I am astounded at how true this myth is outside the South: that a southern
accent connotes ignorance and stupidity. At either an OAH or AHA meeting in
Atlanta, Eric Foner was able to prevail on former President Jimmy Carter to
come speak to a general meeting. The thing I remember that so struck me was
that Carter said that the press just presumed that he was stupid because he
spoke with a Georgia accent.
But then, I think back to a Japanese undergraduate I went to college with.
He was the son of a famous inventor and came from Osaka. His girlfriend was
from Tokyo. These cities are about 300 miles apart on the island of Honshu.
When she was really angry at him, she would tell him that he sounded stupid
because he spoke with an Osaka accent.
Sayonara, y'all.
Harold S. Forsythe
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sunshine49" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: Speech patterns
> Well you're on to us. Women in the south can lay on the honey if they
> want to, especially with men from the north who seem to eat it up. My
> daughter and I once did, I must confess, at a restaurant. And
> Southerners have been known to lay on the IQ- lowering speech factor
> to others, just to have a bit of fun with 'em, since to many a
> southern accent automatically lowers your IQ 20 points. So we let 'em
> think we're stupid. It's the slow-talking, drawling Southern lawyer
> of myth who is only pulling your leg, he's really smart as a whip.
>
> Nancy
>
> -------
> I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
>
> --Daniel Boone
>
>
>
> On Jan 7, 2007, at 5:40 PM, Diane Ethridge wrote:
>
>> I have noticed that many Southern folks talk differently around
>> their own or
>> in what would be considered "casual" conversation with trusted
>> friends. In
>> this type of conversing, what would ordinarily be labeled incorrect
>> grammar
>> becomes the norm. As mentioned earlier, I've never lived out of
>> the state
>> of TX, but other relatives & in-laws, from the deep South, can
>> switch back &
>> forth with ease & their "business/formal" language will sound
>> nothing like
>> how they speak when they are in familiar company. Even Larry
>> King on CNN
>> uses the word "ain't" often in certain situations & of all people,
>> he knows
>> better...and he's from Noo Yawk.
>>
>> Diane E.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 12:55 PM
>> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Speech patterns
>>
>>
>>> Something that always amused me was the way Oldtimers, and I mean
>>> "literate"
>>> ones; educated ones.... fine ladies and gentlemen, even, would say
>>> "Don't"
>>> when the sentence they were using called for "Doesn't".
>>> For instance, "She don't know...."; "He don't care...."
>>> And those same people also would not hesitate to say "Ain't".
>>> To our over-educated ears that may seem like an abomination but I'm
>>> talking
>>> about people who truly knew better, who were very, very well educated
>>> (some
>>> had even gone off to some fine Yankee schools so we KNOW they were
>>> better
>>> educated:) but they persisted in using idioms and figures of
>>> speech that
>>> broke all the rules of usage. Now, they didn't WRITE that way and
>>> when
>>> they
>>> were in a more formal, social setting they didn't always talk like
>>> that,
>>> but
>>> amongst themselves they did.
>>> I've thought about this a lot and I've decided that it has a bit
>>> to do
>>> with
>>> the old-timey way of thinking in which it was really, really bad
>>> taste to
>>> try to speak, act, behave, conduct oneself as though one was,
>>> somehow,
>>> "better" than others; or better educated; or knew more; or had
>>> been to
>>> more
>>> places or seen more of the world.
>>> That attitude which is fading fast also reflected itself in the
>>> notion
>>> that
>>> the very worst thing a person could ever do was to show up
>>> overdressed for
>>> the occasion. It could be a mortifying experience for someone to
>>> arrive at
>>> a
>>> function overdressed. Far better to be way under-dressed than
>>> overdressed
>>> which could be perceived as showing off one's finery or, God forbid!
>>> drawing
>>> attention to oneself.
>>> I'm not all THAT old (I'm in my 50's) but I can well recall that
>>> attitude
>>> of
>>> trying to be understated in the way one dressed and lived. The
>>> theory of
>>> Conspicuous Consumption began to rear its hideous head in the
>>> 1980's at
>>> which time we Americans latched onto it and have never let go, in my
>>> opinion.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Diane Ethridge" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 11:28 AM
>>> Subject: Speech patterns
>>>
>>>
>>> My ex in-laws were from E. AL with their grandparents from SC & one
>>> generation earlier, VA. They often used terms of speech & words
>>> that were
>>> a
>>> complete mystery to me. I'm born & bred in TX, not exactly
>>> Boston in
>>> speech patterns, but had never heard some of the strange (to me)
>>> words
>>> used
>>> by those folks. They would say, "I was daresent" to go/do/whatever,
>>> which
>>> I assumed was a form of "dared not" or another one was that something
>>> wasn't
>>> "approcrut" (appropriate). I would become so interested in
>>> listening to
>>> their strange form of speaking, that I would lose track of the
>>> subject
>>> matter.
>>>
>>> Diane in TX
>>>
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>>
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>
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