11 Strange American Accents You’ll NEVER Guess

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🇺🇸 Bet you'll never guess these 11 strange American accents! Are you up for Part 2 of our American English accent challenge? These strange accents are tricky--are they really speaking English? Check out our English accents comparisons--make your guesses and share your wins in the comments. Let us know which is the hardest accent to understand!
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⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:21 - Accent #1
1:52 - Accent #2
3:17 - Accent #3
4:45 - Accent #4
6:12 - Accent #5
7:50 - NordVPN
10:04 - Accent #6
12:01 - Accent #7
13:12 - Accent #8
14:52 - Accent #9
16:36 - Accent #10
18:01 - Accent #11
📜 SOURCES & ATTRIBUTIONS:
🎬 Video Clips:
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• Old Ties plays "Ozark ...
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• Accent Tag, Arkansas ...
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• Aunty Siri says vote! ...
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fb.watch/oVrNGs6ypp/
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• I have the Pa Dutch Ac...
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• Ask A PA Dutchman - Ra...
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• Thurston Howell III fo...
• example of "Locust Val...

[@storylearning]

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[@808-PFH-Kanaka-Rights]

as one hawaiian and somebody from hawai'i i can assure you, yea, you did well. however, you forgot to actually mention the islands language before europeans. olelo hawai'i. otherwise, hawaiian. they were translating the bible into hawaiian which made a difference between old hawaiian and current hawaiian (which is being revitalized because in 1896, the republic of hawai'i which was just proponents of the united states government who overthrew the hawaiian kingdom illegally banned the teaching of the language it speaking it in public). old hawaiian used t/ rarely s/ and r, similar to maori and spanish r. this plays a role in pidgin and is also the foundation of the tune of the accent. the most major languages that play a role in the tune of our accent is portuguse, hawaiian and filipino. thankyou braddah, and have nice day ah? haha, shootz 🤙

[@jbeezy4duhwin]

I've been told by people all over the world that they like to speak with folks from my geo area over phone because our accent has no accent. Why? - Nebraska kid

[@MoivinSulunker]

a mixture of Irish and British.

[@MoivinSulunker]

"German speaking" settlement, not necessarily German. Swiss, Alsatian, Austrian all represented, so don't mistake "German Speaking" for "German". Just as true Italians have red hairs and freckles (like Mario Batali), the descendants of slaves and other Mediterranean and soutwest Asian folks in Italy are "Italian Speaking" but are not genetically Itaglians nor Itagliennes.

[@MoivinSulunker]

Why shouldn't I be shy? You gave no reason for me not to be shy.

[@CarlEntertainment]

I'm from New Mexico, and we make endless jokes about our accent, doing impressions of ourselves. It sounds funny to us, too 😅

[@marcusmoser6911]

Burquenos are all sick

[@markwac247]

I lived in Albuquerque for 12 years. The first time my friend pulled into a parking lot and asked me if I was going to get down confused the crap out of me. Or the first time someone said “eeee who has you?” I really miss that place sometimes.

[@rathersane]

That’s alllll interesting an’ s***!

[@MargaritaOnTheRox]

​@@markwac247 I'm born and raised in Albuquerque. The idea that "get down" confused you confused me. 😅 My husband is from Wisconsin, and he agreed it's confusing. We had a mini argument about it.

[@markwac247]

@@MargaritaOnTheRox I’m sorry that it lead to a mini spat but it’s also kinda funny. Where I was from, nobody got down from a car, we got out. That’s just one of the many things that makes Burque a unique gem in this country. That and “a la maquina!” Lol

[@dennistennis2225]

I like how you call all these accents "cool". As an American with a flat, news-reporter accent, these regional voices tickle my ears.

[@storylearning]

They’re super interesting for me!

[@mr.turdlybird4387]

California?

[@rivergreen1727]

I'm from the Seattle, Washinton area so my accent is pretty close to the "neutral American" accent, and honestly about half of these were a bit painful to hear 😅 I love that we've maintained such variety though!

[@ScapeGoat77]

@rivergreen1727, I’m from southern West Virginia and moved to Seattle. I don’t feel like I have an accent, but people out here always ask if I’m from Alabama.

[@aneraxxmusic2343]

I feel you bro, I'm from Chicago suburbs but I have a suuuuuper neutral accent

[@JNEsco]

I wish he had used more clips of real people with the real accents. All the clips from actors imitating accents made it incredibly hard to accurately identify some of these. I even guessed my own city's accent wrong lol

[@kindasorta123]

It was Chicago's, right? Lol that shit was so inaccurate

[@JNEsco]

@@kindasorta123 Yes, it was Chicago. And I understand that our accent has shifted, but that was crazy inaccurate even for the old accent. At the very least he could have used more clips like the guy who starting speaking at 5:14. Besides that one, the other clips were all people doing very bad imitations.

[@timsouther3624]

@JNEsco I'm from Central Illinois (BTW, we tend to sound like TV/radio newscasters). I missed that one also. Having attended college at U of IL and worked around Chicagoland people, I've become very familiar with the different accents from all around there. The "Chicago" accents used did seem a little off to me. On second listen I could hear it but not "classic". To me the most representative "Chicago" accent probably comes from the west side and near west suburbs, like Cicero, Berwyn, Maywood, etc. I have friends from that area who'd be perfect examples.

