Accents of Ireland

YupLimerick · 11-07-2018 11:15PM #1

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 · 11-07-2018 11:21PM

Dundalk accent is an utter abomination.

verycool · 11-07-2018 11:22PM

Louth. Like nails on a chalkboard.

Jim Bob Scratcher · 11-07-2018 11:29PM

Definitely Kerry

Hector Bellend · 11-07-2018 11:30PM

The Belfast Accent is aural sandpaper

YupLimerick · 11-07-2018 11:32PM

Hector Bellend wrote: »

The Belfast Accent is aural sandpaper

Jesus what a description haha

munster87 · 11-07-2018 11:33PM

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 · 11-07-2018 11:33PM

YupLimerick wrote: »

Jesus what a description haha

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

YupLimerick · 11-07-2018 11:36PM

Hector Bellend wrote: »

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

I get you. Gonna use this now.

iamwhoiam · 11-07-2018 11:37PM

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 · 11-07-2018 11:37PM

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 · 11-07-2018 11:42PM

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 · 11-07-2018 11:44PM

T4, the Trinity accent people develop after a week.

YupLimerick · 11-07-2018 11:46PM

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 · 11-07-2018 11:46PM

Inner city Dublin < Pikey < Nordie dirtbag

Conservatory · 11-07-2018 11:49PM

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.

12-07-2018 12:00AM

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Dundalk accent is an utter abomination.

Draawwwda could be worse.......

Pauliedragon · 12-07-2018 12:00AM

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 · 12-07-2018 04:43AM

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 · 12-07-2018 06:38AM

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 · 12-07-2018 06:57AM

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 · 12-07-2018 07:03AM

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).

12-07-2018 07:18AM

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 · 12-07-2018 07:52AM

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 · 12-07-2018 07:53AM

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 · 12-07-2018 07:56AM

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.

12-07-2018 08:00AM

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 · 12-07-2018 08:03AM

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.

12-07-2018 08:04AM

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 · 12-07-2018 08:18AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Off to google bogan

Think 'chav' but with mullets.

iamwhoiam · 12-07-2018 08:24AM

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 !

Accents of Ireland

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