What's the deal with the Irish accent?

Binomate

Why is it sexy? One thing I've noticed when I'm talking to foreign people, whether it's in real life or over the interweb, one of the first things they'll usually say to you when they find out that you're from Ireland is that they like the accent or that they find it sexy. Thinking about it, the vast majority of people from different countries I've spoken to really love the Irish accent.

I took it to youtube. Searched for "Irish Accent" and watched the first couple of videos which were imitations of the Irish accent. From watching the videos, it seems as if people who aren't used to the Irish accent seem to have trouble distinguishing between the differences in the Irish accents from place to place. In most of them, they seemed to be immitating the accent you'd often hear in the Simpsons that sounds like a leprechaun. I'd have thought this accent would be the LEAST sexy of all the accents. Has anyone any ideas as to why people who aren't from Ireland find a leprechaun accent sexy?

eamoss

because its different?

1st post since march :eek: sorry iv just been busy with college!

danger mouse

Because it's so flat. hmm D4 accents are so hawt roysh now.

Time Magazine

In that stupid "Did ye miss d'boat?" Dairygold ad, the accent of the girl who says "Is that all ye French fellas think about?" is hot.

danger mouse

Hardly. that ****ing add wrecks my head..Can i shoot the person who made it?

patrickolee

it's no different than for us trying to tell the difference between accents from other countries. Would you be able to tell the difference between Manchester and Liverpool accents? I wouldn't. As for the sexy part, maybe they are been polite?

Garret

patrickolee wrote:

it's no different than for us trying to tell the difference between accents from other countries. Would you be able to tell the difference between Manchester and Liverpool accents? I wouldn't. As for the sexy part, maybe they are been polite?

despite the close proximity of the cities i would find the scouse and manc accents quite distinguishable from each other

palaver

because it sounds innocent. Has the intonation of toddler speak, like, mooom can i have crisps? Or more bertie-like: can have this property? Who can resist... :rolleyes:

not to mention the cork accent or even more - sigh -the northern accent. Gosh, aren't they sexy with that tough guy attitude and then the soft spoken insecure tongue?

and even when angry they still smile with their eyes - and throw insults in toddler speak at you ...

Yes, the Irish accent is definitely sexy.

Call Me Jimmy

patrickolee wrote:

it's no different than for us trying to tell the difference between accents from other countries. Would you be able to tell the difference between Manchester and Liverpool accents? I wouldn't. As for the sexy part, maybe they are been polite?

Yeah not a great example. How about southern and northern french accents.

Binomate

patrickolee wrote:

it's no different than for us trying to tell the difference between accents from other countries. Would you be able to tell the difference between Manchester and Liverpool accents? I wouldn't. As for the sexy part, maybe they are been polite?

Well, I find it quite easy to distinguish between British accents. American too, there's a huge difference between a southern American accent and a New york accent for example. It only gets harder to distinguish between accents when there's a language barrier imo.

Exit

Binomate wrote:

Well, I find it quite easy to distinguish between British accents. American too, there's a huge difference between a southern American accent and a New york accent for example. It only gets harder to distinguish between accents when there's a language barrier imo.

Well, you picked two hugely distinctive accents there. Could you tell the difference between a Chicago and a Philadelphia accent, for instance?

EDIT: Don't forget too that we get an awful lot of British and American TV. The rest of the world obviously doesn't get a varied amount of Irish programming, so they would rarely, if ever, hear different Irish accents.

Mossy Monk

danger mouse wrote:

Hardly. that ****ing add wrecks my head..Can i shoot the person who made it?

Sure, why not.

Chinafoot

I'd never say I have an Irish accent.
With so many differences between the counties there is no blanket Irish accent.

Would you describe someone from Liverpool and someone from Yorkshire as having an English accent?

If I had to chose an accent within Ireland that is sexy I'd say Galway. There's a lovely soft, lilting quality to it.

Binomate

Exit wrote:

Well, you picked two hugely distinctive accents there. Could you tell the difference between a Chicago and a Philadelphia accent, for instance?

