accents

Some say beauty is in the eye of the beholder—but it looks like that might apply to the ear of the beholder as well. To one person, a mighty Scottish accent might have them swooning (think Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons yelling "Och aye the noo!" or perhaps a Ewan McGregor Obi-Wan Kenobi monologue). To others, a Texas drawl may be the hottest thing they've ever heard. A simple “Y’all” or “I’m fixin’ to make supper” with a West Texas dialect could really get those fires stoked, so to speak.

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The sexiness of accents is subjective, of course. Though, according to polls, some fare better than others. In an article on Euro News, David Mouriquand references a 2017 poll conducted by the language tutorial app Babbel. He shares that they “polled more than 15,000 people, who named French the ‘sexiest accent.’” However, when about 6,000 people in the US, UK, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany were polled by Babbel just last year, there was a new favorite in town.

There was a slight variation in the polling question. In the more recent case, people were asked what they believed to be the “sexiest language.” More specifically, the languages they found “most sexy, most romantic, and most passionate.” "The findings stated that Italian was perceived by the highest number of people to be both the 'most sexy' and the 'most romantic.'" (Interestingly, “British English was found to be the ‘most polite,’ while German won the top spot for ‘most direct.’”)

Still, the sample size was relatively small and only Western countries were surveyed, which is a distinction worth noting. To that point, Mouriquand shares this interesting tidbit: in 2017, linguist Patti Adank, a professor of speech perception and production at University College London, noted that “English speakers are drawn to the ‘melody’ of a language such as French or Italian.”

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For a larger sample size, Reddit and TikTok have entered the chat with their views on “sexiest” dialects. And once again, the answers seem relative to the origin country of the commenter. On a subreddit thread, one person asks "What accent do you find the most attractive?" A Redditor answers, “I, an Australian with a very heavy accent, traveled to rural Scotland several years ago and good grief, we spoke the same language yet understood nothing the other said.” So, Scottish might be out of the running—for them.

Another brings up the Mid-Atlantic dialect popular on the East Coast from the 1800s through the mid-1940s (This accent was made extra famous by American movie stars in the '30s and '40s). Someone responds: “Funny thing—that in Slavic countries, we basically LEARN this accent as an ideal, excellent accent. I had a teacher who tortured me with some cuts from films to repeat NOTE TO NOTE.”

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This person is not conflicted. After pointing out that of all the places they’ve been—“England, South Korea, Japan, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, and Germany”—there’s a clear winner: “Aussie women win.”

One Redditor doesn’t just love an accent—they love everything about the culture: “I love French wine like I love the French language. I have sampled every language—French is my favorite. Fantastic language. Especially to curse with. It's like wiping your arse with silk.”

Plenty chose German, but Scottish is higher on the list than one might think. One user says, “Move over, French. Looks like Scottish is the new sexy accent.”

On another Reddit thread, the question of the sexiest accent was followed by a clarifier: “What’s the sexiest accent in your opinion—and what nationality are you?” Again—Scottish is climbing the charts. “I’m Filipino and think Scottish accents are very sexy.”

The English often find Irish lilts, French accents, and American accents of all kinds appealing. One comments that they find American accents sexy because: “You just know they are s---ts for British men.” And to that point, one Redditor asks, “With the ‘Sexiest Accent’ thread going on, it got me wondering—does anyone consider American accents to be sexy?”

An American responded that the Irish seemed to find their accent super appealing. Turns out they were from Southern Illinois. Again—it’s all relative.

Over on TikTok, many weighed in and there was lots of dissent after Scottish was revealed as the sexiest accent This TikTok user gets right to the point: “Scottish…. Loooooooooool where did you do that poll? In Glasgow?”

Also in the comment section, Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian get some love. And last—but far from least—are the accents within Spanish-speaking countries. An entire YouTube video is dedicated to finding out "Which Spanish accent is sexiest?" (Spoiler alert: they all are.)

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