what accent is this?

October 5, 2018 8:43 PM

The hosts of the How Ridiculous youtube channel have an Australian accent that's quite different from the fairly consistent accent I've been exposed to over here in the US. What kind of accent do these folks have?
posted by moonmilk to Writing & Language (12 answers total)

Best answer: Well, Australia doesn't really have strongly location-based accents (though it does have a few, e.g. Adelaide) - they're more class- or region-based (country vs city, west coast vs east coast, etc), or heritage-based. And they're playing it up & putting it on, at least slightly.

My initial guess, just from listening/watching & a few other clues (turns of phrase, word choice, etc) was Western Australian - either city boys putting it on, or country boys playing it up just a little bit. And, indeed, digging further, they appear to be in Perth, WA.

But, really, you could hear something very similar almost anywhere west of the Great Dividing Range, or even outside of the eastern cities.
posted by Pinback at 9:10 PM on October 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Agree with Pinback on all points.

There is such a thing as a really strong Aussie accent with very broad vowels, which is just an exaggerated version of the bog-standard Aussie accent, and is usually heard ‘out bush’ (as opposed to in the cities). I actually opened the YouTube clip expecting to hear that, but...no. This is not even that; it’s just the standard Australian accent you’d hear in the Perth CBD.

(Source: I live in Perth, Western Australia.)
posted by Salamander at 9:51 PM on October 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Could you give us a link to what you have experienced as a "fairly consistent accent"? These guys just sound like pretty average Australians. They could be from anywhere.

(Source: Brisbane, Australia, literally the other side of the continent to Salamander.)
posted by Jilder at 11:51 PM on October 5, 2018

I think it's what this article calls "Broad Australian".

Note I am a New Zealander and will defer to my learned colleagues in the West Island.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:00 AM on October 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Best answer: It’s a pretty standard accent that people from Perth definitely have (source; am also from Perth). The fact that they’re Eagles supporters and are shooting the video in Gin Gin (near Perth) leads me to believe that yes, that’s where they’re from.
posted by Jubey at 1:15 AM on October 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: nth Perth.

I wouldn't even call that 'broad Australian'.
posted by pompomtom at 6:35 AM on October 6, 2018

Best answer: Sounds generically bro-Australian to me
posted by Middlemarch at 7:03 AM on October 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers! This really does sound distinct from "the" Australian accent I'm exposed to here in the media and from meeting occasional Australians. I'm obviously no expert, and it kind of comes and goes as I listen to them, so maybe it is partly them acting up for the camera.
posted by moonmilk at 7:14 AM on October 6, 2018

Yeah, nah that's not broad Australian. I don't have a sensitive enough ear to pick them as from Perth, but they are definitely not ocker. Compare with this.
posted by Athanassiel at 7:36 AM on October 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

This really does sound distinct from "the" Australian accent I'm exposed to here in the media and from meeting occasional Australians.

Probably all the Australians you've met come from large cities on the East coast, where almost all Australians live.
posted by pompomtom at 8:00 AM on October 6, 2018

Response by poster: Yes, pompomtom, that is probably the case!
posted by moonmilk at 8:23 AM on October 6, 2018

Best answer: There's not ONE Australian accent: there are at least FIVE quite different accents:

educated Western Australian (often mistaken for a British accent)

working-class Western Australian;

South Australian accent (often mistaken for British accent);

working-class New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory accent;

Queensland accent (what most USA people mean when they say "Australian accent")

Then there's what I think of as TV/radio accent, which is when the presenters are putting it on/hamming it up to seem more blokey/accessible/down to earth - that's what the presenters are doing in this video. I'm from Western Australia, and I've never heard anyone sound like this outside of TV/radio (usually sports/men oriented TV/radio).
posted by Murderbot at 7:50 PM on October 6, 2018 [4 favorites]