Accents of Ireland

YupLimerick

What are the worst and best accents in Ireland?
I can't stand D4 (the worst). Knacker Dublin is up there. Louth is a weird one, as is Wexford. I know some counties have loads of weird ones (Limerick has two, posh and knacker. Both aren't the best but they're not the worst as I'm used to them). I haven't heard every accent, I've lived a sheltered life.
I like the soft northern ones and Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh has an epic voice. Cork isn't the worst.
What ones do ye hate and love?

For Forks Sake

Dundalk accent is an utter abomination.

verycool

Louth. Like nails on a chalkboard.

Jim Bob Scratcher

Definitely Kerry

Hector Bellend

The Belfast Accent is aural sandpaper

YupLimerick

Hector Bellend wrote: »

The Belfast Accent is aural sandpaper

Jesus what a description haha

munster87

I remember years ago chatting to a girl from Louth and thinking she had told me she was studying Russian in college. Turned out she was saying ‘nursing’.

Hector Bellend

YupLimerick wrote: »

Jesus what a description haha

by that I mean its like having your eardrum scrubbed with sandpaper

YupLimerick

Hector Bellend wrote: »

by that I mean its like having your eardrum scrubbed with sandpaper

I get you. Gonna use this now.

iamwhoiam

munster87 wrote: »

I remember years ago chatting to a girl from Louth and thinking she had told me she was studying Russian in college. Turned out she was saying ‘nursing’.

Nurrsin

YupLimerick

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Dundalk accent is an utter abomination.

Isn't that like Steve Staunton? If so, then I feel sorry for Louth.

JupiterKid

A soft Northern accent, like Tyrone (where my mum harks from) or Fermanagh is very pleasant.

Hard urban accents like working class Dub, North Cork City, East or West Belfast or Limerick are unpleasant and too harsh.

Neutral educated accents - often hard to place and often a result of elocution - are quite easy on the ear. Galway and and Mayo are often soft and pleasant.

Louth is weird - lilt of Northern with rural north Leinster dominant.

Wicklow is often like a soft Dub accent ..."Wickla"

For such a tiny country Ireland has an amazing array of different accents. The commuter belt effect means Dublin accent is infiltrating Kildare, Meath and further afield.

Nouveau riche D4/Southside with its pseudo American inflections is risible and crass - all the "mom" crap. But an old school D4 accent is rather easy on the ear. There is a big distinction between the two.

Ipso

T4, the Trinity accent people develop after a week.

YupLimerick

JupiterKid wrote: »

A soft Northern accent, like Tyrone (where my mum harks from) or Fermanagh is very pleasant.

Hard urban accents like working class Dub, North Cork City, East or West Belfast or Limerick are unpleasant and too harsh.

Neutral educated accents - often hard to place and often a result of elocution - are quite easy on the ear. Galway and and Mayo are often soft and pleasant.

Louth is weird - lilt of Northern with rural north Leinster dominant.

Wicklow is often like a soft Dub accent ..."Wickla"

For such a tiny country Ireland has an amazing array of different accents. The commuter belt effect means Dublin accent is infiltrating Kildare, Meath and further afield.

Nouveau riche D4/Southside with its pseudo American inflections is risible and crass - all the "mom" crap. But an old school D4 accent is rather easy on the ear. There is a big distinction between the two.

Noone likes Limerick. I'm gonna get a great laugh reading about how Limerick is awful

Pkiernan

Inner city Dublin < Pikey < Nordie dirtbag

Conservatory

I find donegal accents very hard to understand. I’m used to all sort of nationalities speaking to me in English and yet donegal is the only one I can’t understand.

For Forks Sake

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Dundalk accent is an utter abomination.

Draawwwda could be worse.......

Pauliedragon

I always found it intersting that we have so many accents. Similar to England you can tell where someone is from almost from one sentence. In Australia for example it's one accent. Now country folk do have a stronger accent and different terms between different states but Perth is about 4000k from Sydney yet I can't tell the difference in someones accent between the two.

NIMAN

Pauliedragon wrote: »

I always found it intersting that we have so many accents. Similar to England you can tell where someone is from almost from one sentence. In Australia for example it's one accent. Now country folk do have a stronger accent and different terms between different states but Perth is about 4000k from Sydney yet I can't tell the difference in someones accent between the two.

Aye, its the worst accent in the world

Oink

Imagine a farmers’ meeting with a Derry farmer, one from Kerry, and an investor, originally from inner city Dublin. They’re trying to sell stuff to a Spanish group, whose interpreter is sitting there with his head in his hands, crying..,

fergiesfolly

Oink wrote: »

Imagine a farmers’ meeting with a Derry farmer, one from Kerry, and an investor, originally from inner city Dublin. They’re trying to sell stuff to a Spanish group, whose interpreter is sitting there with his head in his hands, crying..,

I was just wondering about how foreigners hear our accents. I couldn't tell the difference between one Italian accent and another. Or French, German, Chinese etc. But I'm sure there must be as much variation as there is here. But I can discern one British or American accent from another, I presume because I can understand the language.When non English speakers listen to us speak, is it just one generic accent. Do I sound like a Corkman or a Belfast man to a German?

