What is the toughest accent to learn/understand?

Glaswegian and Geordie for me. Re the Black Country accent, I am originally from that part of the country so understand it perfectly. However my father who was from Solihull in South Birmingham couldn't understand it at all and my mother (a slightly upper class Black Country lass) had to translate for him. Solihull and the Black Country are only a few miles apart!
 
delc said:
Glaswegian and Geordie for me. Re the Black Country accent, I am originally from that part of the country so understand it perfectly. However my father who was from Solihull in South Birmingham couldn't understand it at all and my mother (a slightly upper class Black Country lass) had to translate for him. Solihull and the Black Country are only a few miles apart!
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In Uni, I was seeing a girl for a bit that spoke ‘yim-yam’ as she would call it - she was from the Black Country area but lived in Cannock.

Half the time I genuinely didn’t have a clue what she was saying. Our short-lived relationship was predominantly based on me asking what she just said…
 
delc said:
Glaswegian and Geordie for me. Re the Black Country accent, I am originally from that part of the country so understand it perfectly. However my father who was from Solihull in South Birmingham couldn't understand it at all and my mother (a slightly upper class Black Country lass) had to translate for him. Solihull and the Black Country are only a few miles apart!
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I was born in Handsworth and being a yo-yo still struggle to understand the yam-yams!
 
Northern Irish and Glaswegian

Nearly everything people with those accents say can sound threatening

I would say the most DANGEROUS accent is Brummie, god knows how many people have topped themselves rather than listen to that drone
 
351DRIVER said:
Northern Irish and Glaswegian

Nearly everything people with those accents say can sound threatening

I would say the most DANGEROUS accent is Brummie, god knows how many people have topped themselves rather than listen to that drone
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Not all Brummies speak like Nigel Mansell! The most distinctive West Midlands accent is from the Walsall area. If anybody from there says anything at all I can spot it immediately.
 
I was once on a two week sailing holiday on a three masted schooner called Malcolm Miller. First week I wanted to come home throwing up. Second week you had to drag me off once I had for me sea legs. there were 13 lads in each watch, I was in Mizzen watch, the lads were from all over the UK. One lad was from Looe island God his accent was unbelievable. Anyway one of the lads who I became good mates with was an Indian or Pakistani lad from Newcastle, he had an Asian/ Geordie accent which quite frankly was the funniest thing I had heard. The first time he said " Howay man " with a Geordie Asian accent I had tears rolling down me cheeks laughing.
 
Tashyboy said:
I was once on a two week sailing holiday on a three masted schooner called Malcolm Miller. First week I wanted to come home throwing up. Second week you had to drag me off once I had for me sea legs. there were 13 lads in each watch, I was in Mizzen watch, the lads were from all over the UK. One lad was from Looe island God his accent was unbelievable. Anyway one of the lads who I became good mates with was an Indian or Pakistani lad from Newcastle, he had an Asian/ Geordie accent which quite frankly was the funniest thing I had heard. The first time he said " Howay man " with a Geordie Asian accent I had tears rolling down me cheeks laughing.
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I went on a stag do a couple of months back and the stag brought one of his friends he went Uni with.

He had a scouse/asian accent, it was mind boggling.
 
My late Father-in-Law was originally from County Offaly in the middle of Ireland. He had a very soft country Irish accent and spoke very quickly. I could never understand a word of what he said, and he couldn't understand my slight Black Country accent, so my Dublin born wife had to act as a translator between us!
 
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Proper Job Bristolian is an unusual accent. Bristolian was once loosely an English Language but over time has bifurcated into a strain of it's own.

Some examples:

Head Lice = Lights on the front of a car

Scampi - as in: Cant be any one in, theirs no lice on.

Indial = India
Hondal = Honda
Areal = Area

Ow Bist = How are you

Thee Bissent = You're not

Cassent = Cant

Cust = Can

Ark ut ee = Listen to him

Scars = Tubular tobacco items for smoking.
 
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I'm a bit sad but accents and dialects are my thing.

I'm originally from Northern Ireland but find it simple to ape any accent very passably.

It makes me laugh hearing others attempt a Belfast accent. Never heard many doing it remotely believably. In particular when you hear an actor from "the mainland" getting it so very very very wrong.
 
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JohnnyDee said:
It makes me laugh hearing others attempt a Belfast accent. Never heard many doing it remotely believably. In particular when you hear an actor from "the mainland" getting it so very very very wrong.
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I'm with Sean Connery when it comes to accents. Just do your own, forget putting one on. Hearing people putting accents on is a little like actors pretending to play sport, it just doesn't work if you know the original accent or sport. They may get the odd word right but too much goes in and out, up or down.
 
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