A Southern accent has been portrayed on television and movies as everything from slow-witted (Jethro Bodine on “The Beverly Hillbillies”) to fiesty (Scarlett O’Hara) to wise (Andy Griffith). But sexy?
Well, according to the people at Big 7 Media, a Southern accent can be pretty sexy — depending on what part of the South it originates, that is.
Big 7 is a mobile-first website that creates original content on food, travel and hotels for a millennial audience, according to its website.
The site recently polled its 1.5 million social audience to determine the 50 sexiest and least sexy accents in the United States.
At the top of the list is the Texas accent. “The typical Texan accent is a ‘Southern accent with a twist,’ with strong ‘r’s and plenty of ‘Howdy’s,’ ” Big 7 editors wrote.
The next Southern accent on the list is “Alabama” at No. 17.
“The Alabama accent is strongly rhotic, with extra ‘r’s added to words that don’t need them — like “warsh” instead of wash. A slow drawl, plenty of ‘y’all’s and dropping the ‘ng’ at the end of words,” the ranking states.
An “Atlanta” accent came in all the way down at No. 31. According to Big 7:
“A true Atlanta accent is musical, with dropped ‘r’s. Can’t quite picture it? Opportunity sounds like ‘opp-ah-tunity’ and whatever is spoken like ‘what-eh-vah.’ ”
Hmmmmm ... Whatever.
While many in Georgia and the South do, indeed, drop their “r,” Atlanta is a melting pot of accents. The city has college students and business transplants from across not only the country but the world. So, the likelihood of hearing someone say “opp-ah-tunity” would be rare and true for only a select group of ATL natives.
The top five sexiest accents on the list were:
1. Texan
2. Bostonian
3. New York
4. Mainer
5. Chicago
The bottom 5, making them the least sexy, were:
46.California Valley
47. Alaskan
48.Minnesotan
49.New Jersey
50. Long Islander
You can read what Big 7's audience said about these and the other accents here.
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