[@JNEsco]

​@@timsouther3624 I know a handful of people from Springfield right there in Central IL, and for me I hear just a little bit of a southern twang in it. I like it. I have a fairly typical Chicago accent. Still nasally, and you hear it more strongly when I say certain words like Chicago or coffee, but I think you could put me anywhere in the US and no one would think I sounded funny. In my experience, the old accent is pretty rare. Or maybe as a native, I just don't really hear the accent unless it's really strong.

[@lazytimewaster]

Agree! Boston was terrrible, lol. But I knew right away what the actors were trynadl do.

[@meaganm9312]

Fabulous video! As an ESL teacher, my adult students were often obsessed with accent reduction. They wanted "real" American accents. I'd get onto the International Dialects of English Archive and play a Cajun clip, some southern accent, Philly, and a few others and ask students to identify the American accent. Always such surprise at how many "real" American accents there are and just how different they sound.

[@themr_wilson]

Thing about America is, there's no official language, so there's no "real" accent, right? Melting pots have lots of flavors

[@peggyjones3282]

My mom tried to get directions from some fishermen in Maine. She couldn't understand them. She was laughing because she was amazed that she wasn't catching anything. They were pretty affronted. 😂

[@andeeanko7079]

Philly girl here, living in the UK / Ireland for 17 years, so my accent is totally watered down now, but I loved hearing those Philadelphia accents and all the rest - amazing how diverse America is - and it's fascinating how it's all evolved!

[@maryjanerx]

Philly resprent!!

[@robinhowells159]

Born working class Northeast Philly! I definitely have the old school thick accent. When I say, ‘ did you eat’ it comes out as ‘ ja Jeet?’ I learned Spanish from an Argentinian, so my Spanish is very funny! I’ve been told I speak Spanish with a South Philly Italian accent 😂

[@melicat6652]

I love my Northeast Philly accent! Over the years I've trained myself to start saying "water" instead of "wooder" and I try really hard to put the "t" in the word "mountain"....but I still sound like a Philly girl. And, NO, it is NOT a New York accent. Nothing like it at all!

[@nthmost]

@@melicat6652 After living on the west coast for over a decade, I've retrained myself to say "wooder" because I missed hearing it. :)

[@rikkichunn8856]

The accent identified as the "Chicago accent" originated in a particular Chicago neighborhood called Back of the Yards. The people living there worked in the stock yards. The yards closed some time ago, and there was little upward mobility from the people there. They dispersed around the city, and to a certain extent moved west along the South Branch of the Chicago River to communities like Stickney and Joliet. I'm personally familiar with four other Chicago accents. The first is North Side Chicago, which is heavily influenced by German immigrants in the mid 1800s. This is my accent. Thanks to the radio industry, and specifically the NBC Dictionary, it has spread broadly across the country. To our English friend it just sounds American. The second is Bridgeport, also called West Side Chicago. Bridgeport is the old Irish neighborhood. But the Irish in Chicago are not the r-less Irish of Dublin that predominated in Boston and New Orleans. No, they're the Irish of the west of Ireland, the area called the Gaeltacht, where Gaelic was still spoken in the home. They pronounce the city name Chicago as "shih-CAW-guh" where the middle syllable is very rounded. It's still spoken in Bridgeport, and by politicians, and in the West Side out into the West Suburbs. The third is South Shore. This is the accent Barack Obama speaks, and it's found in neighborhoods like Hyde Park and South Shore. It's very rounded, but not so much as Bridgeport. The fourth is Bronzeville. This is the accent that predominates among the Black community. It borrows heavily from the state of Missisippi and the area around it, where most of Chicago's Black families came from in the 1920s through the 1950s. This was fun! I got to use my linguistics degree more than I have in years!

[@GenerationNextNextNext]

I have the Bronzeville accent, family coming from the area where the old Michael Reese hospital used to be, right at the Bronzeville Lakefront. Very good comment!

[@madelinetaylor7708]

I agree...I grew up in the Chicago area and have a lot of cousins who still live there and I would have pinpointed that "Chicago accent" from the video as a little further north, maybe Minnesota, Wisconsin.

[@chriss1762]

sorry Obama doesn't have Chicago anything

[@rattlehead9127]

@@madelinetaylor7708 There's a distinct difference between that classic Minnesota-Wisconsin accent and the stereotypical Chicago one featured in this video. There are similarities, to be sure. Milwaukee comes close since it's really close to Chicago but even that one has a fun Wisconsin-y twist to it.

[@simonebeckley2461]

For #4 that first one was very Wisconsin, less Illinois/Chicago. Threw me off.

[@imtired6104]

Native New Mexican here, my Dad was from Michigan and my Mom was born in western Kansas but her family moved to Albuquerque when she was really young. Lynette in #6 is spot on with the accent. I grew up talking a little bit like that, and I'm very conscious of pronouncing seven, eleven, and twelve as 'savan / elavan / twalve' or describing something as "ALL bad" (for something really cool or interesting). And all sodas are Cokes. I like having the accent that I do. Thanks for the video.

[@RandomNonsense1985]

So it’s a Coke even if it’s actually a Pepsi?

