Outrage as 'southern Irish' accent tops poll of 'best British accents'

A poll run by YouGov, a British market research and data analytics firm, sought to find both the most attractive least attractive accents in the British Isles.

The YouGov survey was actually conducted back in 2014, but the results re-entered the public domain on Thursday.

And Irish people are appalled that they have been included in the poll at all, not to mention the country’s diverse range of dialects being reduced to simply one “southern Irish” accent.

One person wrote: “Would it kill yiz to say in Britain and Ireland? The bit of the island of Ireland that isn't Northern Ireland is called Ireland. And there's a huge variety of accents there - apart from that, spot on.”

Another said: “What in the hell is "Southern Irish"? Do you mean "The Republic of Ireland"? Also, why did you "ask British people" what they thought of accents from a separate country?”

While a third added: “Honest question, why was 'southern Ireland' even included in this? I know its a bitter pill to swallow lads, but the empire is gone along with the imperialist term the British Isles. Also is that hard to say our actual title, The Republic of Ireland?”

And one more offended user said: “Hey @YouGov! I am a scholar of Irish English. I can guarantee you that at no time in the history of Irish English scholarship has anyone referred to "Southern Irish" as an accent. It is actually quite xenophobic. Accents have no borders.”

The explanation in the official results reads: “Southern Ireland, which for a long time had a shrinking population largely due to emigration (which means the accent is well-known worldwide), is the best accent to have for being considered attractive.

"It scores net 42, 11 points ahead of the standard accent of mainly the Southern areas of Britain – Received Pronunciation, or ‘BBC English.’