That explanation is the most ridiculous thing I've [almost] ever
heard, and I detect a whiff of that old anti-southern bias. Not one
mention of the ethnic or cultural background of southerners as being
roots for the way we speak. No, it's hot and we're lazy. Geesh. Do
people in the hotter latitudes of, say, India speak slowly? Hawaii?
Cairo? My husband once worked with a guy who had worked in Chicago
for a time. His boss there really didn't like him, and one day told
the guy he spoke slowly because he was southern and all southerners
were stupid. The friend said no, southerners speak slowly because
they like to think first before they open their mouths, so as not to
put their foot in it. The next DAY the boss came in and told the guy
he just realized that that statement had been an insult directed at him.

Talk about slow.

Nancy

-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.

--Daniel Boone



On Jan 11, 2007, at 8:44 AM, Diane Ethridge wrote:

> I have a good friend, here in TX,  who decided to become an
> actress, so after college, she left  to try her luck in New York
> City.   After being turned down several times from some small
> acting parts,  she finally asked her agent what the problem could
> be & the agent mentioned not being as "marketable" because of her
> Southern accent.   Friend enrolled in speech class to try to rid
> herself of the regional sound in her speech pattern.   The
> instructor told her that one can never completely lose a Southern
> accent & that it was brought about originally by the warmer climate
> making folks less energetic & causing them to adopt a slower pace.
> This translated into a habit of speaking more slowly & "chewing" on
> their words.  That, along with the added habit of also chewing
> tobacco brought about the "drawl" & the  different "slower" speech
> patterns of today's Southern folks.
>
> Since there are some famous newscasters from TX, such as Walter
> Cronkite, Dan Rather & Bob Schieffer to name a few, it apparently
> isn't completely impossible to lose the accent but then maybe they
> do still have traces of it & I just don't notice it as readily as
> someone from other areas of the country might do.    Recently I
> heard someone on the news pronouncing the word "out" as "oot" & I
> immediately thought, "They must be from Virginia."   Turns out,
> they were from Canada.
>
> Diane in TX
>
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