[@imtired6104]

@@RandomNonsense1985 Yes

[@MargaritaOnTheRox]

​@@RandomNonsense1985 wanna Coke? Yeah. What kind? If you look up shit burqueños say, you can see Lynette actually asking "you wanna Coke?" several times, and once it is a Pepsi. 😅

[@MargaritaOnTheRox]

Eeeee, I was all excited to see Lynette!

[@miscellaneousb]

Everything is a Coke in southeastern Louisiana too. "You wanna Coke"? "Yeah". "What kind"? " Dr Pepper".

[@lynnscott4729]

You finally did Hawaii! I do wish you had shown more examples. Even when they don't use pidgin, there is a certain way that they emphasize syllables that makes for a distinct Hawaiian accent.

[@HeyLetsTalkAboutIt]

I’m FROM Locust Valley, Long Island, New York and I can attest that a certain portion of the population DOES speak with the lockjaw! It’s so familiar to me I picked it out right away in your video!! 😂

[@WinstonSmithGPT]

Mouths are opened wider only for gins and tonic and steaks at the Little Club.

[@ladydontekno]

The thing about the locust valley Lockjaw is that the people who have that accent tend to be very old and they do NOT mix with us commoners.

[@HeyLetsTalkAboutIt]

@@ladydontekno absolutely

[@Dbb27]

@@WinstonSmithGPTlmao!! You very much know that crowd!!!

[@bookmouse2719]

Is that the "Top drawer" accent?

[@kellywaller8829]

Never heard anyone in or around Chicago speak with that accent, I live only a couple hours away.

[@ElleDiver]

Yes, the Chicago examples are all wrong. The first guy I thought was maybe from Minnesota or Wisconsin. The second guy sounded like he was from several different places, but he was badly faking some accent. I've lived here all my life. Not sure any of those speakers were native Chicago dwellers or from the suburbs, except the guy with the microphone.

[@Botoburst]

John Belushi had an accent close to that. He was born near Chicago.

[@ElleDiver]

@Botoburst Yeah, he was raised in Wheaton, same as me. I went to the same community college. He sounded like he's from Chicago. Three of these guys, no way.

[@lawandaollison1400]

Daaaaa Bears! 🍻🏈

[@user-zj5js7ku7h]

The video was quite interesting. Appalachian region definitely has their own accent with the British, Irish, German, and Native American mix. Love the old english words with a twist that have been handed down many generations. I still use them today.

[@mjade1673]

Germans in appalachia? I didnt know of this. Can you tell me more or point me where to look? Thank you 😊

[@tabithamashburn8786]

@@mjade1673I think in North Carolina, around Winston-Salem

[@tabithamashburn8786]

And in Texas, New Braunfels and Fredericksburg

[@mjade1673]

@@tabithamashburn8786 im aware thank you :) , but you and i specified appalachia :)

[@randomuser1105]

I've lived in Chicago all 38 years of my life. Four is not a Chicago accent.

[@careykuhlmey2429]

Yeh! Give dem da bidness!

[@chuckleberryfyn]

Really? Because I lived there for only 8 and the older generation definitely spoke like that. My best friend is from Chicago and her parents have that strong Chicago accent. Though, honestly all I needed was to hear the sentence "I'm gonna go sit in the Frunch room, wanna come with?" And I'd know it was Chicago. 😂

[@careykuhlmey2429]

@@chuckleberryfyn I think it would be 'wanna come wid?: Native North side & south side are different. LOL

[@chrisv.h.2307]

Crazy that of the first 5 I recognized ALL of them except for Chicago, and I've lived in Chicago for 20 years 😂 ETA: Got most of the rest, but not the last. This was fun!

[@kindasorta123]

Native Chicagoan, I was fully expecting the "Chicago accent" to be some NYC Italian accent with the examples given! It was so bad xD

[@ElleDiver]

Same and same. Lived here my entire life and I didn't recognize any of them.

[@malenaboy]

As a born and raised Hawaii (state and island) kid, I would say it’s a peculiarity that I don’t speak Pidgin (Hawaii Creole English) also as a linguistics major I would say there exists a dialect continuum between heavy pidgin and Standard Hawaii English and Standard American English.

[@ntatenarin]

I'll admit that I lived in Chicago for decades and I never heard that accent. I keep hearing that I have to go to neighborhoods like Bridgeport to hear it. I did go there many times, but I never heard that accent. Others told me to go very far south in Chicago. Now I need to search for that accent! My New Years resolution, LOL.

[@sorormimm493]

I’m in Wisconsin and thought it was a sconnie accent at first!

[@simonebeckley2461]

I had no idea and I hear true old Chicago accents all the time. When he said Chicago, I was appalled. Those are not good representations

[@squirrelvert]

The middle guy (reading something in a bar or restaurant) was authentic (possibly), with a VERY VERY thick accent. The other "examples" were all NON-CHICAGOANS doing BAD fake accents.

[@nordicsolitude831]

It took me by surprise when he said that was a "Chicago accent"...lived in the area for decades, and never would have pegged those examples as Chicagoan. For me the litmus test of a true native Chicagoan is how they say the word "Chicago"....everyone who's not originally from there says it differently than true natives :D

[@sorormimm493]

@@nordicsolitude831 it’s in the “ch”! Lol

[@David-nx2vm]

We lived in Hawaii for 9 years, and the clip of the young woman trying to get directions from her phone had me rolling when the AI voice said her family wasn’t registered to vote because they’re from Waianae! That’s a local/activist/Native Hawaiian trope, but there is an element of truth to it.

