Topic: American vs. British accents

If you want to get technical the English language didn't really get its start in England, so not really.

I read a report stating that about two thirds of Americans have pretty much the same accent. Once you account for New York, Chicago, parts of the South, bits of the Midwest, and Cali, then that's probably about right.

A LOT more regional divergence here in the UK though heh... even within the broads of moving 10-20 miles...

Out of the two I'd say British even though Aussie accents are far superior.

the only truly superior accent is a proper Southern accent, get it right people D:
_{ah do declare~}

Uh. Everyone has an accent. It's just really hard to hear your own. Believe me, I have heard a midwestern US accent plenty of times, and like most American/ Canadian accents, it gives me a headache

It always amazes me when people honestly think they have no accent. It's an amazing... earth is the centre of the universe... perspective to have.

To answer the question: Eastern European accents are the bestest. Followed by South American accents, and then the New Zealand take on the word "six" <_<

Neither the Canadian accent is better EH

LOL! I'm from Iowa and would love to have a word with you. x)

^{I would love to hear your impersonation of it too. Sort of like how people make fun of Canadian accents?}

Edit: Also, my favorite accents are German accents, Russian accents, Jamaican, and my personal favorite, the New Yorker accent. i.e. The Godfather.

@waltz: to be fair, there are certain accents that are kinda deemed 'normal' within a given country — the UK has BBC English, we've got General American, and idk what y'all have down under, but I'm sure there's a similar accent available. we mistake them for 'accentless' because we can't readily place the speaker's point of origin without listening closely to what words they use (as opposed to how their words are pronounced). cut the OP some slack.

what people need to remember is that the stereo typical accents that people think a certain area has is usually wrong.
for example, i`ve lived in south london for all of my life, and not once have i ever heard anybody speak in a cockney accent, neither have i heard people speak with the mega posh accent.
although, in london you can usually tell if somebody has had atleast a half decent up bringing because they will pronounce their words correctly, where as most of those who don`t speak properly will drop letters from words (usually the letter t in the middle of a word), and they tend to swear alot (mostly f-bombs).

I'm from the Midwest US and I agree that midwesterners don't really have an accent. It's just normal speech without much spin on it. I talk just like people talk on TV or in movies. I guess it's kind of boring, but I think it sounds 'normal.'
Basically what TBD said.

I love British accents, I wouldn't want one though and don't even jokingly attempt, I just love to hear them.

True, we have two in Australia, and it's especially hard to hear the one that you belong to.

Wasn't meaning to pick on the OP. I just see/ hear a lot of people who assume that they don't have an accent. Regardless of nationality, seems the only time a lot of people realise that have an accent is when they speak in a different language

LOL! I'm from Iowa and would love to have a word with you. x)

I would love to hear your impersonation of it too. Sort of like how people make fun of Canadian accents?

Edit: Also, my favorite accents are German accents, Russian accents, Jamaican, and my personal favorite, the New Yorker accent. i.e. The Godfather.

Naw, the only funny accent is the New Zealand one. Except when people mistake them for Aussies. Then it's not funny at all X(

I grew up in Maryland. Don't know what kind of accent those people have, but yeah. I always considered myself having no accent, but I obviously do. Everyone does.

When someone says New Zealand accent all I hear is this...
[youtube:L1Pmg3BxCCM]

Kiwi accent is pretty cool and when a french person talks in english it sounds very cool as well.

Midwest accents are the closest to no accent in my opinion. No accent would be pronouncing words perfectly. Most midwesterners say "pin" when they mean "pen" or leave the "g" off of -ing words.

I'm from the midwest and I pronounce it "pen"..

That in itself would be an accent, since it would be a different speech pattern to how everyone else spoke.

I think a lot of people mistake "accent" to mean "sounds different to me," when, in reality, it means "prominence of a syllable in terms of differential loudness, or of pitch, or length, or of a combination of these."

Every different region around the world has a different way of accenting their words, and therefore everyone has accents. There is no such thing as "no accent"*

• People who don't speak at all obviously have no accent.

LMAO! It is hilarious the proclamations that Midwesteners have no accents in everyday speech, you most certainly do.

A quick check on youtube shows tons of videos that easily display this fact and also the vehement denials by Midwesterners that a Midwest accent exists. If you watch the videos, it is quite apparent to most non-Midwesterners the accent you display...especially when compared to TV dialogue.

Don't get me wrong, it's not difficult to understand you, but the idea that you don't possess an accent is patently false. You may not "think" you have accents, I mean really, who out there "thinks" that their speech isn't totally normal? ...but Midwesterners, yeah, you most certainly do have accents.

I think the issue arises when some can only compare their accent to others with the same accent. Therefore they are unable to identify how they say words differently.