NZ has sexiest accent

[anona]

In my News items:

"The New Zealand accent has been named the “world’s sexiest” after a global survey of more than a million people.

International travel website Big 7 Travel gave its 1.5 million users a month to vote for their favourite accents, revealing the list of the top 50 countries on Monday.

“The "Newzild" dialect is outrageously charming. The sexiest accent in the world? It's official,” the company wrote on its top place announcement."

[Hobbit]

I love that Anona & certainly wouldn't disagree!  You could have given us a little sample so we can judge for ourselves
Pen

[Leedscot]

Did they listen to any Scots??

[pat]

I bet most of us on the other side of the world would be unable to tell a NZ accent from an Ozzie one. I always thought the Trinidad accent was supposed to be the sexiest.

[Hobbit]

This is what Glamour Magazine (?) had to say:-
"A recent survey claimed that women from across the British Isles find the Scottish accent the sexiest of all."
But then the Welsh or Irish accents aren't too shabby either!  Richard Burton, Colin Farrell perhaps.
I work with a Radiographer who has a wonderful Jamaican accent.
It's subjective I suspect.  I love Matthew McConaughey's voice but it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea!

[anona]

Scots came 6th - pretty good.  But it might depend where in Scotland, which we don't know.

Here's the article for a few more details.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/revealed-the-worlds-sexiest-accents-a4128921.html?amp

The link given in the article for what I guess is the full list was blocked when I tried to open it, but this one might do the job.
https://bigseventravel.com/2019/04/top-50-sexiest-accents-in-the-world-2019/

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Anona, Pat and Pen,

Haven't had time to read all the detail as I'm between gym and golf, but it looks like the Kiwis have stolen a march on us again.

They do it in so many ways.  If I was younger I think I would emigrate there.

[Hobbit]

Darn those sneaky pesky Kiwis!

[Ozzyjack]

I bet most of us on the other side of the world would be unable to tell a NZ accent from an Ozzie one.

This is an article on the differences between the Aussie and NZ speech

[Linda]

Surely a southern Irish lilt is very hard to beat for sexiness? 

[anona]

Well, the Irish did come third. Presumably that would be Southern Ireland, because ... um ... Ian Paisley did N Ireland a disservice on the accent front.

Talking about NZ/Au vowel sounds: my boss at one time was from NZ. He would frequently refer to someone called Lynne, which confused me as I couldn't place this person. It took weeks before I realised he was talking about his own boss (an Australian) and the head of our organisation: Len. I was so glad I hadn't asked "Sorry, but who is Lynne?"

[bobbi]

We Kiwis thought this was pretty hilarious. To prove a point, our nightly current affairs programme 7Sharp put together some snippets from romantic movies, to demonstrate just how incredibly sexy we sound (not!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ChRXioYzM

[anona]

That clip - don't we just love people who can poke fun at themselves! The commentary (with "sixy", "sixyist") reassured me that I'd not misheard my boss, too.

Full marks to the broadcasters, too, having the woman on the left hand side as you look. Is that a recent thing in NZ too?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3497884/amp/After-row-sits-TV-sofa-women-presenters-seize-prime-position-left-screen.html

[mkenuk]

To be on the right-hand side of the person of power has always been considered preferable to being on the left.

Robert Lacey in 'The Kingdom', his history of Saudi Arabia, tells the story of how the USA, in an attempt to win favour with King Abdulaziz, presented him with a top of the range Ford car - the very first automobile in the newly established Kingdom.

For UK, Churchill was not to be outdone and he presented the Saudi King with a Rolls-Royce with all the fittings. Rolls-Royce at that time had the reputation of being 'the best car in the world'.

Unfortunately for Churchill, the Rolls had the steering wheel on the right. This meant that the King, while being driven anywhere, would have to sit on the left of his chauffeur, and the driver would be in the position of power, on the right of the King.

Long story short, Churchill's Roller was never used and the US were given a head start in the battle to do a deal with Abdulaziz for control of Saudi's  oil reserves.

[birdy]

The way I could tell a Kiwi accent was that words that to me had an "eh" sound for the short "e" would be pronounced with an "ih" sound: ten=tin, sent=sint, meant=mint, etc.  It was consistent (though we slur that sound into "consistint" often enough), which I don't remember happening in Aussie accents I've heard.