Least sexy accent in the UK has been revealed
The British accent has long been considered one of the sexiest accents by Americans, with as many as one in three women admitting that they find the way that men speak across the pond to be quite sexy.
There are no shortage of dashing Brits to faun over either, with Colin Firth's performance as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, or Hugh Grant's turn as the Prime Minister in Love Actually, cementing the figure of the posh but charming Englishman as a figure of desire in the public consciousness.
But not every British accent is that of James Bond, or the affected upper class lilt of Bridgerton. For on those green and damp isles from which the pilgrims set forth 400 years ago, you can barely swing a cat without hitting upon a new regional dialect.
Sadly, the British accent that makes women swoon in film and TV tends to be that aristocratic affectation of the wealthy and privately educated. Less so, the thick and hard to understand Scouse accent of Adolescence's Stephen Graham.
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A survey of 2000 people conducted by happn asked them to rank each of the major UK accents based on attractiveness, and it was not good news for the city of the Beatles.
People with a Scouse accent, a melting pot of dialects from the port city of Liverpool and surrounding Merseyside, were ranked as having the least sexy accent. But considering the biggest boy band of all time were from Liverpool, it's safe to say this is a subjective opinion.
Anyone with a thing for Dick Van Dyke's performance in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, or who find Michael Caine's thick London twang a turn on, will also be sad to hear that Cockney was ranked the second worst accent in the UK. Only six percent of respondents said they liked the accent.
The term 'Cockney' originated among those living in the East End of England's capital as early as the 1300s, and has since become the term for the specific dialect spoken by the city's natives which is renowned for its use of rhyming slang.
The third least sexy accent in the UK, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the often derided Brummy accent, familiar to anyone who has seen the Birmingham gangster series Peaky Blinders.
Next were the accents of people living in the city of Leeds or the county of Essex, but at this point in the list, it becomes clear what the common factor between these supposedly unattractive accents is for the 2000 people answering the survey.
These are all specifically working class accents in the UK, with each area associated strongly with historic deprivation or being the poorer cousin to a richer area. Which is decidedly less sexy, according to the respondents.
Meanwhile, the sexiest accents according to the survey were much vaguer, with Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish topping the list. But ask any Scot and they'd ask if you meant Glaswegian, or perhaps a Highlands affectation?
That's because there are over 200 different dialects across the UK, where a slight vowel change can indicate to locals which town you're from. But with most of these accents essentially being jibberish to an American, perhaps its safer to stick with the poshness of Hugh Grant.
Topics: UK News
William Morgan