Southern Accents | Filed under Girls Raised In The South
In the South the first thing you ever notice is the way we talk, in fact if it was not for the way we talk most people would not know us from a Minneostan. For a while there that was not a bad thing.
In the 1970s, almost ever Southern male and some female who wanted to be a success in certain areas took language courses to lose their Southern accent. Southerners just were not taken seriously by the rest of the country, and a Southern accent made businessmen assume you were a “tetch slow” Boy things have changed, Atlanta is a national center of business and Charlotte is a national center of banking, we’ve also put three of the last five Presidents in the White House —and they have all had Southern accents.
Most Southern women have always viewed their accent as an asset, a special trait that makes us stand out from our peers in all the best ways. There is just something about a Southern women’s accent that reminds us of the simple pleasures in life. Men just can not resist it. Our slow, musical speech drips with charm and with implied delights of a long, slow afternoon sipping home-brewed tea on the back porch.
In educated circles, Southern speech is considered aristocratic, and for good reason: it is for closer linguistically to the Queen’s English than any other Americian accent. Scottish, Irish, and rural English formed the basis of our language years ago , and the accent has held strong every since.
Would you believe there might be 21 different dialects identified in the South? Yes you read that right……there will be more of that to come at a later date
June 2nd, 2004 at 4:50 pm
As a Southerner I’ll agree with you 100%. I can tell by accents what PART of the South they’re from. Because Arkansas and Virginia are NOT the same thing. And I love me some Louisiana .. but not the backwater one.. the city one. MMmmmm next to an Irish accent Southern is my favorite.
June 2nd, 2004 at 10:48 pm
Absolutely. Alabama does NOT sound like Mississippi, Kentucky sounds nothing like either of them, and Virginia is its own thing. For that matter, North Mississippi sounds different from MS Gulf Coast.
June 4th, 2004 at 1:42 am
I dated a Mississippi girl for a while. I loved to hear her talk.
June 4th, 2004 at 8:39 am
I’m not actually a southern gal by birth. I was born in Harvard, MA (yes, I’m a Yankee). I’ve lived down south my whole life though from NC to GA. I do have an accent and have been told more times than I can count that I have a wonderful voice.
I know for a fact that Vickie also has a wonderful voice too. She has the deep south southern gentility in her voice that can only come from a TRUE G.R.I.T.
August 5th, 2004 at 9:06 am
Being from Texas, I have to agree about the women with those delicious accents. Theie voices alone, can do some serious damage to men.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:44 pm
Everyone makes fun of my deep southern accent, and I hate it also.I would love to get rid of it,but do not know how>
January 13th, 2005 at 3:07 pm
the south is the place to live git r done