BOSTON — The Boston accent has starred in movies and commercials, especially for Dunkins. But now the hometown dialect is being ranked as the fourth “smartest sounding” accent in America, according to a new survey.
Language learning platform Preply says it recently surveyed 1,000 Americans to find out which accents are viewed as the best, worst, sexiest, smartest sounding, and also most annoying.
They ranked the Boston accent as the 4th smartest sounding accent in the country, the 6th most liked, and the 1st most annoying accent overall.
“It sounds kind of like rough and rugged and dirty almost but still a very enjoyable accent to talk to,” said Marco Rodriguez, who studies mathematics and computer science at MIT.
Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker, who helps Bostonians adopt neutral accents for professional reasons, says why dropping your r’s may make your IQ sound higher. “I think it is because Bostonians tend to speak really fast and when you speak quickly people tend to think your brain goes quickly and you are smarter,” said Feinstein-Whittaker.
The Boston accent had the following rankings:
- #4 for smartest sounding
- #1 for most annoying
- #6 for the accent Americans like the most
- #8 for most trustworthy accent
- #8 for sexiest American accent
The Southern accent tied with Boston for the most annoying sounding accent in the country.
The Northeastern accent topped the category of smartest sounding accents.
Prebly noted that there are more than 7,100 languages spoken around the world and more than 30 dialects in the United States alone.
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