Latest news with #AmericanAccents
The Independent
7 days ago
- General
- The Independent
The US accents Americans like to hear the most — and the least
Southern charm, it turns out, isn't a myth — Americans rate accents from Southern states as the friendliest in the US. In a study, over one in three (38 percent) Americans ranked the Southern accent — most commonly associated with Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and South Carolina — as the most welcoming, with the Hawaiian accent coming second (34 percent). In the Censuswide poll of 2,000 Americans, commissioned by Answering Service Care, the Texan twang was specifically voted third, with 31 percent of respondents finding it pleasant. At the other end of the table are the accents from New York City and Brooklyn, which are jointly the most hated American accents (15 percent). The New Jersey accent is marginally less liked (third from bottom, 16 percent), with the Chicago accent fourth from bottom (17 percent). The research also reveals America's top low-annoyance destinations accent-wise, with the way people speak in Alaska, Utah and the Mountain West rated least annoying by travelers. The Americans who sound the most soothing are Hawaiians, who come top with 20 percent of the vote. New Yorkers, meanwhile, sound the most confident (24 percent), followed by Texans (21 percent). Voice Coach Molly Parker explained that someone's accent can be just as impactful as what they're saying. She explained: 'Accents are everything when it comes to first impressions. 'Different consonants and vowels shape the way we feel about a speaker, even before we process their actual words.' She added: 'The way someone sounds can completely shift how they're perceived — whether they come across as confident, polite, impatient, or unsure.' The US accents Americans like to hear the most — and the least 1. Southern 9. Alaskan 17. Southern Californian 2. Hawaiian 10. St. Louis 18. Northeastern 3. Texan 11. Utah 19. Boston 4. Midwestern 12. West Coast 20. Chicago 5. Southwestern 13. Appalachian 21. New Jersey 6. Florida 14. Pacific Northwest 22. Brooklyn 7. Mountain West 15. Californian 23. New York City 8. General American 16. Mid-Atlantic Source: Answering Service Care
Times
19-05-2025
- General
- Times
Uh oh, America's East Coast elite have taken over sleepy St Andrews
You hear it in the Californian drawls at dinner parties. You feel it when a New Yorker lands into freshers week and knows a quarter of their cohort. You see it in the apartments that resemble New England summer homes. Nearly one in five students at the University of St Andrews are American — more than any other university in the UK — and it shows. Tucked into the once sleepy East Neuk of Fife, the town has been turned into what some call 'mini-Nantucket', where around every street corner you hear an American accent. This is not your average British university experience. Over the past two decades St Andrews has been transformed from a quaint, windswept Scottish university into a globally recognised academic institution