Well it could be argued that the Dublin accent is completely different to the Cork or Limerick accent, yet I've had Canadian friends of mine unuable to distinguish any difference between the two, even when both accents were slightly exadurated.

Exit wrote:

EDIT: Don't forget too that we get an awful lot of British and American TV. The rest of the world obviously doesn't get a varied amount of Irish programming, so they would rarely, if ever, hear different Irish accents.

That's a very good point actually.

iguana

Binomate wrote:

Well it could be argued that the Dublin accent is completely different to the Cork or Limerick accent, yet I've had Canadian friends of mine unuable to distinguish any difference between the two, even when both accents were slightly exadurated.

Different Irish accents have more in common with each other than they do with other accents. But as we are so familiar with our own accents we hear the differences rather than the similarities. But to someone who isn't familiar with our accents the similarities are more obvious. It's similar to how I see that my dogs have completely different personalities whereas people who barely know them think they are just alike. Or how the first time you ever had Thai food it just tasted spicy but once you've eaten it a lot you can pick out the coriander, lemongrass and lime.

To answer the original question I think there is a musical quality to the Irish accent, or a lilt, which is quite sensuous if you aren't overly familiar with it that people find sexy.

WindSock

And it isn't nasally like yanks or aussies. Butsh in shaying dashh...

NeMiSiS

Hit the States, go talk to some women, you won't be so worried about why.. you will just use it to your own advantage...
TK

Like any accent, you don't hear the difference until you're familiar with it. I only came here (to the north) when I was 12 and the most I could distinguish was between the Northern accents and those from the republic, and I have an ear for accents and languages. It took me a while to be able to tell the difference between Dublin and Galway for example, and I didn't distinguish the 'D4' accent until I lived in Dublin. It seems incredible now but they really aren't that different. How many Dubliners can really distinguish the different northern accents, let alone those from other countries? Can you really tell the difference between the Ottawa, Canada accent and the Chicago one? I was shocked that someone would not know the difference between Manchester and Liverpool since to me they couldn't be more different, but then I lived around there. It's all a question of what you're familiar with. Think how often the average American hears an Irish accent. Very rarely, and when they do it's usually in a film about travellers or something.

Firetrap

Jimmy Hissing Munchies wrote:

Like any accent, you don't hear the difference until you're familiar with it. I only came here (to the north) when I was 12 and the most I could distinguish was between the Northern accents and those from the republic, and I have an ear for accents and languages. It took me a while to be able to tell the difference between Dublin and Galway for example, and I didn't distinguish the 'D4' accent until I lived in Dublin. It seems incredible now but they really aren't that different. How many Dubliners can really distinguish the different northern accents, let alone those from other countries? Can you really tell the difference between the Ottawa, Canada accent and the Chicago one? I was shocked that someone would not know the difference between Manchester and Liverpool since to me they couldn't be more different, but then I lived around there. It's all a question of what you're familiar with. Think how often the average American hears an Irish accent. Very rarely, and when they do it's usually in a film about travellers or something.

Most of the time when Americans hear Irish accents, it's when American or British actors do a very bad impersonation of an Oirish accent. The real thing has got to sound better after that.

tallus

Call Me Jimmy wrote:

Yeah not a great example. How about southern and northern french accents.

Non english speakers usually speak with the accent of the person who taught them. So it's not really a valid point.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

...
uh
i can't find any post by call me jimmy in this thread, wtf?

[Jackass]

You know we have Colin Farrell to thank for this!!He went over to america and stepped into the Bradd Pitt role, and made Irish men sex on legs to american women.

Thank you Colin, Thank you for about 4 of the notches on my bed post.

(^^ Morderth, it's post #9)

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

uh
americans, and most foreign wimminz have loved the irish accent for a long time
it has nothing to do with that scummer bastard

--edit

wow.. how did I miss that

spanner

the sexiest accents in the english speaking world I think are northern ireland and the Edinburgh accent

I could never get the difference between New Zealand and Australia, can anyone

bluto63

It's only if you've heard the accents for a while that you can tell the difference. That's why we can so easily tell apart the Irish accents and possibly some English accents.

