Amy’s ‘whine’ voted worst in UK

Winehouse by name, ‘Whine-mouth’ by nature? A new report examining the nation’s best-loved and most-hated regional twangs reveals the notorious crooner’s cockney accent to be the most despised drawl in Britain.

Meanwhile, the Geordie accent was voted top of the regional twangs, with Cheryl Tweedy’s Geordie lilt selected as Brits’ favourite celebrity accent, closely followed by fellow Geordies Ant and Dec. Cat Deeley’s Brummie brogue and Peter Kay’s Lancastrian lilt followed in the league of most-loved celebrity accents.

Joining Winehouse at the bottom of the lingo league was fellow East Londoner, David Beckham. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was voted in third place, followed by Scouser Colleen Rooney in the poll of 3,000 Britons by national budget hotel chain Travelodge as part of its campaign to find out Britons knowledge of their own regional phrases and dialects.

Brits were asked to complete a ‘Mother Tongue Test’ to reveal just how well they could identify and understand their own language, with shocking results revealing that over half of Brits couldn’t decipher local terms from the Scouse term ‘scran’ for food to Cornish ‘oggies’ – pies. However, 85% could understand foreign phrases such as the German word for sausage - ‘wiener’ - and Spanish ‘piazza’, meaning a town square.

Campaigning to keep local lingo alive, national hotel chain Travelodge is aiming to make life easier for the growing number of Britons exploring the UK during the credit crunch by providing Lingo Busting Guides on its website for people to download before they check in.

Greg Dawson, Travelodge Director of Communications said, “Regional accents – whether you love them or hate them – are as diverse as ever in Britain, but it seems we have something of a national communication problem on our hands, as many Brits simply don’t understand some of the UK’s most loved regional dialects. With our Lingo Busting Guides, we hope to help Brits converse more easily with locals when they stay in our hotels, helping them to fully absorb the distinct regional cultures that the UK has to offer.”

Travelodge’s “Lingo Busting Guides” can be downloaded from travelodge.co.uk.

Further findings:

The study revealed the Yorkshire accent to be the most trustworthy in the UK, while the Northern Irish accent was voted the sexiest. Brummies were deemed to have the most boring brogue, while Geordies topped the list for the accent most likely to bring a smile to Brits’ faces.

The nation’s worst well-known whines:

1. Amy Winehouse (Cockney) - David Beckham (Cockney)
2. Colleen Rooney (Scouse) - Gordon Brown (Scottish)
3. Charlotte Church - Noel Gallagher (Mancunian)
4. Lily Allen (Cockney) - Ozzy Osbourne (Brummie)
5. Jane McDonald - Chris Moyles (Yorkshire)

Voted top of the celebrity twangs:

1. Cheryl Tweedy - Ant and Dec (Geordie)
2. Cat Deeley (Brummie) - Peter Kay (Lancastrian)
3. Edith Bowman (Scottish) - James Nesbitt (Northern Irish)
4. Tess Daly (Lancastrian) - Vernon Kay (Lancastrian)
5. Christine Bleakley (Northern Irish) - Justin Lee Collins (Bristolian)