Most recognizable accent?

[webny99]

The obvious answer for accents here in the US would be east coast ("use yah blinkah") and southern drawl.

However, one underrated one is the Detroit area. I can pick it up instantly, example here starting at 58:00.

With zero previous knowledge of the podcast guest, I recognized the accent and sure enough, it turns out he's a Detroit native.
The most notable features include o sounding like ah (not → naht; confidence → cahn-fi-dence) and a very drawly-sounding a, almost like ay (draft → drayft; tackle → tayck-le)

[skluth]

I'd say Pittsburgh. It not only sounds strange to most folk (listen to Cowboys' coach Mike McCarthy sometime, especially when talking about "Stillers" football), but it also has a bunch of strange words like yinz for the plural you.

[JayhawkCO]

I nominate Smith Island, MD for the most recognizable accent.

[jeffandnicole]

The obvious answer for accents here in the US would be east coast ("use yah blinkah")...

That's specific to the greater Boston area, not the entire east coast.

That said, I agree it is very distinctive.

[Bruce]

Valley Girl is also very recognizable.

On the other end of the spectrum, Cascadian English can be hard to distinguish for outsiders, apparently.

[JayhawkCO]

Valley Girl is also very recognizable.

On the other end of the spectrum, Cascadian English can be hard to distinguish for outsiders, apparently.

Living in Seattle for a year (and I get that cities are different than rural areas), nothing ever stood out to me.

[andrepoiy]

Quebec French (and Acadian French too) in comparison to other varieties of French

[Bruce]

Valley Girl is also very recognizable.

On the other end of the spectrum, Cascadian English can be hard to distinguish for outsiders, apparently.

Living in Seattle for a year (and I get that cities are different than rural areas), nothing ever stood out to me.

Exactly, it's not all that different from "General American". We pronounce bag weirdly and have some other words adopted from Chinook Jargon, but other than that it's very subtle.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

When (almost always) an older person has a Minnesota accent so thick that even the rest of us go "I had no idea someone that Minnesotan could exist".

It's kind of a shame that language homogenization has mostly rendered these differences to be subtleties mostly seen in exaggerated parody form.

[webny99]

The obvious answer for accents here in the US would be east coast ("use yah blinkah")...

That's specific to the greater Boston area, not the entire east coast.

That said, I agree it is very distinctive.

The NYC area has a strong variant of this accent too - no, it's not identical, but certainly similar.

[Rothman]

The obvious answer for accents here in the US would be east coast ("use yah blinkah")...

That's specific to the greater Boston area, not the entire east coast.

That said, I agree it is very distinctive.

The NYC area has a strong variant of this accent too - no, it's not identical, but certainly similar.

I'd call it weaker, actually.

Worcester's the harshest of the three.

[MATraveler128]

I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder"  sandwiches are called "hoagies"  , and you go "down the shore" .

[Rothman]

I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder"  sandwiches are called "hoagies"  , and you go "down the shore" .

Hoagies are not unique to Philly.  You can find the term all through the Northeast inconsistently.

And then you have the wacky Intermountain West slight variant with the now defunct chain Hogi Yogi.

[jeffandnicole]

I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder"  sandwiches are called "hoagies"  , and you go "down the shore" .

Sandwiches; those with 2 slices of bread, are still sandwiches. Hoagies are termed subs in other parts of the country.

The Philly accent tends to make T's silent or modified, especially in the middle of the word.

[MATraveler128]

I've always liked Philly's accent. Growing up traveling down that way, it's very unique. For example, water is pronounced "wooder"  sandwiches are called "hoagies"  , and you go "down the shore" .

Sandwiches; those with 2 slices of bread, are still sandwiches. Hoagies are termed subs in other parts of the country.

The Philly accent tends to make T's silent or modified, especially in the middle of the word.

I meant sub sandwiches yes. And I've heard plenty of people there pronounce salty as "saldy" .

[CapeCodder]

My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.

[JayhawkCO]

My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.

What exactly is a St. Louis accent? Is it like Chingy where you say "right thurr"? Or is it just when you talk with Imo's pizza in your mouth?

[CapeCodder]

My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.

What exactly is a St. Louis accent? Is it like Chingy where you say "right thurr"? Or is it just when you talk with Imo's pizza in your mouth?

It's more like "Traffic on Hi-Way Farty-Far is backed up to Kingshigh-way." "Make sure th'terlet don't back up, and before ye leave, WARSH yer hands!" It's like a mix of Chicago, generic upper Midwest, and the south engaged in menage-trois and the STL accent is the result.

[SkyPesos]

My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.

What exactly is a St. Louis accent? Is it like Chingy where you say "right thurr"? Or is it just when you talk with Imo's pizza in your mouth?

"Highway Farty"

[ethanhopkin14]

I say the Chicago accent is very distinct.  Different from general Mid-west and a lot different from Wisconsin. 

[1995hoo]

I've always found the New York City accent, particularly Brooklyn, to be fairly distinctive. It has what I would call a "honking" sound to it. I can usually tell when someone's from New York when I hear someone talk, although I did know one guy from Philadelphia who sounded like a New Yorker (and he admitted that lots of people figured he was from New York from his voice).

[triplemultiplex]

I blame 20 years of watching Family Guy and my halfway decent Peter Griffin impersonation for inserting New England pronunciations of certain words into my speech sometimes.

[bwana39]

I've always found the New York City accent, particularly Brooklyn, to be fairly distinctive. It has what I would call a "honking" sound to it. I can usually tell when someone's from New York when I hear someone talk, although I did know one guy from Philadelphia who sounded like a New Yorker (and he admitted that lots of people figured he was from New York from his voice).

You know, the right south Louisiana Accent sounds almost like Brooklyn.

[mgk920]

Classic 'Yoopertalk' is pretty distinctive, even to us here in NE Wisconsin.



Mike

[Scott5114]

My accent has been described as "New England meets St. Louis." Which is funny because I'm originally from New England. I moved to St. Louis in 1996 and moved back to New England in 2012.

What exactly is a St. Louis accent? Is it like Chingy where you say "right thurr"? Or is it just when you talk with Imo's pizza in your mouth?

It's when you drive home on Highway Farty, then warsh your hands in the zink cause they're greezy.