[dheretic]

Funny, I've met very few in VA that have a southern accent, including those that have lived here all of their lives. Interestingly enough it seems there is a sort of "Virginia Accent" because I've been told that my accent is sort of strange by southerners and northerners since it is distinctly not southern, northern nor is it midwestern. IMO it's just that the various accents are merging into a pan-American accent.

[Feiny]

It depends on which part of Virginia you are in. I am coming home next week & fully expect to regain my drawl.

[Corin Stormhands]

Funny, I've met very few in VA that have a southern accent, including those that have lived here all of their lives. Interestingly enough it seems there is a sort of "Virginia Accent"

Virginians never really had the Scarlet O'Hara type southern accent. What you're referring to is more likely the Virginia Tidewater accent. West of the Blue Ridge, where I'm from, you get more of a "mountain" dialect.

[Fifth Business]

Funny, I've met very few in VA that have a southern accent, including those that have lived here all of their lives. Interestingly enough it seems there is a sort of "Virginia Accent" because I've been told that my accent is sort of strange by southerners and northerners since it is distinctly not southern, northern nor is it midwestern. IMO it's just that the various accents are merging into a pan-American accent.

I know people all over that great commonwealth, and I have certain impressions of the accents in different areas. Tell me if you agree. In No. Va., they sound mid-atlantic but with a slower cadence. In the tidewater area they have a kind of aristocratic drawl, like Foghorn Leghorn. In the western part of the state they have a highland southern accent, more melodic and twangy. I'm generalizing of course, but there do seem to be distinct differences.

[McBuff]

For a sample of a bona-fide Virginia accent, listen to NASCAR star Ward Burton's next interview!

[twigs]

Some have a very deep accent in VA. I don't. I'm from Roanoke and once when I was visiting, a friend of my mother's called and I nearly hung up the phone on her because I did not understand who she asked for. It was the deepest accent I had ever heard, although it was different from the Scarlet O'Hara type. Funny story. I used to work for the Valley Forge Convention & Visitors Bureau and when people called, I would ocassionally get: "Did I call the right region?" So I must have kept more accent than I realized but I don't hear it.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

If you listen to the old Amos & Andy radio shows you will hear Kingfish speak in a dialect almost identical to the way my grandfather talked. The grammar is the same as well. Hanover County. Down the country. Sometimes at night I will listen to my Ipod as I go to sleep. It is almost the same as hearing my grandfather’s voice. Quite comforting when I really miss him.

I don’t notice the accents in VA, but my youngest son does. (He was born in Syracuse) My cousin’s husband is from Culpeper. “Mom. I didn,t understand anything he said. So I just kept shaking my head and saying ‘Yes sir’”.