PALO ALTO, CA – A new study out of Stanford University reveals that the British accent is no longer considered a positive trait for attracting sexual partners.
In a comprehensive new research study conducted jointly by the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, three thousand American men and women ranging in age from 18 to 54 were monitored to detect sexual arousal after hearing different foreign accents. The study was named after Professor John Comito, who worked with Alfred Kinsey in his youth and is now a pioneer in sexual linguistics.
Each subject participating in The Comito Study was put in a mood-enhanced room (low-lighting, soft music), then they were played samples of native speakers reciting simple phrases in English (i.e. “would you like to have dinner?” you look beautiful,” “let’s stroll in the park,” etc.). Subjects also heard several regional accents: New York, New Jersey, Midwest, Southern, Texas, and California. Electrodes attached to the subject monitored sexual arousal.
The results of The Comito Study surprised researchers. Women and men have always been aroused by French and Italian accents, and women have always seemed to go “weak in the knees” over British accents. No more. While the romance languages account for the majority of accents that attract the opposite sex, the British accent is slowly losing its sex appeal. “Women today seem unimpressed with the British accent. They are more attracted to accents of the more hot-blooded countries – Spain, Brazil, Greece.”
Here are the results of The Comito Study. The top 15 accents that caused sexual arousal in subjects:
FOR MEN
- Italian
- French
- Spanish
- Southern
- Greek
- Irish
- Russian
- Australian
- Canadian
- Chinese
- Swedish
- Jamaican
- New Jersey
- British
- Dutch
FOR WOMEN
- Italian
- Spanish
- French
- Greek
- Irish
- Dutch
- Swedish
- South African
- Australian
- Russian
- Canadian
- Cuban
- Southern
- Hungarian
- British
Men are slightly more attracted to the British accent than women, but that may be because TV producers regularly give the hot, female lead to British actresses. One researcher, psychologist Jacob Vizmans speculated that it may because American men are just growing tired of American women. His female research partners strongly disagreed with his comments and had him fired from The Comito Study.
One of the Comito researchers, Dr. Linda Masterson said, “For decades British men have been coming to America with the idea that women will just drop their skirts when they hear their accent, and for decades it worked. But now, American women are turned-off by the accent.” One subject wrote this on their data form, “I used to like British accents because I used to think of Jude Law and James Bond, but now when I hear it all I think of is bad teeth and oil spills. Ewww.” Even though the study was conducted in May of this year, researchers with the Comito Project say that the BP oil spill did not affect the findings.
Dr. Lisa Masterson, who is married to a Jamaican set designer said, “The fact is that British accents have become… a bore.”
In general, subjects felt that if you had an accent your chances of having sex were better than if you didn’t. That word spread quickly on campus and since the study was released, there appears to be a lot more men at the bar with Italian accents. Hmmm….
The Comito Study is now expanding its research to Europe. They want to see how effective an American accent is in creating sexual arousal in Europeans. “It’s not going to be easy, Europeans don’t always respond to an American accent with arousal.” We look forward to the results.
really
i am a woman and i find the british accent of women a turn off. but some british men have a nice accent. i think the british women come off as very snobby and arrogant. having a nasally sound is a big turn off. but maybe its a personality trait thing as well.
lol
ok
you have my view of british women and what i think they are really like…arrogant.
im french and i agree with you i cant stand hearing british womens the word arrogant truly fits but for mens its quite stylish i think pretty cool though the american one is pretty nice two less stylish yet nice
Hints of jealousy me thinks- (in an English accent). 'British' accent, btw, can be Scottish, Welsh, English or Northern Irish. Arrogant indeed. Tut.
More unpleasant than their accent is their foul breath due to sloppy hygjen.
Wow, guess you’re a Brit. Check with Stanford….
I was 40 years ago !!,am now an aussie.
Apologies… Americans love Australians. Brits are a little too “oily” for us at the moment…
hmm! think Texaco/Chevron and the Amazonian/Ecuatorian rainforest before throwing that particular stone….