[@kirkjones9639]

I come from the 4th largest family in the GPNW, and every linguist I have met, always asks me what country I'm from. Every one of them tells me I'm not an American, and insists I tell them where I'm really from. I have no idea what they're on about.

[@wolfythewolf4457]

Pennsylvania had three spots on this video? Impressive! Always excited when it gets a mention.

[@thatbroad5848]

PA has some bizzare accents. I’m from Pittsburgh,left when I was little, but whenever I hear a Yinzer speak, it melts my heart. That’s my people. You can’t be pompous and speak like that. (Only about football and hockey🖤💛)

[@anniekirts6621]

Cheers to PA! I lived in Pittsburg area for many years & I loved Don-Ton Pittsburg! It was always a quarter till something, & had to red the room. And don’t forget the gum-bands..😂😍

[@christinaridder1451]

Chicago has a huge Polish and Eastern European population. I used to work with a girl from Albania. She has been in the US for 15+ years. One day she was upset because someone said something about her accent. I told her doesn't sound Albanian; she sounds like she's from Chicago. 😂

[@brianarbenz1329]

I had a professor in college who thoroughly educated me in two things: world history and his classic Pittsburgh accent.

[@gastrickbunsen1957]

The P. Dutch lady said she had "to red the house." In Ireland we "red (clear)" the table, dishes or floor. It might have the same roots as rid.

[@aLadNamedNathan]

I'm from south of Pittsburgh. We say "rid up the table" here. Lots of Scots and Irish influence here.

[@gastrickbunsen1957]

@@aLadNamedNathan We red the first two but we "red up" the floor 😁

[@dwilson9546]

Norwegian MN here, and my goodness my older relatives (which have built to its own village) has the most unique and entertaining dialect ever!

[@cuervojones4889]

I have several friends from MN and I always make fun of that accent. It just tickles me.

[@anniekirts6621]

Mina-Soooooooooooda @@cuervojones4889 😂😍

[@edbecka233]

One lady at church is from MN and speaks the MN Nice patois just like the dorks on SNL used to.

[@jasongclj6945]

thats what i said. He missed the minneasota wisconsin area.

[@MalachiTheFallen]

Eeee, that's all sick man. I love that you included the Burqueno accent in this one.

[@elchavoguero]

1. Philly 2. Transatlantic 3. Appalachian 4. Chicago 5. Hawaiian 6. New Mexico/ABQ 7. Pittsburgh 8. Rez accent 9. Boston 10. Amish 11. Connecticut maybe?

[@wendyleventry8607]

I'm from about an hour east of Pittsburgh. Slightly different accent, pretty close. Almost all of the weird things we say there (redd up, jaggers, nebby, etc) come from Scotland. I have a friend who says they say all those things in Fife where he's from.

[@dahltonray5231]

Love these accent videos 😀Have you thought about one on the different Portuguese accents Olly? I’d say it’s the most diverse in terms of variations, definitely deserves some attention!

[@shellnet411]

I'm from Maryland so Philly was like that's Philly I thought of a couple the other ones is different boroughs in New York. I wish you do Baltimore.

[@auntlynnie]

Have you explored the variances between the New England accents? Rhode Island vs Massachusetts vs Vermont vs Maine vs Connecticut vs New Hampshire? They’re all a bit different.

[@lisamarydew]

There's an older video on the channel with some of those ;)

[@RandomNonsense1985]

I’m in northern NY and Vermonters sound just like us. But I can hear a New Hampshire-ite a mile away just from the way they pronounce, or more accurately, don’t pronounce their Rs. To my ears it sounds almost like a backwoods country variant of the Massachusetts accent. “I’m from New Hampshuh. I’ve nevah hud of the lettah AH.”

[@hughmanatee7433]

As a long time Mainer I think I can say that there are at least three Maine accents.

[@59Canuto]

Fascinating. I’ve lived on the US for 46 years. I learned English as a second language in Tulsa, Oklahoma heavily influenced by a retired Marine sergeant from that city born in the 20s, I spent 5 years in Tulsa, 12 in Texas, 4 in Minnesota and 23 in St. Louis, Missouri. When I speak English, people can tell I have an accent, but have no idea where I’m from. I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela where most people speak with an accent very close to most Canary Islanders.

[@gnothisauton2116]

These are great but you missed another biggie; midwestern / Minnesota! Yupper is another fun one.

[@lisamarydew]

There's already a video with those two accents. Check the channel.

[@gnothisauton2116]

Thanks!

[@Marcel_Audubon]

it's coz it's not exactly a biggie

[@nickpiazza5890]

Buffalo, New York has an accent with a couple unique features to it. You might want to look into it for a future video.

[@redtyrant24]

West Maryland in the US has it's own accent. Ballimoreese is what it's referred to as. Here in MD we can tell who's from Baltimore just by hearing them talk, instead of Baltimore you get Ballimor, instead of Maryland you get Murrlan, and other phonetic differences. East Maryland's accent is a bit more difficult to describe

[@sixty2612]

The video of the guys from Baltimore trying to say “Aaron earned an iron urn” comes to mind

[@redtyrant24]

@@sixty2612 Exactly

[@binky613]

I have a wast Baltimore accent and people are always fascinated by it. I like to think of it as Philly accents meets Appalachian and southern accents. And you can go just several miles out of east Baltimore and people don't talk like this. You go over to west Baltimore and there is a different accent as well.

