How Much Northeasterners Pick up the Southern Attitude and Southern Accent (Raleigh: employment, transfer)

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by findinghope

he works outside of the home and is around people with southern acents, and is therefore more likely to pick up on their accent.

P.s. you are not allowed to bash NJ unless you are from thereyourself--are you??

Born and raised in NJ

Where can you work outside your home in NJ and be around people with southern accents? I don't believe you stated where you are currently.

[findinghope]

Originally Posted by StuckPA

Born and raised in NJ

Where can you work outside your home in NJ and be around people with southern accents? I don't believe you stated where you are currently.

we live in NC--i said in my first post that we USED to live in NJ.

[JQ Public]

I have noticed most don't pick up an accent, but they will drop some slang words like pop b/c people tease them. Its all in good fun though y'all.

[Richmonder27]

I dont know if this is unsual, but I grew up right near the DC area- Loudoun County, Virginia- and I have been told I have a pretty strong Southern accent. I dont know- my mother is from Richmond, and as a child I spent my summers with my older relatives from Richmond and Nawfulk.

Older natives of Northern Virginia have Virginia "accents', but many of the young people my age sound more like they are from California! Northern Virginia was Southern 50 years ago, but when I was growing up it was hardly Southern at all. I always loved the Deep South, though.

I never lost my "NOVA" accent. Many people think I am from one of 4 places:

South Hill, VA (Southside Virginia) Front Royal, VA (Shenandoah Valley), Richmond, VA, or South Carolina! Those are all very different Southern accents, lol.

[lodilynn]

This conversation is one I have had many times with people all over the US and the world. I enjoy it.
Many people in Southern cities - Atl., Raleigh, Jacksonville, Charlotte even - I'm talking Deep South - have neutral accents because their parents were 1st generation Southerners - just moved there one generation ago.
If your parents are from New Jersey or New York, it's many generations before the accent totally neutralizes. Just like if a Southerner were to move to Brooklyn, Boston, or the "shore".
Those who adopt a Southern flavor are those who slow down a little and their words will typically stretch. Just like a Southerner who moves to Chicago, NY, LA will pick up the speed a little and their accent will become a little more neutral. When locals in those cities tell us we're "cute" - now that's pretty infuriating!
It's not as infuriating as someone from "up North", who moves South and makes fun of the way we speak or operate in the South. You don't have to change your dialect, but you should respect that we are just as educated and just as efficient. We just have a few shortcuts that allow us to get the same results but in a more laid back way. When I went to college at the University of South Carolina I couldn't believe the number of students who came from Jersey who spoke down to us. We took the same courses, made the same grades, got the same Diplomas yet they still thought we were somehow a little lower on the totem pole. This does not leave a good taste in the mouth. It's hard to overcome that impression.
There was a gentleman on the thread who said he had a hard time understanding his girlfriend over the phone. That's fabulous! It shows that much can be said for face to face conversation with hand gestures and all!
There was also someone who was raised in northern Virginia and DC. He was perplexed by friends who told him he sounded Southern. Many Southerners consider DC to be a Southern town. Even though it's full of people from all over the the world, it has a Southern flavor.
So, though those from up north don't always sound Southern, they typically will use colloquialisms and stretch their words after many years living in the South.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by NomadicRaider

I've got a quick question with all the people from NYand NorthEast moving down south,how many of them pick up the accent and the traditional down south customs.In other words can people tell you from up north just by talking to them.

Some of them never even learn to understand most true southerners. I often find myself wondering why they insist on talking through their nose that I don't hear what they are actually saying. Especially true for mid-westerners.

[Bobilee]

I've often wondered why some people pick up accents quickly and others never lose their original accents. My dad lived all his life a stone's throw from the Ohio River, but his accent was heavily Southern, in the Appalachian mode. I can still hear his voice on the phone "Hey! BobbuhLee, how yuh dooin, suhn?". I moved to Michigan when I was 16, and kids in my high school thought my accent was "cute". But after living many years in the north I don't have a trace of my original accent left. I think it has a lot to do with how good you are at language and sound. I have a pretty good ear for language, and I've had years of German and Spanish, so I think that is why my accent eroded. But if I moved back into a southern environment, watch out!

[Jessie_hearts2011]

I can tell who is from the north when they come down here. My boy friend he lived in New york his whole life but he just moved down here like 3 years ago and his northern accent does not show anymore. but when i talk to his dad his dads northern accent comes out. but I can tell when someone is from the north, They will say we do it like ""we do it like this back home or up north"". Thats how I tell it but it Does show on some people.

[DawnW]

We have been here 4 years now and my children do not have a Southern accent, but then, I rarely even hear Southern accents around here, even though it is the South.

Dawn

[lorriem]

Originally Posted by NC man

I would say that adults that have moved here do not pickup the accent even some that have been here 25 plus years. It seems this is picked up in early ages in school but not in older people. They will pick up catch phrases though like ya all but its with a northern accent. The transplants children will get our southern draw some quicker depending on the areas they live in(rural verses metro). It is very easy to tell who is from here and who is not.The boston and NY, nj accents. midwest ect.

We moved from The North east to CA. Our daughter at the time was 10 she has no accent now 32 years later. My Husband and I have lost most of the hard NY accent but people can't say for sure that we came from NY. We have to tell them. What I have been saying a lot is "you all" but that is because my sil and niece both say that and have for many years when my brother was stationed in Beaufort, SC.