Southern accents & the Northeast

[kakemono]

Just watch Jeopardy when there is someone with a southern accent... it isn't the most intellegent sounding accent.

Heaven forbid you don't hire someone b/c they speak ebonics though - thats racist... but not hiring a hick is A-Okay.

 

[texas_jack]

There is certainly a bias against southern accents. You can see it in this thread. The irony is that people associate southern accents with hicks but there is a high class southern accent as represented by the Scarlet O'heara character in Gone with the Wind or Paula Dean these days. However, many people can't tell the difference. I have a slight Texas accent and talk slow but I make up for it by being overly verbose.

 

[rach2jlc]

I'm from Kentucky but I worked hard as a kid not to pick up the accent (and my parents were both born in Michigan), so I really don't have one. I also did a lot of speech/debate in school and so what little I did have got lost there.

At the time, I thought a southern accent was embarassing, but now that I'm older, I think it has its certain charms and I think people should be proud of where they grew up/how they talk. In certain fields, I think that having the accent can actually help you (politics, law, medicine, etc.) because it makes you sound more down to earth and those "liberal eastern elites" tend to overlook/underestimate you. In medicine, it can make you seem more friendly/caring.

Further, I fail to see how a southern accent is any less annoying than Northern Accents, "Heii, yuuu waaaant a Sooouuda?" (Hey, you want a soda?) (nasal and grating) or a NY/NJ accent, "Hey, whaddya dooooin' ova daya?" (hey, what are you doing over there?)

 

[gnatty8]

Originally Posted by SoCal2NYC

I cannot take anyone with a Southern accent seriously.

You couldn't take Bill Clinton seriously?

I'd be willing to bet he would feel very much the same about a guy wearing a mumu and pokemon sandals..

 

[gnatty8]

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

I'm from Kentucky but I worked hard as a kid not to pick up the accent (and my parents were both born in Michigan), so I really don't have one. I also did a lot of speech/debate in school and so what little I did have got lost there.

At the time, I thought a southern accent was embarassing, but now that I'm older, I think it has its certain charms and I think people should be proud of where they grew up/how they talk. In certain fields, I think that having the accent can actually help you (politics, law, medicine, etc.) because it makes you sound more down to earth and those "liberal eastern elites" tend to overlook/underestimate you. In medicine, it can make you seem more friendly/caring.

Further, I fail to see how a southern accent is any less annoying than Northern Accents, "Heii, yuuu waaaant a Sooouuda?" (Hey, you want a soda?) (nasal and grating) or a NY/NJ accent, "Hey, whaddya dooooin' ova daya?" (hey, what are you doing over there?)

+1000

I grew up in the northeast, and find the southern accent much more pleasant to the ear than my own. When I go home for the holidays, I almost cringe at the sharp edges of the northern accent.

 

[jcriswel]

Originally Posted by texas_jack

There is certainly a bias against southern accents. ... I have a slight Texas accent and talk slow but I make up for it by being overly verbose.

Do you talk slow or speak slowly? I'm from Texas also and have experienced some negative bias toward Texans and their twangy accents (think Ross Perot). The accent is acceptable if proper English grammar is used. There's just too much "How yuh doin'... I'm doin' good." This is the stuff that ruins it.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

Further, I fail to see how a southern accent is any less annoying than Northern Accents, "Heii, yuuu waaaant a Sooouuda?" (Hey, you want a soda?) (nasal and grating) or a NY/NJ accent, "Hey, whaddya dooooin' ova daya?" (hey, what are you doing over there?)
Northerners don't talk like that.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by Stazy

Pretty much all immigrants, French speaking Canadians, and people from the Atlantic provinces have to take accent-normalizing classes if they want to be employed in western Canada.

Ahh, by Jeesus! Yer seying the Maritimers tak funny, by?

 

[rach2jlc]

Originally Posted by Connemara

Northerners don't talk like that.

Yes you do.

 

[SwedishFish]

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

Yes you do.

+1

I personally can't stand a thick Bostonian accent or, almost worse, a thick Maine accent:

"Paaaaahk the caaaaah in the yaaaaahd." (park the car in the yard)

 

[Connemara]

Bostonians have an annoying accent, very true. But large swaths of the Northeast are accent-neutral. Vermont, New Hampshire, New York (aside from NYC).

We are superior!

 

[tlmusic]

Looks like Received Pronunciation is the only safe way to go!

 

[rxcats]

I grew up in NC so I obviously have a southern accent. It seems only other Americans think it sounds "dumb". I studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem while in my late teens/early 20's. Aside from Israelis (Jews & Arabs), there were many other foreigners from Europe and elsewhere going to school there. Whenever the subject of accents came up, the non-Americans always said my accent was much preferred over other American accents. Most of the time I was not even recognized as being American. My accent has waned to some extent as I have lived in SF now for over 20 years. I would never intentionally loose my accent; it makes me somewhat unique.

 

[X-It]

Southern Medical Terms

Benign..................... What you be after you be eight
Bacteria................... Back door to cafeteria
Barium..................... What doctors do when patients die
Cesarean Section.... A neighborhood in Rome
Catscan................... Searching for Kitty
Cauterize................. Made eye contact with her
Colic......................... A sheep dog
Coma....................... A punctuation mark
D&C......................... Where Washington is
Dilate....................... To live long
Enema...................... Not a friend
Fester...................... Quicker than someone else
Fibula....................... A small lie
Genital..................... Non-Jewish person
G.I. Series................ World Series of military baseball
Hangnail................... What you hang your coat on
Impotent.................. Distinguished, well known
Labor Pain................ Getting hurt at work
Medical Staff............. A Doctor's cane
Morbid...................... A higher offer than I bid
Nitrates.................... Cheaper than day rates
Node......................... I knew it
Outpatient................ A person who has fainted
Pelvis........................ Second cousin to Elvis
Post Operative.......... A letter carrier
Recovery Room.......... Place to do upholstery
Secretion................... Hiding something
Seizure...................... Roman emperor
Tablet........................ A small table
Terminal Illness......... Getting sick at the airport
Tumor........................ More than one
Varicose.................... Near by/close by

 

[rach2jlc]

^I sure hope the Dutch aren't planning to stimulate their economy by infiltrating on the "Southern Accent Humor" market.

I think you guys ought to stick with your windmills and your wooden shoes.