I'll Be Beggin' the Question of Ye, Lassies

Short and sweet today, people:

Do you have a favorite accent? What accent do you think is the sexiest? The funniest?

Comments

[Polly]

I do love a good pirate accent. Johnny Depp springs to mind. He can talk. I'll listen to any book on tape with Simon Prebble reading it. He's got a crisp British accent. I love to hear Polish spoken by men. Just men. And guys with Boston accents, but not girls, which isn't fair but I'm not apologizing.

I love the Savannah, Georgia accent, which is a lot like the Charlston accent, but more honeyed and slower, with deeper breathes and bigger pauses because there's no hurrying in the Garden District. But even more than accents, there's a tone of voice I like, that seems relaxed but jaded, kind of Jack Nicholson, that makes me raise an eyebrow while I listen.

[Finch]

i feel like Gerad Butler wins this hands down. i am not sure if it is the accent or the combination of his voice an the accent. but hmmmm... i mean you all have seen Ps I Love You right? actually i could be any English because Mathew Goode from Leap Year also love. and Kira Knightly in either Domino or Pirates. One does have to be reminded of the down fall of the UK English language though... the mush mouthed Eliza of Pygmalion or Mickey O'Niel(Brad Pitt) of Snatch.

[Pandora]

The southern accent doesn't do it for me. Coming from the West Coast, something about it just seems too phony- though that's probably hardly the case.

I'm all about the British, Irish, or the Australian accents because there's something just manly about them.

I'm also pretty sure that I've been quoted on saying that I'd fall asleep to Barack's voice.

[Kit]

After watching a few too many Werner Herzog documentaries (Grizzly Man, Little Dieter Learns to Fly, The White Diamond, La Soufriere - in which he explores the area around a live volcano preparing to blow - and my favorite, My Best Fiend) I've got his smooth snaky voice in my head forever. Whenever I read something by a German or, oddly enough, Russian writer, it's Herzog's voice I hear in my head, sinuously pronouncing each sentence. Though most of those sentences aren't as good as Herzog's own: "I believe the common denominator of the Universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility and murder." "May I propose a Herzog dictum? those who read own the world, and those who watch television lose it." "People think we had a love-hate relationship. Well, I did not love him, nor did I hate him. We had mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other's murder."

[Kit]

"There is a harmony here. It is the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder."

Werner on YouTube:
(warning - the second link includes some brief footage of a parrot being cut open)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze9-ARjL-ZA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xQyQnXrLb0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_2_XElV1-Y&feature=related

[teag bag]

For me, a light southern accent can be nice, but any non-Canadian recently British territory is quite nice, except Welsh. They're the Canadians of the British Isles. Anyhoo, it's one of the reasons I watch British television. Oh, and a gal cussing in any accent sounds pretty great. As much as I love accents, I always try to imitate them, in fact my internal voice reading this as I'm writing is doing so in an Estuary accent. Oh well.

[The Dol]

@Polly, no apologies necessary. I see your Boston accent and raise you one New Jersey--I can't stand that one on a woman.

@Finch, I feel like I shouldn't admit that I haven't seen "PS I Love You." Am I missing out? I'll go put it on Netflix now.

@Pandora, you're just not used to the Southern thing. You've probably heard it from too many actors who did it poorly. It can be really sexy...

@Kit, I watched one of the links (not the parrot disembowelment one--thanks for the warning). Yeah, he's great. And it's not just the accent, it's what he says. Love the quotes you posted.

@teag bag, Scottish is one of my all-time favorites. I can hear Jamie Fraser in my head. Oh, and then there's Mike Myers: "Heed, ponts, neuuu!" (Sorry, I can't figure out how to write that.) And any British Isles accent in general is captivating, I think.

[Pandora]

@Dol, Bill Compton. That's one southern accent that I think is done right.

[teag bag]

@ dol great mike myers reference! so i married an axe murderer, yeah?

[The Dol]

@Pandora, I wish they would let Eric have more of a Scandinavian accent. Does Perez Hilton say whether or not that actor has a thick accent in real life?

@teag bag, yes! One of my favorite campy movies of all time. I love the beatnik poetry scenes. "She stole my heart and my cat."

[Kim]

Ms. The Dol,
I know you asked Pandora, but I was intrigued by the question of Eric's accent. I've noticed the northern Europeans I've met have always had very Very light accents. In watching the interviews here http://www.youtube.com/results?q=Alexander%20Skarsg%C3%A5rd&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=w1 it appears Alexander Skarsgård is also accent-lite. Fun post though, and Jamaican accents are my fave, they always sound like they're having a good time :)

[Pandora]

@ Dol, Perez normally just posts half naked photos of him.

@Kim, I wish Alexander had more of a thicker accents. Regardless, it does not retract from his devilish good looks. Kate Bosworth has stolen two of my men over the course of my life.

[Diosa]

I'm not a fan of the southern accent. It grates on my nerves. I like Australian, Irish brogue and German accents on men. On women I prefer Italian, Sophia Loren Italian, not Bronx Italian, or English.

[The Dol]

Thanks, Kim! I should have known Pandora's celeb gossip source would be more about the abs than the accent. (Thanks anyhow, Pandora!) And oooo, Jamaican! Yes, that's a great accent. I had a friend in college from Jamaica and I loved to hear her talk. I agree, it's a happy-sounding accent.

@Diosa, Australian is fabulous. Yes, Italian is good on a woman. I would add Argentina, too--lots of Italian blood and the Spanish there has an Italian lilt. I *love* Argentine-accented English.

[Chance]

When I started to watch this clip I thought that Amy Walker was cute. By the time we got to the trans-atlantic amy walker I wanted to shove a spoon in her eye. This is why I will not be able to have a United Nations when I am king, too many accents in one room makes me crabby.
All Accent views are from women in my head.
Hate Australian
Hate German

Hearing either make my turtle hide in its shell.

All others may apply for the position of coaxing it back out.

Cheers, Amy Walker wherever you are from.

[Bookgirl]

I have no tolerance for a long, drawn-out Southern drawl. I'm a New Yorker, by way of Rhode Island. Anything important enough to be said should be said FAST.

But a French accent? Sigh...