Second, Urdu (just shading Gujarati). Third, !Kung; I find the clicks strangely seductive.
---
### Author:  [@SallyCan\_tDance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SallyCan_tDance)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/8 "2005-01-18T07:07:11Z")
Scottish, like Daniela Nardini’s accent from _This Life_.
I also second the Indian accent. My cousin grew up between Mumbai and Goa and she has the sweetest, most melliflous accent.
> [@roger thornhill](#):
>
> !Kung; I find the clicks strangely seductive.
Truer words were never spoken! On the one or two occasions I’ve heard conversations in !Kung, I found it fascinating (not that I had the remotest idea of what they were saying). What do the !clicks! mean?
---
### Author:  [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/9 "2005-01-18T07:25:40Z")
> [@SallyCan'tDance](#):
>
> On the one or two occasions I’ve heard conversations in !Kung, I found it fascinating (not that I had the remotest idea of what they were saying). What do the !clicks! mean?
They’re a type of consonant. More [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan_languages) if you want to follow it up. These days the word San is often used in preference to !Kung, although the language (and the people) are still better known by the latter name.
---
### Author:  [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/10 "2005-01-18T08:52:22Z")
One of these; Jamaican, New Yorkish, Boston, Tennessee type southern, Russian and most of all a Stewie from Family Guy accent.
---
### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/11 "2005-01-18T09:17:26Z")
I want a scary German accent. Like Hardy Krüger, or Curt Jürgens.
Or the right kind of [Slovakian accent.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000048/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9cGV0ZXIgbG9ycmV8aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1)😉
---
### Author:  [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/12 "2005-01-18T09:31:52Z")
I’ve always wanted a Kiwi (New Zealand) accent, but if that isn’t possible, I’d be content with a powerful Swiss accent
---
### Author:  [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/13 "2005-01-18T12:15:38Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> I can have them all. For some reason, I am a natural mimic…after a bit of exposure, I start to talk like what I am hearing. It takes effort not to, and I am often accused of “mocking” someone because I have adopted their accent.
>
> That said…Irish. 😃
Me too. Nothing worse than drawling back to a large southern man. They can be surprisingly sensitive about things like that.
Now, eastern European could be intimidating. A nice spanish could be sexy. I however, am neither of those things. Give me Irish. 😃
---
### Author:  [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/14 "2005-01-18T12:36:13Z")
I still have a very slight Dutch accent. Working hard to get rid of it.
But, have to admit, there are times where it just happens to come back. And yes, it does make a difference 😃
---
### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/15 "2005-01-18T12:41:07Z")
Dear Santa…can you give me an Irish accent for Christmas next year?
I promise to be good. 😃
---
### Author:  [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/16 "2005-01-18T13:19:40Z")
It’s nice to see so many people wanting to speak with an Irish accent. But which sort of Irish accent?
Despite the relatively small size of the island, there are very strong regional differences. To take some Irish people you might have heard speaking, compare and contrast “the Rev” Ian Paisley (born in County Armagh) and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern (a Dubliner - but not necessarily a typical one). There are even strong differences in the accents from neighbouring counties like Cork and Kerry.
Or do you just want an Oirish accent - like Sean Bean’s in _Patriot Games_?
---
### Author:  [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/17 "2005-01-18T13:23:49Z")
I would love to have a Scottish accent. One so thick that even I would have problems understanding myself. Either that, or I’d have to go with a !Kung accent. It’d be truly bizarre to see an Asian person with that kind of an accent.
---
### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/18 "2005-01-18T14:58:26Z")
> [@TheOnlySaneOne](#):
>
> So my question to you is this: If you could pick any accent in the world to have yourself, which would you choose? Myself, I wouldn’t mind having a British accent.
British as well!
---
### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/19 "2005-01-18T15:00:37Z")
> [@SallyCan'tDance](#):
>
> Scottish, like Daniela Nardini’s accent from _This Life_.
> I also second the Indian accent. My cousin grew up between Mumbai and Goa and she has the sweetest, most melliflous accent.
Isn’t it funny how experiences change one’s opinion? I am E. Indian, and I hate the Indian accent, personally. It drives me batty to hear British English tortured into Indian English.
But I can still imitate it, if I need to.
---
### Author:  [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314/20 "2005-01-18T15:15:03Z")
Brooklyn (NYC) accent for me, please.
I’ve wanted to sound like the Beastie Boys since 1986.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-accent-would-you-want/285314.md?page=2)