On that note I love the London accent. Never got what was so good about the Australian accent.

Blush_01

Binomate wrote:

Well it could be argued that the Dublin accent is completely different to the Cork or Limerick accent, yet I've had Canadian friends of mine unuable to distinguish any difference between the two, even when both accents were slightly exadurated.

That's a very good point actually.

The proper Cork accents are a lot different to the proper Limerick accents, you don't have to go as far as Dublin to find differences. The place where Cork and Limerick accents differ least is probably at the border. I went to school on the Tipperary/Limerick border and there was a notable difference in the accents of people from Boher, Murroe, Cappamore, Doon etc. when compared with Dundrum, Hollyford, Cappawhite et al. Even vocabulary differed. (Takkies, anybody? The only other people I know of who say takkies are S. Africans.)

Nehpets

From this thread, I conclude that accents sound different.

Ibid

Ibid wrote:

In that stupid "Did ye miss d'boat?" Dairygold ad, the accent of the girl who says "Is that all ye French fellas think about?" is hot.

Who's bringing the horse to France?

shane86

Binomate wrote:

Why is it sexy? One thing I've noticed when I'm talking to foreign people, whether it's in real life or over the interweb, one of the first things they'll usually say to you when they find out that you're from Ireland is that they like the accent or that they find it sexy. Thinking about it, the vast majority of people from different countries I've spoken to really love the Irish accent.

By foreign do you mean worldwide or just the English? Its true, the Irish spiel makes English birds wetter than an otters pocket as oul Mel B would say, but I dunno about other countries. When working a depressing call centre job the only laugh you got was when occasionally one of the English birds would say "oh my god are you Irish? Oh my god I love that accent!". If they sounded like they were in their 50s I just joked along, if they sounded young I had a bit of a banter One girl, sounded young, nice posh south England accent must have repeated the accent compliments 5 times during the call, I was up like the spire

Alot of foreigners I talk to have difficulty with our style of speaking. Unless we are in something like a job interview, we dont speak regular English. We speak our own version, much like Jamaicans do. My foreign workmates wont have a clue whats happening if me and another Irish guy are talking about having been locked outta the bin at the weekend, and that we wanted to pure slaughteritourra this young one with bleedin savage baps on her (sometimes I talk like this purely to confuse the girl who sits beside me, shes flawless in English yet the look she gives to this incomprehensible waffle is hilarious ). re what Nick said, I never found that American women here were crazy about the accent (and I knew a few as my mates apt block was full of them.). However, in America itself they're apparently crazy about it.
Dont generally like yank birds myself anyway, at least the ones I met here, they all seem to be really goody two shoes types, not a bit of adventure or general madness about them. As for Irish accent, posh, hot, D4 and stuck up for me all the way I dunno, I find the southside accent kinda cool.

Mossy Monk

spanner wrote:

I could never get the difference between New Zealand and Australia, can anyone

Quite distinctive I would have thought.

eirebhoy

patrickolee wrote:

it's no different than for us trying to tell the difference between accents from other countries. Would you be able to tell the difference between Manchester and Liverpool accents? I wouldn't.

Seriously? Differentiating between London and Essex accents would probably be tough but I would find Liverpool and Manchester accents to be very different.

eirebhoy

shane86 wrote:

As for Irish accent, posh, hot, D4 and stuck up for me all the way I dunno, I find the southside accent kinda cool.

Crumlin, Drimnagh, Inchicore, Pearse Street, Ringsend, Ballyfermot, Clondalkin, Tallaght, Dolphin's Barn, The Coombe, etc. etc? Bloody steriotypes.

shane86

eirebhoy wrote:

Crumlin, Drimnagh, Inchicore, Pearse Street, Ringsend, Ballyfermot, Clondalkin, Tallaght, Dolphin's Barn, The Coombe, etc. etc? Bloody steriotypes.

