Most annoying US accent (to live in, vs, centers)

[2e1m5a]

Why does everyone think New Jersey has one accent? South Jersey speaks with a Philly type accent and North Jersey speaks with a New York type accent. I can agree that a really strong East Coast accent can be "rough" or hard to listen to but I still love them. There isn't anywhere in the US that has such variance in speak in such a small area. Baltimore has a really cool accent not too many people hear often-just ask them to say the number two haha.

I hate Mid-West "don't cha knowww" accents or places with generic American speak. How dull!

[mustangman66]

I grew up in New England....I dont have much of a New England accent anymore, but when I do here it it reminds me of home, so I cant complain too much about that one. I live in South Jersey now and absolutely cannot stand the accent here. Its a mix of South Jersey and Philly. My son is 6 and he says some things with the Philly accent and I stop him and tell him we are from NH and that not how we pronounce things, lol. So now if someone doesnt understand what he says he just tells them its because hes from NH. Its pretty funny.

Southern accents bother me too, not the mild ones but the real strong ones. It sounds very uneducated to me. Not saying they are not educated, just sounds that way.

[Novadhd5150]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

Strong Southern Accents - A gentle subtle one is quite sexy but the strongs ones are awful - and impossible to understand
New Jersey/ New York - very hard on the ears, quite a harsh whiny sound

cause you Brits have no strong accents!

[20yrsinBranson]

I absolutely HATE the severely affected pseudo "valley girl" accent that people who want to be "upper middle class" use. It's so incredibly phony and annoying.

20yrsinBranson

[ja1myn]

Originally Posted by mustangman66

I grew up in New England....I dont have much of a New England accent anymore, but when I do here it it reminds me of home, so I cant complain too much about that one. I live in South Jersey now and absolutely cannot stand the accent here. Its a mix of South Jersey and Philly. My son is 6 and he says some things with the Philly accent and I stop him and tell him we are from NH and that not how we pronounce things, lol. So now if someone doesnt understand what he says he just tells them its because hes from NH. Its pretty funny.

Southern accents bother me too, not the mild ones but the real strong ones. It sounds very uneducated to me. Not saying they are not educated, just sounds that way.

That's funny. Reminds me of when I moved to NY as a kid and my mom would correct me when saying the word "aunt" as "ant". She hated that. We were from CT and people there say it as "awnt".

[mustangman66]

ja1myn...lol, I grew up pronouncing it as awnt. I grew up in NH but was born in CT as well. If someone said ant, Id say how do you say the word "taunt"? When they said "tawnt", I would say ok now say it without the t. Thats one of those words that doesnt really bother me anymore though. Thats funny you mentioned that though.

[ja1myn]

Originally Posted by mustangman66

ja1myn...lol, I grew up pronouncing it as awnt. I grew up in NH but was born in CT as well. If someone said ant, Id say how do you say the word "taunt"? When they said "tawnt", I would say ok now say it without the t. Thats one of those words that doesnt really bother me anymore though. Thats funny you mentioned that though.

Lol small world.

[Rayah(812)]

In my un-unique opinion:

Stereotypical New England-- I add "stereotypical" because although I know not all people from that area talk with that exaggerated accent like on TV/movies, some do, and when I hear it:

Valley Girl-- yes, another valley girl hater. It's hard to take someone seriously if she (usually it's a she) talks like that. I want to ask, "is that how you talk all the time?" It sounds so forced. I can't stand that kind of tone modulation.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I can't think of a specific accent that grates on me EXCEPT a vowel issue that seems to be both southern and midwestern, wherein people pronounce words like "Pin" and "Pen" the same. In other words, they use the short "i" sound in both words and no "eh" sound appears in words like pen.

Originally Posted by workaholics

Ahh yes, the pin/pen merger. It's very common across the south. I was reading a linguist's blog once and she said that this was a surefire way to spot a southerner. A lot of us southerners don't think we have accents but this usually sticks out. She says that whenever she meets someone who says something like "Hi, I'm Bin (ben)" she says she'll automatically ask where in the south they're from and she's always right!

I was born and raised in Texas and I don't do this. Pin/pen sound different when spoken by me. So do bin/been.

As for accents I don't like...really strong New York and New Jersey accents (which all sound the same to me but I'm told are different), and that West Coast way of speaking where every statement ends up sounding like a question and vowels are absurdly elongated. It's obnoxious.

[jambo101]

What ever accent Paula Dean has would be my nominee for most annoying accent.