ChikiChiki

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I was just wondering about how foreigners hear our accents. I couldn't tell the difference between one Italian accent and another. Or French, German, Chinese etc. But I'm sure there must be as much variation as there is here. But I can discern one British or American accent from another, I presume because I can understand the language.When non English speakers listen to us speak, is it just one generic accent. Do I sound like a Corkman or a Belfast man to a German?

I can't understand a word the people from Cork and Clare I work with are saying. They cannot understand each other. Therefore everyone has to repeat themselves the whole time.

The Aussies cannot understand any of us. Once I was told to speak English only at a poker table in Vegas lol (Dublin Accent).

I absolutely love all Irish* accents and the way they seemlessly and very naturally change as you travel across the island. If you've a half decent ear you'll notice differences between villages even 7km apart. Hugely entertaining and above all natural, real and historically coherent in their evolution. A huge window on our past and cultural differences (in some parts of Ireland you'll still see trad music style similarly gradiated).

*Like, basically, I obviously like exclude the like D4/mid-Atlantic/received pronunciation/RTÉ like travesties from any place within the above organic linguistic pattern. Shudder.

soiseztomabel

I recently moved to Ringsend from Waterford, one of the most shocking things i still struggle to process is the difference between Ringsend and Sandymount accents are hilarious.... if i didnt have a Waterford accent.

troyzer

Pauliedragon wrote: »

I always found it intersting that we have so many accents. Similar to England you can tell where someone is from almost from one sentence. In Australia for example it's one accent. Now country folk do have a stronger accent and different terms between different states but Perth is about 4000k from Sydney yet I can't tell the difference in someones accent between the two.

It's subtle but you can roughly pick out Australian accents. You can tell if someone is from WA or Queensland for example. Queensland accents are much broader and stereotypical (Bogan). WA accents are much softer. South Australian accents are a bit posher as well and have preserved more of the original English accents.

troyzer

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I was just wondering about how foreigners hear our accents. I couldn't tell the difference between one Italian accent and another. Or French, German, Chinese etc. But I'm sure there must be as much variation as there is here. But I can discern one British or American accent from another, I presume because I can understand the language.When non English speakers listen to us speak, is it just one generic accent. Do I sound like a Corkman or a Belfast man to a German?

German accents are really easy to pick out. It wasn't a country until 1870 and there are notable differences between high and low German. A Bavarian/Austrian accent is very different to a Mecklenburg accent.

Bavarian German is really, really weird.

troyzer

troyzer wrote: »

It's subtle but you can roughly pick out Australian accents. You can tell if someone is from WA or Queensland for example. Queensland accents are much broader and stereotypical (Bogan). WA accents are much softer. South Australian accents are a bit posher as well and have preserved more of the original English accents.

I had the radio on in the car and the discussion was about an Australian comedian called Hannah Gadsby. Her accent was one of the worst I have ever heard. An very impressive person though.

troyzer

Deleted User wrote: »

I had the radio on in the car and the discussion was about an Australian comedian called Hannah Gadsby. Her accent was one of the worst I have ever heard. An very impressive person though.

Classic bogan accent. That's the main distinction in Australia. Maybe Queensland just has a higher concentration of bogans.

troyzer

troyzer wrote: »

Classic bogan accent. That's the main distinction in Australia. Maybe Queensland just has a higher concentration of bogans.

Off to google bogan

whisky_galore

Deleted User wrote: »

Off to google bogan

Think 'chav' but with mullets.

iamwhoiam

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I was just wondering about how foreigners hear our accents. I couldn't tell the difference between one Italian accent and another. Or French, German, Chinese etc. But I'm sure there must be as much variation as there is here. But I can discern one British or American accent from another, I presume because I can understand the language.When non English speakers listen to us speak, is it just one generic accent. Do I sound like a Corkman or a Belfast man to a German?

My husband is not Irish , at first he could hear no difference at all in the accents . It took him years to even distinguish between a northern and southern accent
Slowely over years he could hear a Cork accent or a Donegal one . But the whole midland section between them he hears as one accent . Well apart from a very Dublin accent .
He told me recently he had met a man who had a very obvious Cork accent . I met him a few weeks later and he was from South Wales !

whisky_galore

whisky_galore wrote: »

Think 'chav' but with mullets.

I had a google. Bejaysus.

the purple tin

whisky_galore wrote: »

Think 'chav' but with mullets.

I thought that was a 'hoon'.


Moate accent is the absolute pits.
The best accents are from people that have lived in different parts of the country, they can have a nice pic n mix thing going on.

whisky_galore

the purple tin wrote: »

I thought that was a 'hoon'.


Moate accent is the absolute pits.
The best accents are from people that have lived in different parts of the country, they can have a nice pic n mix thing going on.

Hoon is their version of boy racer.

troyzer

the purple tin wrote: »

I thought that was a 'hoon'.


Moate accent is the absolute pits.
The best accents are from people that have lived in different parts of the country, they can have a nice pic n mix thing going on.

