Post by gus2 on Aug 21, 2006 8:06:31 GMT
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What Is Britain's Funniest Accent? Monday August 21, 07:53 AM
The Birmingham accent is the most comical in Britain, according to a new survey. The Brummie brogue, closely associated with comedians such as Frank Skinner, Jasper Carrott and Lenny Henry, edged out Liverpool's Scouse accent. Researchers asked 4,000 people to listen to the same joke in 11 UK regional accents to discover which they found most amusing.
Received Pronunciation (RP) - usually associated with the South East and the middle classes - picked up the lowest score, amusing just 1.1%
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of those asked.
The research, led by comedy expert Dr Lesley Harbidge from the University of Aberdeen, was not all good news for those at the top of the list.
It found that the funniest accents were also deemed the least intelligent.
RP was seen as most effective for withering one-liners and put-downs, while the Welsh accent was as the least effective. The Cockney accent was deemed most effective in terms of risque humour.
The study was commissioned by the Paramount Comedy Channel.
:: The funniest accents in the UK:
1. Birmingham (20.8%)
2. Liverpudlian (15.8%)
3. Geordie (14.3%)
4. Welsh (10.5%)
5. Yorkshire (9.2%)
6. Cockney (8.2%)
7. Belfast (8%)
8. South West England (6.6%)
9. Glaswegian (3.4%)
10. Mancunian (2.1%)
11. Received Pronunciation (1.1%)
:: The test joke was chosen by Dr Harbidge for reflecting traditional British stand-up comedy.
With no notion of cleverness on the part of the teller, the listener's concentration is focused on the lilt of the words themselves.
The joke goes: Workmen are eating sandwiches, balancing on a girder miles above the ground.
"You ever get that urge, Frank? It begins with looking down from 50 storeys up, thinking about the meaningless of life, listening to dark voices deep inside you, and you think, 'Should I?... Should I?...Should I push someone off?"'
Thank God I lost my Brum accent long around 1953 when I hitchhiked out of the shyte hole.
but not to worry Exco with his Welsh / Scouse lilt will still have the punters in stiches on the Cheese board and Al with his "why aye man" will have them rolling in the aisles on the QQR for years to come. I wonder where Jac von der Boot comes from, is it Zumerzet? ;D
gus
What Is Britain's Funniest Accent? Monday August 21, 07:53 AM
The Birmingham accent is the most comical in Britain, according to a new survey. The Brummie brogue, closely associated with comedians such as Frank Skinner, Jasper Carrott and Lenny Henry, edged out Liverpool's Scouse accent. Researchers asked 4,000 people to listen to the same joke in 11 UK regional accents to discover which they found most amusing.
Received Pronunciation (RP) - usually associated with the South East and the middle classes - picked up the lowest score, amusing just 1.1%
(Advertisement)
of those asked.
The research, led by comedy expert Dr Lesley Harbidge from the University of Aberdeen, was not all good news for those at the top of the list.
It found that the funniest accents were also deemed the least intelligent.
RP was seen as most effective for withering one-liners and put-downs, while the Welsh accent was as the least effective. The Cockney accent was deemed most effective in terms of risque humour.
The study was commissioned by the Paramount Comedy Channel.
:: The funniest accents in the UK:
1. Birmingham (20.8%)
2. Liverpudlian (15.8%)
3. Geordie (14.3%)
4. Welsh (10.5%)
5. Yorkshire (9.2%)
6. Cockney (8.2%)
7. Belfast (8%)
8. South West England (6.6%)
9. Glaswegian (3.4%)
10. Mancunian (2.1%)
11. Received Pronunciation (1.1%)
:: The test joke was chosen by Dr Harbidge for reflecting traditional British stand-up comedy.
With no notion of cleverness on the part of the teller, the listener's concentration is focused on the lilt of the words themselves.
The joke goes: Workmen are eating sandwiches, balancing on a girder miles above the ground.
"You ever get that urge, Frank? It begins with looking down from 50 storeys up, thinking about the meaningless of life, listening to dark voices deep inside you, and you think, 'Should I?... Should I?...Should I push someone off?"'
Thank God I lost my Brum accent long around 1953 when I hitchhiked out of the shyte hole.
but not to worry Exco with his Welsh / Scouse lilt will still have the punters in stiches on the Cheese board and Al with his "why aye man" will have them rolling in the aisles on the QQR for years to come. I wonder where Jac von der Boot comes from, is it Zumerzet? ;D
gus
Linguists (no, gus, not cunning ones 
) all over the world will be writing theses on that.
Have another bottle of wine, mathilde, then you might remember that MacBeth was in Scotland. 
