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Why Ozzy's Brummies Should Pipe DownThe Brummie accent makes people sound so stupid that they would actually seem cleverer if they said nothing at all, boffins reckon.
Ozzy has a strong Brummie accent
Ozzy has a strong Brummie accent
Scientists matched up regional accents with perceived intelligence and found that people with Birmingham accents are better off keeping schtum if they want to give a good impression.
But people from Yorkshire can blab with confidence - their accent is apparently the most intelligent-sounding.
It even beat the clipped vowels and precise diction of received pronunciation (RP), known commonly as the Queen's English.
Scientists asked 48 volunteers to look at photos of female models while listening to recordings of women with different accents talking about their lives.
Those questioned were also asked to give an intelligence rating when no voice was played.
The average intelligence ratings given by the study participants, out of 10, were: Yorkshire 6.71, RP 6.67, Silence 5.99 and Birmingham 5.6.
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To avoid participants being influenced by appearance, models of roughly equal attractiveness were chosen for the photos, and the accents attributed to them were mixed up.
The researchers found accents made no difference to perceptions of attractiveness, but had a significant impact on whether or not a particular model was seen as intelligent.
Dr Lance Workman, who led the research at Bath Spa University, said: "One of the reasons for doing this study was to find out about stereotypes.
"Surveys have shown that a lot of people associate Birmingham with criminal activity, and they associate criminal activity with low intelligence. Whenever I've been to Birmingham I've found people to be very bright and friendly."
Famous past and present Brummies include former PM Neville Chamberlain, controversial politician Enoch Powell, comedian Jasper Carrott, pop star Ozzy Osbourne, and Clare Short, independent MP for Birmingham Ladywood.
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