Haha Meh, Ive those accents here when I get on the bus. Familiarity breeds contempt

Remember when I was doing my leaving, for the Irish aural tapes from previous years we would practice, they always got the thickest west of Ireland accents imaginable, you would have had difficulty understanding them in English. Im talking the level of that Eurovision promoter from Father Ted here. By some miracle the people speaking on the tapes during our actual exam had regular accents and we were grand.

re English accents I think most Irish can tell where in England someone is from. London/Essex would essentially be the same accent now as its simply where a lot of east Londoners moved to. When working that call centre job its funny the peculiarities and traits you notice. Such as the fact people from up north (especially Leeds and Manchester) usually call with the husband/wife listening in, and they then proceed to get into arguements along the lines of "Sorry about this mate, MAVIS GET US A BLOODY PEN WOULD YA!". And people from Derby always address you as "duck" as in "Alright, cheers for that duck" Used to love when Id get a filthy scouse type call me (Jennifer Ellison lookalike being the mental picture in my head, god knows what they really looked like)

tallus

Mossy Monk wrote:

Quite distinctive I would have thought.

I agree, the New Zealand accent is not nice at all, it always sounded like a watered down aussie accent to me.

WindSock

Mossy Monk wrote:

Quite distinctive I would have thought.

The differences are subtle to the untrained ear. Aussies are more nasally, Kiwis pronounce I's like U's (chips=chups), U's like A's (Shut up=shad ap), A's like E's (asshole=esshole) and E's like I's (left=lift) and their words end more abruptly. My fave is Git Facked.
I still find it hard sometimes to distinguish the two and Yanks + Canadians, unless they say certain words.

eirebhoy

Is it even possible to distinguish a Canadian accent from certain parts of the US?

WindSock

only if the say ooot

Catari Jaguar

Have to say I like a deep Cork accent on a fella. Not the high pitched one... I think it's adorable all the accents the girls in my year have, it's like they're aliens or something! So innocent sounding. I'm pickin up a Mayo twang something fierce!

My boyf loves Nadine from Girls Aloud Derry accent and my friend's Monaghan accent too. I think most lads love Northern accents. I think Donegal accent is awful though (no offence)

I love a Belfast accent, and a Scottish accent too and Aussie accents. Yum.

Another thing; how come Dubliners don't have a lilt?? Just that flat accent...

Catari Jaguar

Ok, for a start the D4 accent can not even be called Irish in the slightest, it's a new, put on Anglicized accent like in RTE they're taught to pronounce E like an A. My Gran is from the back arse of nowhere and taught her self to say "goorden" for garden and so on to sound upper class. She naturally should have a Tipp accent!! The rest of the Marissa OC sounding D4 speak like, is picked up from American TV.

metaoblivia

As an American woman, the Irish accent is my favorite. One of my best friends is from Limerick, and since he's the only Irish person I speak with on a regular basis, his accent sounds like the normal Irish accent to me. I've seen a few Irish films that were made in Cork, and the Cork accent sounds very different from my friend's accent, although I couldn't say why except to badly imitate some of the words.

The Irish accent has a nice lilt to it (although from what I gather the Dublin accent doesn't) and it's very lyrical. American accents are either boring (like mine) or annoying (like Southern accents or Northeastern accents), and there's no sense of lyricism to them, except for a few types of Southern accents. I don't like most English accents apart from the straight London accent. The Aussie accent is alright, but not as nice as the Irish.

Zaph

spanner wrote:

I could never get the difference between New Zealand and Australia, can anyone

Don't say that within earshoot of my Kiwi mate - they're very sensitive about it!

eirebhoy wrote:

Is it even possible to distinguish a Canadian accent from certain parts of the US?

It's pretty subtle, but when you get used to hearing a Canadian accent you can usually identify it quite easily.


I post on an American site and several of the women there have commented about how much they love Irish accents. However, a lot of them admitted to not being able to tell the difference between Irish and Scottish accents, which surprised me. There was a recent discussion about bald men, and I mentioned that a friend of mine was nearly weak at the knees after finding herself standing beside Patrick Stewart at a bar. The women's overwhelming response was along the lines of "Oh yeah, he's a really sexy bald guy, but with hm the accent is what really does it for me". So English accents work well on American women too, it seems.

