Posted on 05/02/2005 6:28:20 PM PDT by quidnunc
Admittedly, this doesn't rise to the level of many of the burning issues that confront us daily, but I must tell you that it fries my hide to hear outsiders trying to talk Southern.
Friends, if you ain't Southern, you can't fake it. I was reminded of that unalterable fact the other night while watching "In the Heat of the Night" on television. It pained me greatly to see the late Carroll O'Connor pretending to sound like a small-town sheriff in the South. O'Conner was born in the Bronx and was much more believable as Archie Bunker calling Rob Reiner "Meathead" than trying to say, "Dang it, boy. If yore brains wuz dynamite, you couldn't blow yore nose."
You can't fake the Southern drawl. It is something you are born with, and those of us who have it should be exceedingly proud. Remember, it is not we who talk funny, it is everybody else.
I have done an in-depth study on the subject and have discovered that there are three other distinct dialects in the country. There is the New York dialect, where everyone talks in a hurry because they want to get off the streets before they are mugged. New Yorkers say things like "Watchwhereth **%@# yurgoin," meaning, "Excuse me, but you stepped in front of me," and "fuggedabowdit," which translates as, "Thank you, but I must respectfully decline."
Then there is California. In California, they use the word "like" a lot, as in "I am, like, going to the beach and, like, do something trendy, like roller blade on my surfboard and then, like, eat sushi and, like, get in touch with my inner self, dude."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at mdjonline.com ...
Or you could speak in Freep dialect and stune your beeber. Are you logged in?
That's gotta be the main one from that show, I'll now go and read the Mayretta article..
If I promise not to try to fake a drawl can I still watch Paula Deen on the Food channel?
I live in southern Michigan ya'll.
Okay, I read it, and it still sounds like someone who wasn't born south of the 'gnat line'.
I moved to hiram georgia and lived there for ten years and yes a yankee can fool a southerner. I worked a s an electrician so i got around. Nicest people I ever met.
My grandparents were from southern Italy, y'all
Proud Southerner right here. And I completely agree. The cat having kittens in the oven doesn't make them biscuits.
Sure I can.
I can say "am boo lance" and "poe lease".
What's so hard about that?
What fascinates me most is that the writers experience should be the norm. Maybe the writer is an a$$hole. He went to buckhead the whole time, and never once saw the real Georgia. Just a thought.
Joe
The only actors I have seen who could talk Southern like they were born there are British ones. I once saw a version of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", TV special, with Sir Laurence Oliver playing "Big Daddy" and he was great, he had the drawl down and I thought he was born in southern MIssissippi.
(If you ain't Southern…) You Can't Fake It
Fake is for the nouveau riche'
But can you say anything with a souther accent.
A southern accent can be faked & faked well.
One great example is Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs.
I was raised hatching chickens in the oven. The light was perfect for temperature.
Did you really think her accent was good? I could not figure out whether she was retarded or had tooth decay.
I have the best of both worlds. I've lived in the South since I was a child, but my parents (both Southerners) were raised in Indiana. When I'm relaxed, I speak Southern. When I'm nervous, I speak MidWestern. LOL
Jeff Foxworthy does an excellent imitation of a southern accent, as well.
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