Y'all have a Texas accent? Siri (and the world) might be slowly killing it

The Guardian ^ | 10 Feb 16 | Tom Dart

[DoughtyOne]

[Durbin]

Funny. My parents, my siblings, and my nieces and nephews who live in Texas all have Texas accents. They’re all technologically savvy and I haven’t noticed a drop off.

[Impala64ssa]

By the same token, I wonder if Siri could tell me the quickest way to the corner of Toidy Toid ‘n Toid?

[Undecided 2012]

The best one I heard was when my son was fishing on the Stubblefield bridge on the North fork of Lake Conroe in Walker County. He said this old lady pointed to the creek bank and said, “I’m gonna bunker down over yonder.”

[Ditter]

I have a Texas accent but I don't use the word “mosey” very often and I don't talk to Siri. Yesterday I called 1411 to get a phone number. No matter how many times I said “ Houston” the robot on the other end did not understand me and finally after about 10 tries the robot hung up on me!

I don't think my accent was the problem.

[Yaelle]

The Midwestern accent was prevalent in the media in the 1930s-1950s. Since Opie it’s also been flattened. The California radio voice rules all. Yes, it happens to be my accent, but I am sad about it. I love all the different accents of this country.

[Hugin]

From the article you cite...

“The fact that a rural, broadly Midwestern dialect became the basis of what is General American English is often attributed to the mass migration of Midwestern farmers to California and the Pacific Northwest from where it spread,[citation needed] since California speech itself became prevalent in nationally syndicated films and media via the Hollywood film industry.”

Having lived in CA all my life, it always seemed to me that people on TV talk like people here do. Most people from the Midwest sound “hick” (as Midwesterner Rush Limbaugh calls it) in comparison.

[discostu]

Of course when SoCal became the center of media, especially the destination for people with dreams of stardom, the midwestern accent took over SoCal. The California radio voice is the midwestern accent.

[Elderberry]

I grew up in Texas, but spent every summer at my Grandparents in Georgia.

My drawl is very slow, except when I'm mad. The madder I get, the faster I talk.

And I get very mad when people try to finish my sentences for me.

[Ditter]

You think Californians have no accent?

That’s funny rite there!

[discostu]

Yes, for a variety of reasons the midwestern accent took over CA, especially SoCal where so much of the entertainment industry is headquartered and so many of the people think they’re going to be famous. It’s the midwestern accent that rules the media, since long before CA became the media capital.

No matter how you want to trace it, the General American Accent, which is what the media uses, came from the midwest.

[Texan5]

I suppose I do have a Texas accent, like everyone else out here-but since I shut off GPS-and all those annoying apps as soon as I got this phone, I’ll never know if it is unable to understand accents...

[Hugin]

since long before CA became the media capital

When was that? Before movies, radio and TV?

[Prolixus]

Accents have been on the way out since long before Siri. When TV decided the “normal” American accent was midwestern all other accents were on a ticking clock. Every generation is exposed less and less to their regional accent and more and more to the midwestern. Mass media does that.
Yep, I am no longer able to speak with my native (Boston) accent and my born-in-Boston son has never had one. Funny thing is, my from-somewhere-else neighbors think I have a strong accent. The fact that they can understand anything I say tells me I no longer have a strong Boston accent ;)

[justlittleoleme]

Mine gets worse when I am tired. But yeah mad doesn’t help either.

[knarf]

I'm from Boston and I don't talk funny .... you hear funny.

MY uncle didn't marry an insect !

[GrouchoTex]

I asked siri where to find a Chicken fried Steak and she couldn’t tell me.
True story.
(I already knew where to go, anyway).

[Larry Lucido]

LOL!

[GrouchoTex]

“Texans don’t have accents, lot’s of folks outside the state kind’a sound funny but not Texans.”

Amen to that, y’all!

[Larry Lucido]

I’ve never heard a Texan ask how can we mosey on down to the rodeo. EVER.