Strong accent versus thick accent

[AinmEile]

Inspired by another thread but not a TAAT. I find the term 'strong accent' to be neutral and descriptive, but I don't like 'thick accent'. It feels pejorative. Anyone else?

I think the difference is about how easy they are to understand. A strong accent is a pronounced but comprehensible one, a thick accent is one outsiders can't understand.

Sounds a wee bit like an American/British difference - many Brits say 'strong' and lots of Americans say 'thick', probably meaning 'impenetrable' or something like that, but if Brits hear 'thick' to them it means 'stupid' which is, as you say, pejorative. I'd hold off labelling peoples' accents as 'strong' anyway in many cases, it's a bit snobby and judgy. Everyone has some kind of accent, after all;.

I have never heard this distinction before

I have a strong Scottish accent but I can be clearly understood by most people. I have relatives who I would say have a thick local Scottish accent and they can be hard to understand if you are not familiar with the accent and the words they use.

I'm English and never heard thick accent to mean stupid but rather strong that others find difficult to understand.

I agree it has a more negative connotation than strong.

We say broad, "She talks broad Scouse"

I'm Irish, I don't know if it feels more negative here. I would never use it though, would always say strong, and would feel insulted if someone said I had a thick accent.

‘Thick accent’ is said by the kind of person who appears to believe they themselves don’t have an accent, only other people. Definitely pejorative.

I agree strong is understandable and thick is not.
I have a very strong Birmingham accent - perfectly comprehensible.

However, I hate people saying I have a thick accent; when you sound like I do when people say thick they mean not very bright.
The dummy brummie stereotype.

I have always used the terms (& "broad accent") interchangeably.

Never thought of "thick accent" as insulting. "Thick" is simply a word with more than one meaning depending on context.

This is kind of what I feel about it, but it is used so widely on here that I wondered was I wrong.

Americans frequently just talk about someone having “an accent” as if it’s taken for granted that an American accent is the neutral default. Or “ooh, is that an accent I hear?!”

Hmm...Americans aren't the only ones who do that! You get it on MN a lot 😄

I have to say I disagree with you. They have different shades of meaning for me and thick carries a more negative implication.

I've never heard anyone say "thick accent" in my 64 years living in London

Well there's a thread on here where it was used a lot, that's what made me think of it.

I lived in West Cork for four years and it took me about a year to understand what anyone was saying to me.

I would have described the accents as strong West Cork.

I think 'thick' to describe accents is just idiomatic though and means impenetrable rather than stupid.

I both agree with this distinction, but also find it pejorative.

As someone else said above, I'd expect someone talking about "thick accents" to believe they have no accent themselves.

I'm Irish and used to a diverse range of Irish accents having lived all over the country- however I could only understand one word out of every five from my work's Glaswegian cleaner. I would have described her accent as 'broad.' I don't find 'thick' offensive in this context; it just means strong.

@AinmEile I didn't see that thread, MN is too big!

This happens a lot in the South East of England. People frequently tell me they have no accent...in the strongest Essex accent known to man.

Is it just me or does broad only sound right when describing certain accents? Broad Geordie is a common way of describing someone round here but I don’t know if I’d ever say someone had a “broad cockney” accent?

Anyway I would have said broad/thick/strong all mean roughly the same thing. People who claim to have “no accent” do wind me up though