[@redtyrant24]

@binky613 do you ever see east Marylanders and think we Ave an accent? And if so how would you describe it

[@EMicheleAdams]

Grew up around Woodlawn and, besides how I say Woodlawn, people where I live now get tripped up with my numbers, especially 53.

[@carbtripper]

I love accents as well. I subscribed to your channel. And thought your name was “Oily” as in Early. As on Olly. Thanks for your amazing work!

[@BeeWhistler]

Yeah, #3 definitely clicked. I grew up in the Shreveport area and hearing that one I thought, “Well, it’s how a lot of people talked when I was a kid but it isn’t quite Louisiana, so… Ozark.” I count that as a win. Ok, time to see how I do with the rest. Okay, I also got #2… love me some old movies. And #4 was easy thanks to SNL. I got others based on clues, like Boston (wicked smaht). And the last one I didn’t know by name but a lot of us know the accent and consider it a guaranteed sign of a rich snob.

[@jessicakoch2331]

I am from Pittsburgh and had no clue how isolated the the accent there is.

[@christianmolick8647]

yins done gettaut much

[@NotTheNebraskaMan]

Hey shoutout for recognizing the New Mexican accent. This is one of few vidoes I’ve seen mention it. What was shown was Española accent.

[@kazferns64]

I agree. Also, the northern parts are quite different from somewhere like Roswell, where I'm from. Then you get places like Hobbs and they sound like west Texas.

[@Accentor100]

I got Philly because I saw the word "jawn" which is highly characteristic of Philly's accent.

[@marymcfarlane5108]

Same root as “ready”.

[@NerdyNanaSimulations]

I spent the first half of my life halfway between Madison and Milwaukee WI, and the last in west central Arkansas. My accent is completely messed up. When I'm more relaxed I talk with that arkansas southern twang, get me excited and my northern accent comes out to play at 2x speed....lol. People from the south say I sound like I'm from "up north", people from that area say I sound southern but you can hear it in my word play. Things like bubbler, and believe you me from up north mixed with ya'll and bless your heart..rofl.

[@rafal5863]

18:37 The rural or broad Australian accent has the same feature. Sometimes referred to as Australian drawl. It is to stop the blow flies getting in. When the the flies get wise to the corks hanging from the brim of your hat. You smile and squint because of the uv in the harsh Australian sun and keep your lips together because the flies will try to get to the moisture in your eyes and mouth. There is no use swatting them because it is too hot and there is always more. Sentences are terse calm and deliberate. There is nothing worse than taking a deep breath because you have to get something off your chest. You will end up in a coughing fit with a fly down your lungs. Smoking is popular because flies can’t crawl down a cigarette or pipe.

[@sarahkramer8954]

Grew up near Boston and spent a very pleasant decade in Philly, so got those two! Now in the SW where there are multiple large Native American nations, so thanks for explaining the Rez accent!

[@cellokimmy]

I find this so fascinating! I was definitely waiting for Yooper. 😂

[@ksera3605]

SO happily surprised you included Burqueño English!! O, sí!

[@MargaritaOnTheRox]

I got all happy when I saw Lynette.

[@bhami]

Fascinating. I've spent most of my life in suburban NY, Philadelphia, Chicago, LA, and Salt Lake City, but I've never heard many of the accents in this video. And I know even less about UK accents: most of my life I've divided those into just two: "Cockney or Australian" and "non-Cockney English". And Scottish or Irish are also distinct.

[@MelissaThompson432]

West Country aka "pirate." Arrr. ☠ I can recognize one or two British accents from watching old British tv on KZbin. One of the archaeologists on Time Team (Phil Harding) has a West Country accent, which is how I learned that the "shiver me timbers" pirate accent came from an old English actor who played a pirate and used his own native accent. (Robert Newton, Long John Silver, supposedly a Cornwall accent.)

[@pipermoonshine]

I have fell in love with my language all over again. Proud English speaker here, our language is so versatile and full and rich that there is even a dialect in the Dominican Republic that is spoken. We have an earthy, rich, deep and full language

[@Windona]

I'm from the Philly area and I could recognize it, but it's amazing how much deeper it gets when you're deeper into the city.

[@ncavis]

Northern New Mexico and southern New Mexico have very different afflictions.

[@haroldcampbell3337]

I would hate to be afflicted in New Mexico

[@VaioStreams]

And then the further east you go, it changes again. same if you go further west. Then Albuquerque has a bunch of different ones depending on what part of the city you are in. I mean, the city alone has three different words for soda. 2 words for bag. You could easily hear 4 to 5 different accents going to the store in ABQ.

[@maryjanerx]

15:24 so happy to see a random Seth Myers clip. He's my favorite late night talk show host!!

[@jlstohr7784]

Ha! Thanks for this video. I'm from Philly and moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania so was surprised by the list, and able to easily guess most of the accents. Fun.