What the f***? There is no such as a "Canadian" accent anymore then there is an "American" accent. Just like Americans from different parts of America sound different, Canadians from different parts of Canada sound different. Jeez.
eh?
"British accent"???
I suppose they're refering to the R.P. (received pronunciation) which nobody really uses (ok – maybe the queen and her horrendous brood, but not REAL people) the alleged British accent is, I think, a creation of Hollywood – aided and abetted by the BBC.
Regional and class accents in Britain are extremely rich in variation – compare the Liverpool accent of the Beatles with the Home counties speaking style of the Rolling Stones, the Mancunian brogue of the Oasis boys with the Geordie tones of Dire Straits – and lets not even think about entering Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland….
Do people get paid for doing such meaningless research? Making statements so general as to be laughable?
When I lived in England I could tell to – the street – where someone came from by their speech patterns, intonation and vocal modulation,
I'm sure, as Emily hints, that this degree of variation would be true for most countries – certainly those which use English, 'though I've heard one or two French people claim that there are no accents, regional or class based, in France. (Idon't believe that BTW)
You've never seen "Men in Black" have you.
Everyone is aware that this is "The Weekly World News", right? The "news"paper that roports on God talking to people through toast and fish that look like Taylor Swift. I highly doubt that this was accurately reported. Though, I do believe that it was a real study. (I recognize some of the Drs names.) My suggestion, take it as it was intended and CALM yourselves 🙂
Least appealing accent: Long Island
Agreed, the long island accent is somewhat grating to my nerves.
Agreed.
I can't find any reference to this bogus study anywhere
You guys do realize that this is the weekly world news right? It's meant to entertain, none of it is true. This study is no more real than Batboy or Soviet submarine tunnels under Lake Michigan.
Any good accent is a turn on for men and women. I like British accents but not the super nasal ones. Where would James Bond be without his sexy voice and, of course, his hot bod.
This is quite amussing and obviously a lame attempt of a lie to stick one to the British because Americans are pissed at the BP oil spill ( even though BP has not been British Petroleum for over a decade)
I will tell u why i think this article is a lie…..
I have recently been studying the subject of "is the British accent hot" and there are many recent polls on the subject with many thousands of votes ( many thousands more than took this fake study in this article) and the outcome is that the British accent is still very hot and at the top of the list. check it out for yourselves.
Lady Gaga,Rhina,Miley Cyrus and many female models are all publicly saying how they love British men and there accent and they spend alot of time partying over in England.<<<This just ads to the British peoples coolness having all these top A list celebs on their case. Many of the top female models are dating British men.
I realy love their accent its hot! id say 95% of my friends think its hot too!
I still find British accents really sexy, espicially in men.
This study is baseless.
How can anyone say a British accent isn't hot? There's nothing hotter than a British man. 🙂
but Bat Boy isn't british
Total B.S. 🙂 Im an American lady and I find certain English accents extremely arousing! Not all English accents though, just a few regions in particular. And the “hot blooded” accents do absolutely nothing for me! Nor do the French!
There's nothing sexier than a British accent, especially the ones from the North. You can keep the French ~ a horrendous accent, in my opinion.
I confess, I have a British Accent. It isn’t a Welsh Accent which is where I was was born, it isn’t that ‘posh’ ‘upper class’ accent like the Queen. Until yesterday in San Diego I thought I had no accent at all, just pure recieved English. My wife who was born in Australia and brought up in London speakes just like me, no accent. That belief was shattered in San Diego Old Town yesterday when someone in an elevator said to her ‘Say – you have a strong accent there’
I guess a strong accent is heard from someone who doesn’t speak like you!
Thank goodness for variety – the world would be a sadder place if we were all the same.
This is completely false
I am a canadian woman and i LOVE british accents
I LOVE welsh accents and scottish accents and Irish and all the types of english accents
I can't even believe that British was rated last.
