Accent Whore? Moi?

Unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent.~from “Robin Hood: Men in Tights”

"Dread Pirate Roberts? Never heard of him."

I have a confession to make. I am now and have always been an Accent Whore. For anybody not familiar with the phrase, I offer this definition.

Now, before you get up in arms, there are plenty of women (and it IS a female thing) like me in the world. We’re the ones who swoon over Received Pronunciations and attend stage plays so we can be verbally seduced. We watch old Sean Connery Bond movies not for the heaving bodies or sexy scenery, but rolled “r.” To us, a dipthong has nothing to do with a piece of Spandex. We love a good accent the way some women love champagne, chocolate, and Fifty Shades of Grey. We daydream about Patrick Stewart or Alan Rickman leaving a message on our voicemail.

The first time I became conscious of this little quirk was The Princess Bride and my adolescent crush on Westley/the Dread Pirate Roberts. It took me a while to realize it wasn’t his all-black ensemble or swordplay or cute little moustache that did me in. It was the ruddy accent. He was playing me as easily as a cheap violin.

Yes, but can he do a Scottish accent?

Pop culture can and does exploit fellow Accent Whores such as myself. There’s a reason Jamie in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series speaks with a Scottish burr and not, say, a Hoboken accent. There’s an entire industry built around men with sexy foreign voices. And why not? If the demand is there…

Back when I still dated, I’d use the accent thing as a kind of litmus test. Could he do an RP? Great. Russian? Even better. Australian? I was in seventh heaven. The guy whom I thought was The One had an entire repertoire of sexy accents, including the best Sean Connery I’ve ever heard. All he had to do was call me “Miss Moneypenny” and I’d melt like asphalt in Phoenix. Sadly, it didn’t work out.

I invite my readers, especially my fellow geeky female readers, to divulge some of their accent crushes. I promise not to laugh. It might even be therapeutic.

Sharlto Copley as Wikus

David Tennant as Hamlet

Alan Rickman as Prof. Snape

Russell Crowe

Dwight Schultz and Dirk Benedict

"I'm not Sean Connery...I just sound like him"

Who are your favorite sexy accents? Curious minds want to know here!

Congrats to Jody Moller who only missed two songs in “Spin Me Round, Baby!” You have won the prize…I’ll be in touch so you can get it. The Yes songs were #2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, and 14 for anyone keeping score.

More cool stuff coming this week: another Mondays with Murdock and hopefully some movie reviews if I’m feeling better.

As always…if you enjoyed this post, click “Like” and subscribe! Do eeeet!

~ by Howlin' Mad Heather on March 18, 2012.