Most incomprehensible English accent?

Phlegmak · May 20, 2006

A while back, there was a thread about "worst English accent" with Bostonians winning by a landslide. So here is an equally meaningful thread (completely meaningless). This was inspired by this thread and the story within:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=171620

So what is the most incomprehensible English accent?

For Americans, I would have to say Minnesotan (Minnesotian?). My brother had a long distance girlfriend from there once. She would call and ask for my brother, but in a very quick, seemingly jumbled manner. I would then ask her, "what did you say?" And she would say the exact same thing again. Then I would ask her again, and she would say exactly the same again.

Outside of my native US, I would have to go with Irish.

Mr. Dictator · May 20, 2006

inside the us-boston (still true)
outside-i would say a drunken irishman, or maybe a drunken australian, well just about any drunken man

blackheart · May 20, 2006

I'm going to Boston for college, I guess I will have to see how horrible their accents are!

nonconformist · May 20, 2006

Essex .

Abaddon · May 20, 2006

Yep, any girl i have met from Essex so far i have violently strangled about 0.5 seconds after they started speaking.

Mr. Dictator · May 20, 2006

the south can get pretty bad here, damn hick accent

its still not as bad as when they sing

Phlegmak · May 20, 2006

Mr. Dictator said:
the south can get pretty bad here, damn hick accent

its still not as bad as when they sing

I never said "ugliest accent", but rather the "most incomprehensible."

I'm from the South, and the "hick accent" is perfectly comprehensible, albeit not very pretty.

Heretic_Cata · May 20, 2006

Not sure about spoken ... i don't have much experience in that area ... Russian, german or moldavian. :lol:

This is probably not what you were refering to ... but my english teacher was half moldavian, half russian, and no one understood what she was saying :mad:

. She had the most annoying accent ...

OTOH i can tell you about the "written accent" ... i just read some posts the other day and had to read twice to understand ... i thought "it's nice to see some more non-english ppl around here, but they should practice writing a bit more ...". After this i realised that all 3 of them were americans :eek:

(no names of course) ...
You be the judge ...

I'm not generalising, but things like this can be most disturbing ...
Sorry for the relatively OT direction ...

Mise · May 20, 2006

Well, obviously, non-native English speakers have pretty bad accents.

Also, when I go to the Caribbean, I struggle. A lot.

Within the UK, probably a thick northern accent.

Abaddon · May 20, 2006

nah, its you southern luvvies mangling english..

blackheart · May 20, 2006

English speech accents: http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_atlas.php

Mr. Dictator · May 20, 2006

Phlegmak said:
I never said "ugliest accent", but rather the "most incomprehensible."

I'm from the South, and the "hick accent" is perfectly comprehensible, albeit not very pretty.

how far south, ive heard some people talk so incomprehensibly that it just sounded like one long mumble

CruddyLeper · May 20, 2006

Ye cannae whack Glaswegian.

Geordie comes close.

Rik Meleet · May 20, 2006

I find Scottish people hard to understand.

Boris Godunov · May 20, 2006

This is all going to be pretty subjective based on where one resides.

That being said, I'm baffled at calling the "Minnesotan" accent hard to understand. While it is an extremely grating accent to me, the diction associated with it is usually crystal clear. If anything, the problem with the accent is that it's *too* clear.

Being a U.S. English speaker, thick Scottish or Irish brogues are nearly impossible for me to understand.

CruddyLeper · May 20, 2006

Oh, I have trouble with native Hindi English speakers - it's more Hinglish. Oddly enough rarely with Urdu or Punjabi. I don't know why, most people can't tell the difference.

Phlegmak · May 20, 2006

Mr. Dictator said:
how far south, ive heard some people talk so incomprehensibly that it just sounded like one long mumble

I have lived in a New Orleans suburb for 27 years. Everyone I know who listens to me say I have no Southern accent. (I do say "y'all" though, which I unlearned in California, but I decided to readopt.) The "cajun" accent, which I have heard many times, is perfectly comprehensible. "Texan" is perfectly comprehensible. I would say both are stupid sounding though.

Strangely, North Carolinans have a strong Southern accent. It's still perfectly comprehensible.

Gainy · May 20, 2006

Male working class Dubliner.

Esox · May 20, 2006

On a trip to Ireland I went fishing with a local guy for a day (Can't remember exactly where). I was able to understand about every third or fourth word. Nicest guy and a great day, I just couldn't understand him for the life of me.

Till · May 20, 2006

From the ones i experienced firsthand, it has to be Scottish.
However the accent used in Snatch is far worse. Took me 4 or 5 sittings to finally understand most of the dialouge.

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