[@Ellary_Rosewood]

I'm originally from the Bay Area, in California. I do notice that we tend to have very hard and rounded R's and we tend to mumble a bit more. It's an interesting thing though, because almost all of my friends and coworkers spoke English as a second language, I feel like I picked up a lot of different ways of pronouncing certain things. I've gotten asked where I'm from all the time. 🤣

[@FrankButterfield]

I once met an older woman in the early 90s (who's likely passed now) who grew up in the Mission District and had a very flat Nebraska-sounding accent. She told me that was how most San Franciscans sounded when she was a kid. She thought most everyone "these days" (again, the early 90s) sounded like they were from the Southland (her exact word) and that she didn't like that one bit. LOL

[@daveassanowicz186]

In Philly, we don't drink water. It's "wudder"

[@PrometheanRising]

Lovely video. Thank you.

[@charliejdk]

Okay, so this is superb. I live a county over from Lancaster (“Lahnkster”) and you totally nailed that! And also Philly & Pittsburgh. I’m not a native to PA & have enjoyed these since moving here. You’d like the Baltimore (“Bawlmer”) accent. A rounder variant of Philly’s. The say “Ah’m gewin downy ayshun, hon” when they go to the beach. It’s excellent. Supposed to have some old connection to England, particularly pronounced on Smith Island, very remote spot in Chesapeake Bay. Great stuff. Thank you!!!

[@oldtop4682]

Get a couple of Dundalk girls for it!

[@johnlomax2502]

You’re brilliant! I’m native North Carolinian , aka “Tarheel”, and I know NC accents, as well as many other southern dialects and other dialects throughout the US. I have also lived and travelled fairly extensively in the northwest of England, as well as in Norfolk, Oxfordshire, London and Worcestershire. So, I love your keen ear for our home grown, and often historically ingrained varieties of English. You do us justice, mate. Thanks for giving us your ear,

[@AnarchoReptiloidUa]

Great video 😊

[@jayaltairi]

as a New Englander who spent a lot of time in the Midwest, I was able to quickly place most of these, but Burqueño and the last one were trickier for me

[@Duquedecastro]

I think the Burqueño is definitely all over the Southwest, my grandmother used to say “Sangwich” and she born in Colorado of Mexican ancestry (and Spaniard too obviously built in).

[@meganrichardson6471]

The only one I got, besides transatlantic, which I have heard called mid Atlantic, was the Native American one. Just living in Utah for 20 years now, I’ve heard that one many times and I love it. Also, have you heard the older Utah accent? It’s fading away now but when I first moved here I thought it was pretty pronounced!

[@1helluvaguy738]

Boston is so gentrified with outsiders now though. You just don’t hear it as much anymore. I grew up on the south shore where it’s still, mostly, there.

[@zacanger]

Number 10 comes right from where I grew up :). It's not just the Amish who speak like that, everyone who's been there a long while picks some of it up, especially dropping and substituting words ("it's all" for "it's all gone", "outten it" for "put it out", etc). The Ozarks accent sounds a lot like Appalachia too, and the rez accent always reminds me of Minnesota (even outside of the north - where I live now, a lot of the Dine folks speak like that).

[@michaelanders6161]

Great video❣️ Thanks for the quiz aspect of it. Embarrassed to admit, I only correctly identified Chicago, Boston, Pennsylvania Dutch, Rez, and Hawaiian, and the last two were a cheat, as the visible ethnic cues of who was speaking gave it away. American, here, having grown up near Seattle, spent one year in central Germany, then 8 years in Alabama and the past 28 years in southeast Louisiana, I am fascinated by accents but clearly am not the best study, because there are still so many I fail to pick out. I can't even pick out a Canadian until they say certain specific words. I think, though, a big part of the challenge is that North Americans move around, relocating, more than the average bear, and so in any given location in recent years, you'll likely hear some variety of accents. Watching British tv, I marvel at how many distinct regional accents you have in a relatively small geographic area, down to specific towns and villages. Then I remember there have been many many generations of time with relatively little mobility for language differences to develop. Thanks for reminding me, though, that the U.S. has many more regional slices of dialects than what I often picture, which has been Southern, West Coast, Texas, upper Midwest, Chicago, New York, Boston, and New England. Yeah, way more than just those.

[@davemiller6055]

The only ones I got were the Reservation accent, Boston, and Pennsylvania Dutch.

[@reverendmothercheryl2276]

I grew up acquiring my Transatlantic accent from my mother. It sort of sets me apart and makes me seem aloof, but I rather enjoy the differences and how all our accents seem to harmonize with one another. It shows how diverse the US truly is and how our regional differences can work so well together.

[@joesneed5030]

I love the videos Ollie! Please do one on the many accents and dialects of Texas.

[@KattMurr]

Born and lived in and around Albany, New York. I point out our slight accent by clarifying its pronounced "All"bany, not how it is spelled.....

[@fangsandfolklore8795]

Louisiana here, heart of Cajun country. I'm surprised you didn't do our weird accent lol

[@olivervandebeer7492]

My Portuguese family went from the Azores to Hawaii... I recognized that accent right away..thx you.

