Democrat Running in Virginia Discovers New Southern Accent in New Home State

Washington Free Beacon ^ | 2/9/18 | Brent Scher

[AnAmericanMother]

One of my ggg grandfathers was born in Charles County and went to Charlotte Hall.

He was as Reb as they come. Wounded at Pittsburgh landing (Shiloh), Chickamauga, and Nashville. Artillery captain and a bit of a glory seeker, I think.

Commandant of the local UCV Camp after the War. They had a testimonial dinner for General Sherman and gave him the freedom of the city.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, you have the coastal accent, of which Savannah is a subset, then there is Augusta, very specific local sound. The Piedmont is probably the closest to a "standard" southern accent, spoken from Columbus to Macon and points thereabouts. Rome has its own quirks, as does the northeast area up around Young Harris, Blairsville, and Mineral Bluff (that's your "mountainy accent". And Old Atlanta (not all the corporate types who are there on their way to somewhere else) has a distinct sound as well. Since I *am* old Atlanta, I can tell you that there are two "shibboleths" by which we recognize one another . . . the pronunciation of "Piedmont Road", and the pronunciation of "Ponce de Leon Avenue." You can't fake it, you take it in with your mother's milk.

There are at least four general accents in Georgia, if you don't count very local dialect survivals like Geechee and Gullah.

Joel Chandler Harris of "Uncle Remus" fame was instrumental in recording many of those accents before they vanished. Read "Daddy Jake, the Runaway".

[Rebelbase]

I’ve heard two distinct southern dialects in the VA mountains.

In the eastern portion along the front range to the Shenandoah it has a dignified and refined nature. This extends into some of the NC counties than border around Danville and SW.

West of the Valley and down into the deep SW part of the state it becomes more hillbillish...Not a slur just a fact.

Reg, you know what I’m talking about with some of the older folks in Stokes Co.

[trisham]

Fascinating. We have the same kind of variation here in Massachusetts and all of New England. I love it.

[AnAmericanMother]

That idiot who moved down here and tried to run against our local Secretary of State for a House District seat made an utter fool of himself and all the people who spent money on him.

He was almost immediately shown up as a semi-carpetbagger poseur who didn't even live in the district, and had been living with a medical student without benefit of marriage for years and years. The general reaction was that if he wouldn't make an honest woman of her, he couldn't be trusted to be honest in Congress.

I am honestly having trouble recalling the little geek's name. John "call me Jack" Ossoff, that's it. He was VERY unimpressive in person, classic beta male.

[AnAmericanMother]

Exactly. The eastern slope and the western slope are two different genetic and language pools.

I have about 4 accents that I slip into and out of, depending on where I am. Difference is, unlike Hillary, I actually speak all of them.

[AnAmericanMother]

It's disappearing on account of the deleterious influence of television and radio.

It started disappearing after Edison invented the Victrola!

[trisham]

No doubt about it. What a shame.

[RegulatorCountry]

It’s the line between English settled old plantation belt and Scotch-Irish up in the hills, very distinct. Then there are the German settled areas with their own quirks thrown into the mix. Where I grew up you could place people very easily within the county as to where they grew up, within a few square miles, the accent varied so much.

[AnAmericanMother]

There's a German Village on St. Simons Island, GA.

You can pick out the descendants.

[wastoute]

It is called a “Tidewater” accent. I live in Tidewater and one rarely hears it anymore, even here.