Hearing the unfamiliar sound of an accent seems to be pleasurable for most of us in most cases. I hope this is true because, at heart, we welcome the differences in culture in our world. I believe we should be careful, however, about pointing out accents to people who have them. We should also remember that we all have accents. Just because someone is in our neck of the woods doesn't mean that they don't hear an accent as well.
No reason to be ashamed that a particular accent sounds sexy, alluring or mysterious. But when you tell someone that, you are really pointing out the differences between you and it is a very one-sided train of thought, since you are assuming they don't hear your accent and they are the only one who has the accent. You would not say to someone, Ï love how dark your skin is" or Ï really like your big breasts". Yet, because telling someone you love their accent might not be as severe as the previous examples, when you "complement" someone on their accent, they may say "thank you." Listen close. I have observed that this can be the kind of thank you that aunt Betsy gets for a bone-crushing hug.
