Growing up in West Virginia, I had an accent. Almost everyone there has one. Some would say it's Southern. I'd call it Appalachian more than I'd call it Southern. People in Georgia have a Southern accent. It's smooth and genteel. Dare I say...sexy. At the risk of angering those from the Mountain State, people in West Virginia have a thick twang. And honestly, it sounds ignorant.

Once I knew I wanted to work on the air in radio and television, I worked diligently to rid myself of the hillbilly vernacular. For the most part I think I've done a pretty good job. Oh sure, every now and then you'll still hear it. You'll also hear some remnants of my time living in South Texas. Hey, it's all part of what makes my voice unique.

Because of my obsession with losing my West Virginia accent I've always been enthralled with voices and accents. It seems like as Americans we love the British accent. Who didn't go around trying to mimic the Australian accent of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin? And isn't a woman from Italy instantly sexier because of her accent?

Well, Americans aren't the only ones turned on by accents. A new survey by Babbel and Generator Hostels asked Europeans to rank the American accents by sexiness.  Amazing enough NONE of them said West Virginia Hillbilly. So I'm glad I put in all that work years ago.

Also not surprising to me is Europeans found the Southern accent the sexiest. But what does surprise me...is they think the Boston accent is sexy too! It ranked as the third hottest accent, right behind the New York accent.

Here's the entire list:

1.  Southern accent, 20%

2.  New York, 18%

3.  Boston, 17%

4.  Southern California, 16%

5.  Texas, 14%

6.  Midwestern, 10%

7.  Minnesota, 5%

Although we may make better movies, have more drive-thrus, and less smoking in the United States...I think Europeans beat us hands down in the sexy accent department.

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