All of the women I know, still get weak in the knees over a british accent.
False.
I am a Spaniard woman living in Canada, and I LOVE THE BRIT ACCENT!!
I love the british accent too!!!!! THE BRITS ARE SOOOOOOOOOOO HOT!!!! GOT TO LOVE THEM!!!
yuck british.
So not true. People of different nationalities that I know find the British accents rather sexy. In fact, only my British friends themselves don't find their accents hot!
Woah i find this hard to believe,me and all my friends LOVE British accents and British guys,there so hawt.
Italian can be nice but i dont understand it lol.The French accent is horrible!
I agree, an English accent is painful to listen to. Especially the deep nasal.
I'm not very fond of "British" accents. Some "British" accents sound better than others (after all there are many different accents in England) but I personally do not find them very compelling. I used to rather enjoy them (in comparison to other accents anyways) until I moved to a city with a large population of British expats. An accent really loses its appeal after hearing hordes of drunken idiots slur bad pick up lines. That being said in general I am rather impervious to accents as I grew up in a city where half the population are first generation immirants. That being said I cannot stand "Southern" accents; I can't even enjoy a book if it's written in a "Southern" vernacular.
Um, what about Robert Pattinson? He's British. Or Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Irish and close enough.. HERE's a list of who has the world's hottest accents according to current celebs.
the worst soundung accent is Australian …..ewwww just sounds plain stupid. Not even a little bit sexy. Total turn off. British accent is hot.
http://adf.ly/2IqzU
The Brits rock!!!
First of all, not all British accents are created equal! My husband is from England, and when we go to parties, women are all over him!
Ok, I am placed at number 15, dutch… too bad 🙁
heh, jamaican is at number 12 for men but not for women ha ha weird. i'm a jamaican female and i like british accents a lot but i LOVE the french accent more!!!
I am placed number 5 as a greek man not bad at all but i would like a top 3
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To each their own I say!! I'll throw up a vote for the BOSTON accent though 😉
This poll is crazy!! I'm and American woman and the British Accent drives me wild! Can get me to do almost anything out of my comfort zone — the problem is they never try hard enough. Are they shy or lazy? Don't know.
Greekz Rulez!!!! 4ever, sexy hell yeah
Im british and as a male would say that the most attractive accent for me is australian or american in a women 🙂
Haha this is funny.. I’m a woman and I’m really into British accent. I think that it’s just so cool, classic and it’s where English came from.
Australian accent is funny, so plain and the tone is weird tho. Not sure about Canadian accent, but the American accent is just kinda sooo boring. Sounds so lazy, like when people just wake up from their bed after get drunk… LoL
why can't you type 'classic'?
ARE YOU SERIOUS?! NEW JERSEY is before British or Dutch?!
I dont know how New Jersey even got in the running.. haha
This is all Jersey Shore's fault.. LOL
I am a southern woman who has the fortunate experience of being around men from all over the world! I can testify to the fact that you can't beat a soft sexy sweet southern voice! Many try to imitatate it as well as the total idiots who malign it. Say what you will, you envious petty faux intellects, you can't help it that you were not born here, so have the grace to say so!
Big ears prince Charles is one big reason women have turned off the limy accent and his horse
woman Camilla's total lack of feminity explains why men are allergic to same accent.Brits have
one of the world's poorest reputation on the good lover scale,most of them are precocious
ejaculators or more interested in other men than women.Why has the rest of europe shown the
door to Britain just a few days ago ?Canada.s dollar is called the loony because it has the picture of the brit queen on it.Yhank God G.Washington was able to beat the Brits abd send them back to England to copulate with their bland females.
"Yhank God G.Washington was able to beat the Brits abd send them back to England to copulate with their bland females."
I can see your not all that keen on the British.
I will agree with you on one thing though, the women out here are pretty boring. Interesting women that stand out are practically nonexistant on this side of the pond.
you pratt!
