(Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Yes, you read that correctly. Recent research has concluded that the Boston accent is one of the smarter-sounding accents in America.
The language learning platform Preply recently surveyed 1,000 Americans. What they ended up with was a mouthful of data that determines which accents are viewed as the best, worst, sexiest, smartest sounding across the United States. Oh, and they also were able to single out the most annoying American accent. Kinda like this 12-Inch Poll.
The Preply piece, titled Ranked: British accents are the sexiest foreign accent, first hit the web last year, but was just updated last week. So this data is piping-hot. And while the title is a dose of the obvious (British, Aussie, and Irish accents are once again deemed sexy as hell), it's when we start to look at the research through the Boston lens that things start to get interesting.
Science Says the Boston Accent Sounds Smart
From the article:
Among American accents, the Northeastern accent, comprising the dialects of the New England, Greater New York, and Greater Philadelphia areas, wins out as the smartest, while the British accent again tops the foreign accent list.
But there's this as well:
Surprisingly, the Southern accent tops our list of the most annoying American accents, despite also being the sexiest and the general favorite – something that may have to do with the wide diversity of dialects in the American South.
And which accent sits atop the most annoying list alongside the Southern accent? You can probably guess. Hey, you gotta take the good with the bad, right? All in all, the Boston accent ended up in the Top 10 of 5 of Preply's rankings. Let's take a look at which rankings our beloved Bostonian brogue (I know; it's not a brogue) landed on and were we landed. Wicked pissah!
#4 for smartest sounding
"My boy's WICKED smaht!"
#1 for most annoying
I feel like we're being singled out because of bad Boston accents in movies.
#6 for the accent Americans like the most
I mean, what's not to like about townie chatter at your neighborhood Dunks?
#8 for most trustworthy accent
Bill coming across VERY trustworthy in his breakdown of the Sam Adams beer.
#8 for sexiest American accent
If you're not following Alyssa Limperis, you're missing out.