[@russelljohnson6809]

When it came to the Arkansas accent, it is specifically LA (lower Arkansas, lol). Not only did I recognize the accent, I knew the exact town one of the examples was from - El Dorado, AR. Not so much the accent gave it away but the content. She said Murphy Oil and getting their college paid for - that's El Dorado. There's one accent you may or may not be interested in would be the Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri, that use the word "youns". I did not know until I was 9 and moved from Piggott, AR to El Dorado that "youns" was not a real word as the teachers used the word, too .

[@racuda00]

My grandmother was from Mississippi (I'm in NC) and she said youns. I didn't know it was a Mississippi thing!

[@russelljohnson6809]

Ha, so youns get around, huh? @@racuda00

[@SuzyQZ2Z]

I live in NW Arkansas. I have not heard youins.... I hear more "Y'all". :)

[@russelljohnson6809]

@@SuzyQZ2Z yeah, like I said, it's a NE Arkansas and SE Missouri thing.

[@Cobbsouth]

I hear you! I grew up in north Alabama, and I was almost grown before I realized the rest of the world didn't pronounce "okra" as "oak-ree."

[@amethystanne4586]

At about 1:30……. Golly, I immediately understood it! That’s the accents I heard growing up in Hunterdon County New Jersey. My siblings and I were the first generation of my Dad’s branch of the family to have not been born and raised in Philly. Good evening from southcentral Kentucky! DH&I moved our family here in 1988. I have a hybrid accent now. People have said to me, “Uh, you’re not from around here, are you.” I am so blessed. I get to work with a lady from Jersey. She moved to this area within the past 2 years.

[@lazytimewaster]

I love these accent videos. So fun!

[@steve-3p-oh280]

Hey Olly... your English is quite good! What language do they speak in your country? I tell that to every English person I meet in a 'pub' here in 'Merica. The look on their face is priceless. I'll let myself out now.

[@johnkacin1500]

I love that Transatlantic accent. Being a kid growing up in the 80's a lot of the movies played on T.V. Were from that time period. Audrey Hepburn and Spencer Tracy just arguing with each other in that perfect dialect. Just so clean and understandable. Fast forward to being an adult and trying to talk to people in different states, or even different parts of the same state, and you're both getting mad at each other because neither one of you understand what the other is talking about.😁

[@seanthorntonmd3908]

You should include the Ranger accent from the arrowhead of Minnesota. I learned that one from a college housemate.

[@DataCab1e]

That construction of a past-tense verb immediately following "needs" ("needs washed," "needs fixed," etc.) has spread _far_ beyond Lancaster county, PA. It's one of the dialectic ticks I noticed after moving to rural-ish northeast Ohio that I don't recall hearing in my preceding 22 years living in upstate New York, central Indiana, and southeastern Michigan.

[@rainbug714]

Growing up in Louisiana, I picked up a lot of words and phrases unique to the area, but my accent is a combination of the two sides of my family: Appalachian and Deep South/Piney Woods. Rhotic and slow. 😄 I loved trying to guess all of these. I managed to guess correctly about 80% of the time.

[@TracyD2]

I hear a bit of the transatlantic accent in the Hamptons, New York among the very wealthy usually older generations. Probably because they live transatlantically. My age like 50+ yo had a new York Boston combo on the east end. Also some people I knew growing up here had an accent called Bonica ( I think) they sounded like they were from the south. I don’t hear it among them or at all anymore.

[@korybing]

I'm from the Missouri Ozarks so it was fun to hear Ozarkian, usually people ignore that one for the more general Appalachian accent, and it's the closest but definitely different!

[@JustinJurazick]

I moved here from the Philly area and everyone here thinks my accent is Boston lol

[@jasonkrull6077]

Upper Midwest mixture of Iowan, Minnesotan and residual Scandinavian is my accent. I live in SE Georgia now and continually get comments on my accent. Of course I hear all of the South Georgia accents around me.

[@saywatnowful]

Was very happy to hear the Arkansas accent in this video, my mom's family is from there!

[@juliasaurus-wrecks99]

I got most of these right, but I was stumped with three of them. Have you covered the accents that make up the PNW? Where I live in eastern Washington state, there are a lot of older people who use an intrusive ‘r’, so ‘Washington becomes ‘Warshington’. I think you should cover this region if you haven’t yet.

[@doctorj6030]

I got most of the accents correct, I now live in the Midwest, used to live in the Northeast, knew Boston, Chicago,Philadelphia,Hawaiian, New Mexico(going their next week), Arkansas, I go fishing their, Knew the Trans Atlantic, Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn talked that way in the movies, Pittsburgh, been there for ballgames, didn't know the Bative American & even though, I have been to Lancaster,PA in the Amish country did not know that accent. Being Italian American from New Jersey & living in Missouri for 40 years, I now have a Tony Soprano accent with a Missouri twang & whenever I visit another city the USA, I always go to yhe Italian neighborhoods & become familiar with their accents,.Love your channel.

[@bdnl6268]

I think jaggy, redd and nebby are from Scots.

[@anniekirts6621]

Lol! Always mindful of those Nebby friends...😂😍

[@maryjanerx]

I love this information

[@MountTinMan]

As someone who’s lived in a lot of these areas I think it would have better to have more people on the video who actually have these accents rather than actors or others who are imitating or doing impressions of these accents. I do appreciate the content though, nice work.