A hoon is a boy racer. Usually, but not always, also a bogan.

Badly Drunk Boy

troyzer wrote: »

German accents are really easy to pick out. It wasn't a country until 1870 and there are notable differences between high and low German. A Bavarian/Austrian accent is very different to a Mecklenburg accent.

Bavarian German is really, really weird.

I remember on a different messageboard, an Irish person living Germany for years mentioned a few times that northern Germans looked down on Bavarians with their accent being one of the reasons (and their Catholicism). He himself equated the Bavarian accent being the German version on the Cork accent.

iamwhoiam wrote: »

He told me recently he had met a man who had a very obvious Cork accent . I met him a few weeks later and he was from South Wales !

I've heard a theory that the Welsh accent influenced the Cork accent centuries ago, when traders from Wales would sail along the south coast as they went about their business.

PowerToWait

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I've heard a theory that the Welsh accent influenced the Cork accent centuries ago, when traders from Wales would sail along the south coast as they went about their business.

Also through mining.

iamwhoiam

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I remember on a different messageboard, an Irish person living Germany for years mentioned a few times that northern Germans looked down on Bavarians with their accent being one of the reasons (and their Catholicism). He himself equated the Bavarian accent being the German version on the Cork accent.


I've heard a theory that the Welsh accent influenced the Cork accent centuries ago, when traders from Wales would sail along the south coast as they went about their business.

Saw a documentary on Newfoundland a while ago . I presumed the first few people who spoke were Irish . Then I realised they all spoke with a Killkenny / Waterford accent . ! They were pure Newfies born and bred as were the generations before them

Noveight

Love the Derry accent, could listen to it all day.

Midlands or de Dubs would be towards the end of the list.

Mint Sauce

South Donegal, parts for Fermanagh and Tyrone.

<drools>

Badly Drunk Boy

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Saw a documentary on Newfoundland a while ago . I presumed the first few people who spoke were Irish . Then I realised they all spoke with a Killkenny / Waterford accent . ! They were pure Newfies born and bred as were the generations before them

You should look at the Canadian programme Republic Of Doyle set in St. John's, Newfoundland. Some of the characters have Irish-sounding accents (I would have said Wexford/Waterford), and Donegal actor Sean McGinley played one of the main characters..

clintondaly

You could try here

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=65513343

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=59516013

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=3359973

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=105309304

Grayson

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I was just wondering about how foreigners hear our accents. I couldn't tell the difference between one Italian accent and another. Or French, German, Chinese etc. But I'm sure there must be as much variation as there is here. But I can discern one British or American accent from another, I presume because I can understand the language.When non English speakers listen to us speak, is it just one generic accent. Do I sound like a Corkman or a Belfast man to a German?

You know the way someone from france or italy or where ever can sound sexy speaking english, I've often wondered if we sound sexy speaking any other languages. Do french girls hear a guy from cork speaking french and think it's funny or sexy?

Donald Trump

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

You should look at the Canadian programme Republic Of Doyle set in St. John's, Newfoundland. Some of the characters have Irish-sounding accents (I would have said Wexford/Waterford), and Donegal actor Sean McGinley played one of the main characters..

You should look at the film Alexandar with Colin Farrell. Some of the characters have strong Dublin accents

nthclare

The Shannon Town accent is quite refined, a mixture of everything due to people from all over settling down there from the 70's onwards.

I'd say they have a mid atlantic without the American influence...

Dakota Dan

JupiterKid wrote: »

A soft Northern accent, like Tyrone (where my mum harks from) or Fermanagh is very pleasant.

Hard urban accents like working class Dub, North Cork City, East or West Belfast or Limerick are unpleasant and too harsh.

Neutral educated accents - often hard to place and often a result of elocution - are quite easy on the ear. Galway and and Mayo are often soft and pleasant.

Louth is weird - lilt of Northern with rural north Leinster dominant.

Wicklow is often like a soft Dub accent ..."Wickla"

For such a tiny country Ireland has an amazing array of different accents. The commuter belt effect means Dublin accent is infiltrating Kildare, Meath and further afield.

Nouveau riche D4/Southside with its pseudo American inflections is risible and crass - all the "mom" crap. But an old school D4 accent is rather easy on the ear. There is a big distinction between the two.

Neutral educated? Crap false accents is what I call them and there's zero education in it as they murder a lot of words.

Gwynplaine

Any Nordie accent. Just makes my ear drums hurt.
Those Healy Rae Gombeen fellas, it's like acid being poured into my ears.

Dakota Dan

I suppose everyone on here think they have a neutral accent that can be understood the world over? Like a Dub I met one time with a thick Dub accent, he thought that because he was from Dublin that everyone understood him.

py2006

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee_N3g4ORLk

the purple tin

whisky_galore wrote: »

Hoon is their version of boy racer.

Did it always mean that? The term was used in the orignal Mad Max, I didn't know boy racers were a thing back then.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Donald Trump wrote: »

You should look at the film Alexandar with Colin Farrell. Some of the characters have strong Dublin accents

Yeh. It’s true. The actors were from Dublin though. So that explains that.