That includes you, Dame Edna.

Australian accents are sexier than UK accents. But it’s hard to beat a good Russian accent, if it’s subtle. Fortunately, though, I really don’t think accents are what draws us together, anymore than nose shapes are.

BTW, “no accent” isn’t a meaningless word – it’s just relative. Saying it doesn’t exist is like saying that the state of motionlessness doesn’t exist, because even if you feel like you’re at rest, you are always in motion relative to some other body.

I guess it’s the “exotic other” thing at work.

I like sarth efricans. I had a gyn once who was SA, and she made the ickiest procedures sound faintly comic.

as an ausssie abroad, i couldn’t believe how well i was treated in the USA and how lovely everyone was to me… all ‘cos of my accent (it certainly aint the voice itself which is kinda nasally!).

I must say I found myself broadening it all outrageously and tending to slang i’d certainly never use at home… shameless!

as for me. i think the southern usian is the best. i melt.

and the worst? Kiwis and sarth efricans! to me they’re like running your fingernails down a chalkboard! (well, most of ‘em) and cannot believe that anyone could possibly mistake ‘em for a dinkum oz accent! Wot are they thinking? LOL!

Like you have to tell me that! I get asked if I’m English way more often than Australian.

The funniest aspect of the whole accent fetish is that most of the folks with it (and obviously I don’t mean the fine and erudite and well-travelled readers of this blog—Barzak excepted) can’t tell a South African accent from an Aussie accent from an English one, let alone all the regional variations within.

It is to laugh.

now, give me a nice accadian french accent and i’m butter.

My whole world has just imploded.

“Oh my GOD, are you Irish?”
“Only if you want me to be…”

As an alternative to the Cool Britannia brainwashing, might a suggest a prescription of Stool Britannia via such prestigous publications as Viz Comics?

darice: My sister took full advantage of that. While we were in England she had the most southern accent you could imagine – butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, as the saying goes. Yet as soon as we returned back to the States it morphed into the most convincing British accent you’ve ever heard. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the attention she received on each side of the pond.

However, I’m also aware of the flip side. When I went to London as a student, people realized I was from the South and begged me to use a Southern accent. I’m not fond of the Southern US accents, as I’m surrounded by them, but it was exotic to the Londoners.

Vive la difference!

To be honest, I don’t much go for Australian either. Yet I’m a sucker for certain usian accents. So maybe it goes both ways?

As American accents being boring – I think everyone thinks that the way they speak is incredibly dull. I’ve had long arguments trying to explain to people who are convinced that they ‘don’t have an accent’ that really, they do. You just have to go somewhere else, and suddenly, you’re the sexy foreigner. Even if you’re from Lancashire. Or Tennessee.

Can I just say that I can’t imagine anyone finding Tony Blair sexy? I mean, he’s an okay PM and all, but… no.

(claire: there are no single australian guys AT ALL. ANYWHERE. they are all gay or are in long term relationships with leggy blondes. i have a theory about alien abduction.)

Really though, with me, I think it comes down to just liking accents. A few of my friends are southerners, and I love the way they sound. (of course, I also just in general have a thing for some voices–I used to chat with a coworker just to hear him talk. Didn’t matter what he talked about, I just loved the sound of his voice.)

I think women are wired in general to link voices to other male characteristics, so we pay attention to them more than guys do.

i’ve always like australian accents more, though, and i’m not just saying that ’cause it’s your blog. … say, know any single australian guys in the bay area?

Then again, for us Yanks, what’s the alternative? Brooklynese? Surfer? Midwestern twang? Nothing against any of these, but you might begin to see how other ways of speaking could be appealing

I can certainly think of a few women with Australian accents who are unbelievably sexy.

Not sure what that actually means…