Tru dat' Mindy. I feel you.
British accent is the original and the exotic and sexiest of the world and is the mother language of the American Country, United States.
lol…thats funny…im Canadian and Canadian accent is not sexy.. eh?! lol British accent would still take my heart away
Anything is better than an accent from the South!
In england we have more than 1 accent we have bristolian, cockney, gordie, essex (theres alot more) it depends on what part of england were from. Is it like that for other countries?
Yeah
an english RP accent (not too over done – ie. a toned down james bond) always will be attractive to american women despite what a survey may or may not say from time to time… the BP accident in the Gulf is the probable cause in this instance and it shows a peculiar facet of american culture, where due to an industrial accident a whole nation is damned. Bizzare and shows an immature nations beliefs. Like blaming all americans for the actions of a president…
nice nice..
First off there are SEVERAL “British accents”. Cockney, RP, Scottish, Welsh etc.
I know far too many people that love the English accent to place it that far down in the poll so those results cannot be representative of the general consensus of what how Americans view it. And come on, does the average American even know how to distinguish Dutch, Greek, Hungarian, Swedish accents? I’ve read somewhere some Americans aren’t able to tell the difference between Cockney and Australian accents. Lol
*Sigh* Ireland is a part of Britain, so that is a total contradiction within its self. There is no such thing as a British accent, I believe you may mean that "people" no longer find "English" accents sexy. In which case, if by "people" you actually mean "Americans", then I am really not the slightest bit bothered, considering I live in Britain, which consists mostly of – guess who – Britons. I have been over to America a few times, and have been stopped, just so people can get me to say certain words, and tell me they love my accent. This raises questions as to which accents are the unnatractive ones? There are many different accents in England, and many of them make even MY skin crawl, like the cockney accent. If the article reffers to these sorts of accents, then yes, I completely agree, they are not sexy in the slightest. However, I was brought up in a little town inbetween Leicestershire and Ketteringshire, I'm not being biased at all when I say the accent here is fairly pleasant to listen to if you talk to the correct people. I think its a personal preferance, and no preference should be exaggerated by a mere article.
Ireland is not part of britain you idiot gets your facts right before you post something *sigh*
Are you joking me? I'm from Ireland and I'm pretty sure its not part of Britain you idiot.
I hate that I'm writing this because I hate that I read this far which means I'm pretty annoyed with myself right now and shall give myself a good talking to in an Italian accent perhaps.
Ireland is it's own country Amy!
you must me one very uneducated person if you think that Ireland is apart of Britain, northern Ireland is but Ireland in general is not. You have literally made everyone who read you post even more stupid.
This seems like a load of rubbish I worked over in Disney world with other people from around the world, and my accent was by far the most popular, as I go told every day… to the point it drove me crazy and I went back to England. Dr. Lisa Masterson, sounds like a very rude lady and most likely an american. figures.
English accent = +10 appearance of intelligence, which = +10 sex appeal in my book.
Ireland is not part of Britain. I think the posh English accent is a bore, Many attractive regional accents
mindy Kakalowich this post is for you ..get your facts straight before rambling off your mouth…the Canadian dollar is called a loony because it has a loon on the front of it…and the queen is on all monies as the presidents are in the USA..where I am sure you are from….
Who put the Italian accent first? Has anyone ever heard us Italians speaking? We sound uneducated and dumb. I do admit it requires skills and hard work, but it ain't sexy at all.
this sudsy is erelivent i love British accents. so charming. and i do mean most ALL British accents. including irish, Scotish, 95% of your English accents (expesualy a scouce accent. *swoons*)
Glad to see the folks at stanford university putting their time and money into such a groundbreaking and worthwhile study.
and please, a hungarian and south african accent is considered more pleasing than an english one? Me Thinks this writer has something against the english accent!
this study is fake… try looking for the actual report (p.s. you won't find it)