According to a recent study, the Boston accent is the most annoying accent in the world. So this study must be wicked stupid, kehd.
This is getting to be ridiculous. It’s kind of like the way health news has been for decades now. For a few years, they tell you: “Don’t drink coffee! It’s terrible for you! It could give you cancer!” Then, for a few years, they tell you: “A cup of coffee a day has been shown in some studies to reduce cancer risks.” We’re getting to that point in the back-and-forth about the Boston accent.
Last year, Boston Magazine’s Spencer Buell reported on a survey where respondents named Boston’s accent the most annoying. I followed that up with a report on a study that concluded that the Boston accent sounds smart. So depending on who you talk to and what studies you read, our local dialect is either wicked smaht or sooooo annoying. And now we have another study to break down.
The Boston Accent is the Most Annoying Accent in the World
This one comes courtesy of Highland Titles. Americans Weigh In on Their Favorite Global Accents ranks worldwide accents in a variety of categories: Most Attractive, Least Attractive, Most Beautiful, Most Charming, Most Romantic, Most Seductive, Most Calming, Most Boring, Most Assertive, and others. They surveyed 1000 Americans across a number of demographics, so the numbers seem solid.
You can dig into the entire study here. And there’s a lot to dig into! Not just the categories I listed above, but breakdowns of actors and accents in TV and movies, too. For the sake of my study of the study, however, I’m just focusing on the Boston accent. We’ll see how it stacks up against the other “annoying” accents and where it landed in a few other categories, too.