[@marymcfarlane5108]

Liked the guy who described the essence of “the Rez” accent: curl your tongue until it touches the roof of your mouth, then talk. It’s a very recognizable accent but I’ve never been able to parse out its elements. I STILL don’t understand how it is so consistent amongst very diverse American Indian communities when those first learning English came to it from many different indigenous languages. The residential school teachers were also from many different backgrounds, yet somehow that accent is recognizable on reservations throughout all of North America.

[@lisacrockford2220]

I totally enjoyed this 10:42 video . Also N.C. Down East has the Word Drime & Drime Ramsey . 😅

[@robin-76]

I have a Philadelphian accent -- it took me a long time to realize how unique it is! Tina Fey and Kevin Bacon are native Philadelphians, so they can play all they want.

[@amethystanne4586]

I understood immediately what Kevin Bacon was talking about. My siblings and I were the first generation of my Dad’s family tree to have not been born in Philadelphia.

[@turnleftaticeland]

Growing up in a Philly suburb i always thought the Philly accent was for “tough” people. It wasn’t until i watched It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia that i realized people find the accent silly & ridiculous 😅

[@englishliterature6056]

I have read your books on short stories and 101 conversation series. I want more like conversation series. It helps students to learn English language

[@bruceleealmighty]

I know that some speakers of Mid-Atlantic accented English would love to call it World English but I grew up knowing it as Mid-Atlantic (no borders) English. Kind of a self proclaimed posh upper-crust linguistic tweak. Also noticed that British tend to call it Transatlantic rather than Mid-Atlantic . The Hawaiian accent was hilarious. Reminded me of my Jamaica friend had a Siri that understood what he was sayin and spoke back to him in Jamaican English. My Tongan friend was floored. I've had too many Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch relatives not to get that one. The Lock Jaw accent is eclectic and you can find it with those attempting to do a Mid-Atlantic as well.

[@squirrelvert]

Mid-Atlantic accent isn't 'POSH.' That's asinine. There are lots of Mid-Atlantic accents. Ever heard a southerner ask for a KWOFEE, like you'd hear in New York? Congratulations, you're in Maryland!

[@MaineCoonMama18]

I guessed #10 as soon as she said redd up! But then I missed all of the well-known ones except #9. 😂

[@lawrenceseguin1865]

I have a pretty standard central Canadian English accent but the specific place I come from - Windsor, Ontario - we have our own peculiar way of pronouncing the street names we inherited from the original French settlement

[@condensedginger4740]

I grew up 10 mins from Philly in South Jersey and went to school with kids who had a strong southern NJ accent. Mom was from New York City/Northern NJ and dad was from further up in Bucks County, so I have a weird modgepodge of both. Husband is from San Diego and he says I have that intrusive R and I say 'wooder' instead of water. We moved to Kansas together and our Midwest friends point out our regional speech differences sometimes. Kansas City accents are definitely worth looking into, they feel Southern but also not. Can't exactly explain it right. I didn't realize I even had a Philly-ish accent until my husband pointed it out! I miss going "down the shore" now that we're landlocked in Kansas

[@gwenwilliams3594]

You missed some points on the rez accent. One is the -s or -es endings. desks is pronounced deskes Or tests as testes There is confusion on what kind of -ed sound to use so the -ed sound is just dropped. Such as jumped (pronounced as /t/,) is pronounced jump. Another example the word bolted (pronounced as /ed/), is pronounced bolt. These changes can be attributed to learning english as a second language. But now children who don't speak their tribal language learned their english from people who are ESL (English as a Second Language). There are many more things to identify rez speakers but for brevity, I'll stop.

[@raechellec.2792]

Happy to report that I was able to guess all the accents except for the last one. I knew being a philology nerd would pay off one day. 😅 I'm also glad to see the slight nod towards Hawaiian Pidgin and Rez English...as someone who had a relative that used to work on a pineapple 🍍 plantation in Hawaii, and because I worked in the field of Indigenous focused social service. I'm glad I found your channel. Probably not the most common request, but I would love to see a video on Pidgins and Creoles. I like how you take a pretty non-judgmental approach, since so many speakers of certain accents and dialects have been "othered." Thank you!

[@HomesteadTessie]

Thank you for adding me in clip number ten yes, I was born and raised Mennonite Pennsylvania Dutch

[@lisamarydew]

It was a lovely video you made! :)

[@lanctermann7261]

It was quite interesting to have family (Dad's side) with a " Boston" accent, when I, from 30 miles west did not have it. There will also the archeptychal American accent which I believe prevails in central and Northen California. Accents are endless fun.

[@Osage80]

New sub here! I’m from Oklahoma, but I absolutely love accents of all kinds. I did well with the southern accents in your other video. I can turn off and on my accent…but I can sound pretty country sometimes. Anywho…fun videos!! Also, as a Native Osage American, we can sound pretty flat and stoic.

[@southernlight6]

The Pennsylvania Dutch accent extends up to Schuylkill County. I grew up hearing redd up, outten the lights, is your coffee all because my family were Penna Dutch heritage from Schuylkill County. My accent is South Jersey. I say wadder for water. cawfee for coffee and chawlet for chocolate. Over has a long o.

[@georgetirebiter4343]

I love that comedienne from New Mexico. She has the Burqueño ( denizen of Albuquerque) accent and attitude spot on!