Must have GSOH: Geordie accent voted most humorous

• Nation voted Geordie accent as most humorous, followed by Liverpudlian and Irish
• Comedy duo Ant and Dec and singer Cheryl Fernandez-Versini have increased positive perceptions of the Geordie inflection
• Geordie accent also rates highly in ‘friendly’ category

The Geordie accent is the most humorous – according to the results of a new experiment looking at what attracts us in an accent. As part of the study, commissioned by relationship site eHarmony.co.uk – the brains behind the butterflies – a group of respondents were played sound clips of men and women with 19 different accents, and then asked to score what they thought of each person based on 10 different character traits. The study showed that Brits find the Geordie accent most humorous, thanks in part to TV personalities, such as Ant and Dec, who are the celebrities who have had the most positive impact on how we perceive regional accents. Following Geordie, were Liverpudlian and Irish (see table 7), however all were outstripped by Received Pronunciation (RP) which fared best in the remaining nine categories (‘attractive’, ‘intelligent’, ‘friendly’, ‘honest’, ‘romantic’, ‘charming’, ‘interesting’, ‘sophisticated’ and ‘reliable’). The Edinburgh accent was the nation’s second most popular, followed by Australian and Irish. Yorkshire, American, Geordie, Mancunian, Glaswegian, and Welsh comprise the rest of the top 10 (See table 1). In terms of attractiveness, the results were similar to the overall picture, but with Yorkshire moving above Irish, Glaswegian usurping Mancunian, and London entering the top 10 by ousting Welsh (see table 2). Interestingly the French accent was ranked only 16^th out of 19 for attractiveness, and Italian came in only slightly higher at 13^th. French performed better in the ‘romantic’ category (see table 8), but was still only placed third behind RP and Edinburgh. More than a fifth of respondents (22%) admitted that the allure of some accents is so strong that they have actually gone on a date with someone because they liked their accent, with some admitting that they’ve ‘played up’ how they speak because they thought it sounded attractive.[i] Discounting RP, men are most attracted to the London accent, followed by that of Yorkshire and Edinburgh, while women find Mancunian, Irish and Australian most alluring. For the other traits, Geordie also scored well in the ‘friendly’ category (see table 4), while American ranked highly in ‘interesting’ (see table 6), Yorkshire ranked well as being ‘honest’ and ‘reliable’ (see tables 5 and 11), and Irish performed highly in ‘charming’ and ‘interesting’ (see tables 9 and 6). Professor of Phonetics at The University of Reading, Jane Setter, comments: “Our preconceptions and love of certain lilts, drawls and tones when it comes to accents is mostly down to experience and stereotyping. This helps to explain why RP scores so highly across all categories; it’s the accent we associate with trusted newsreaders, plus it continues to be used as the model for teaching English as a foreign language.” “In terms of other accents which were rated highly for attractiveness – again stereotyping is at play. Across the pond, we see the Americans as colourful and international so they’re ‘interesting’; Yorkshire folk are seen as down to earth and honest, and the Irish have "kissed the Blarney stone” and are celebrated as charming and quick witted. In terms of French and Italian not faring so well, this could simply be down to a lack of familiarity with their unique inflections.” When the respondents were asked why they thought they had certain bias towards particular accents, two-fifths of respondents (40%) said it was because of someone they’ve met before, while a third (34%) said it was down to their representation in television or film, and 17% said because of a celebrity. The famous faces that have had the biggest impact on the nation’s perceptions towards accents are Ant and Dec (37% said that they had changed their opinion in a positive sense because of the Geordie duo), John Bishop (32%), Peter Kay (31%), David Tennant (31%) and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini (formerly Cole, 27%). Jemima Wade, spokesperson for eHarmony.co.uk, said: “A good sense of humour may be a dating cliché but making your date laugh is a sure-fire way to help you both relax, see if you’re compatible and have a great time.” “After spending time getting to know each other online, the first time you meet and say ‘hello’ on a date is a special, exciting moment. Yet while accents may be appealing at first, sparking initial interest and attraction, happy long-term relationships are about far more than that. Compatibility is key, which comes down to holding similar values, behaviours and characteristics.”