I suspect that a lot of the attraction is hearing something that's not that common where you come from. For example, if you put two identical women in front of me and one had a generic American accent and one an Australian accent, I'd go for the Aussie every time. Not that I come across many Americans day to day, but I'm more likely to watch American films and tv, so the accent is more familiar to me.

Agamemnon

Lil Kitten wrote:

I think Donegal accent is awful though (no offence)

I love the Donegal accent. It's softer and more lyrical than other northern accents and it's very sexy on a woman.

pickarooney

metaoblivia wrote:

American accents are either boring (like mine) or annoying (like Southern accents or Northeastern accents), and there's no sense of lyricism to them, except for a few types of Southern accents.

Ah come on, a dainty Jauwjeuh or Saeth Cayolahnuh twang is lyrical (and sexy) in the extreme.

simu

It's the rarity of Irish people.

I don't find accents sexy - they are either neutral or irritating in terms of atraction tbh imhoe.

However, they are interesting from a linguistic perspective.

watna

tallus wrote:

I agree, the New Zealand accent is not nice at all, it always sounded like a watered down aussie accent to me.

I love my bfs kiwi accent! He asks me to cook iggs for breakfast and tells me to puss off. It's so cute! I only recently learned how to tell the difference between an aussie and kiwi accent, to me they sounded exactly the same but now i can hear there's a big difference. i presume that's what it's like for people hearing Irish accents, they just don't hear the differences that you hear when you are used to an accent.

He's always saying how nice my and my friends accents are. Apparently we sound very melodic and the way we say our rs is very sexy. Perhaps that's cos aussies and kiwis don't pronounce their rs! In fairness Irish people are not the most attractive race in the world, lets be greatful our accents do so much for us!

Jimoslimos

Never used my accent to score - only my handsome good looks and witty personality (might have to rethink that strategy there;) )

Craziest accent I've heard - Newfoundland, its not north american, its not Irish but kinda something in between.

R0ot

Binomate wrote:

Why is it sexy?

Only the south Belfast, Donegal, Protadown accents are Dublin accent is far from sexy. /me shudders

Floppybits

I also find it hard to understand why people think the irish accent is sexy. I lived in the Southwest of England and anyone who heard my accent thought it was sexy. I couldn't understand why, I think my thick dublin accent is horrible. But I wasn't complaining, what an advantage to have when chasing the women as my male english found out and all wanted an irish accent.

I find the london/essex accent the sexiest. I dont like the southwest worzel accent.

tampopo

boreds wrote:

only if the say ooot

Ha, that made me laugh!!!!


As for yer woman Nadine and the blonde one from Blue Peter, sweet mother of god, I cannot abide the pair of them.horrible sounding.

Going back to Canadian accents, I thought they'd be easyish to spot, except in the American mid-west, think of the film Fargo.

Newfies, yeah, I heard a documentary on the radio,two over the last while, one with Newfies with Irish accents and then in Argentina, about 150 years ago there was a group of families that emigrated. They taught each other Gaeilge in their village, and the accent, (Mullingar, if memory serves me well) has survived till now. Unreal. The sound of the oul fella interviewed in the middle of nowhere bogland Argentina, jeesh he coulda been on the side of the N4 or something.

I think Northside Dubliners have a certain specific accent too.

I would have thought that an Ottawan french twangy accent would have been much different from a Chicagoan!!but there you go...

Cause

Hmm... I have had the usual 'oh my God your Irish, say something... I want to hear your accent' from time to time whilst in the US, but from my experience the Irish accent mostly gets the piss taken out of it... Brits do it a lot, Aussies sometimes and (for whatever reason) always by the Kiwis...

I would have thought that an Ottawan french twangy accent would have been much different from a Chicagoan!!but there you go...

Ottawa isn't a French speaking city - I know loads of monolingual English speakers from there. To most people they just sound American. I hear the difference in the vowels - it's cliche but they really do say 'aboat' instead of 'about' and the intonation is a little different. The French Canadian accent is a completely different matter!