Can you spot a real sc accent from fake (Charleston: house, movies)

[usc_gal98]

ABSOLUTELY. I can also tell who is from different areas of SC as our accents vary from town to town. For instance my Socastee accent is much different from those who live in Aynor.

I'll tell you one thing that irritates me and that would be someone faking an accent. I can't stand it when this guy comes in to my office and fakes his accent because he thinks it's more appealing. It sounds horrible.

Other accents I love other than the southern would be a Boston accent. Gotta love those!

[southernmaryland45]

How can you tell he is faking it?

[averagejoe76]

[quote=usc_gal98;5874631]

I'll tell you one thing that irritates me and that would be someone faking an accent. I can't stand it when this guy comes in to my office and fakes his accent because he thinks it's more appealing. It sounds horrible.

I think very few people could actually pull it off,I mean look how many..
American actors are horrible at british accents.
I couldnt see a NY or Boston guy trying to fake a SC or any southern
Accent.I would like to give it a try but i dont hear a SC accent often.
I sound like a Texan at times but generally dont have an accent.
Its too bad some of the dialects in SC are fading away.
I find Dialects very interesting especially in the Southern US and England.

[rubber_factory]

Originally Posted by Geechie North

..

John Edwards is a native of the Upcountry; he has an Inland Southern (or Piedmont) accent.

Here are the ones I know:

Charleston: If you naturally call it a "Gyahden", go "oot and aboot", eat "Fush". and are frequently mistaken for either Welsh, or Highland Scot, you have one. Last person I know who had an authentic one was my uncle, born in 1908 and died in 1992.

Gullah: Differs from the Charleston is speed and cadence. If you can answer appropriately when someone says, "Nyah ya victual.", then you speak it.

Piedmont: See above.

Lowcountry: John Graham Altman and Joe Riley come to mind.

Peedee: That's where you get "Lankhster" (Lancaster) from.

S. Appalachian: Very rarely heard in Upper Greenville Co; more common in rural NC. Sounds almost like Elizabethan English. Another extinct, or nearly so, lingua.

I grew up in the Pee Dee, so I'm generally familiar with all these accents, but I wasn't aware of a distinction between "Charleston, Lowcountry, and Gullah". Gullah is its own deal, of course, but how do you distinguish between Lowcountry and Charleston accents?

The example of the Charleston accent you gave sounds like the hoi toide accent of the OBX, not what I associate with old money Charlestonians.

[Geechie North]

Originally Posted by rubber_factory

I grew up in the Pee Dee, so I'm generally familiar with all these accents, but I wasn't aware of a distinction between "Charleston, Lowcountry, and Gullah". Gullah is its own deal, of course, but how do you distinguish between Lowcountry and Charleston accents?

The example of the Charleston accent you gave sounds like the hoi toide accent of the OBX, not what I associate with old money Charlestonians.

.

The Gullah accent vs the Charleston is a matter of how fast one speaks; it's discrete, yet unmistakable. Best example I can think of is the Gullah, "Luk Hyuh" vs the Charlestonian, " Look hyeah".
The Charlestonian vs the generic Lowcountry is easier to differentiate:
I was once told that I "slur" my words by a Midwestern woman (and I define my accent as a conglomerate Charlestonian/Lowcountry, overlayed with Yankee English spoken with a Germanic accent, as interpreted by the Ojibway Nation (marriage sure do change ya). That vestigal "slur" is what Dick Reeves, speaking in the 1960's, described as a "Charleston brogue". So in that regards it is like the Brooklyn Or Boston, which are based on the Irish. And it is why Charlestonians born in the early 1900's were never mistaken as southerners when they traveled out of the south, instead being marked as British subjects of one nationality or another.
The reason why the traditional Charlestonian is no longer heard in the "Old Money", the SOB's, I believe is because of TV- which didn't leave it's mark on the 1900-1930 generation, but sure changed mine (the Boomers). We're the "old farts" you hear most often as the voice of power in the 2000's.
This brogue vs drawl factor is also the main way to distinguish Charlestonian from the Lowcountry. The latter has a more genteel, typically Southern, cadence and, well, drawl. Listen to Joe Riley, Jr., poster child for the Lowcountry. Nobody's going to think he's from the UK.

[mainesnowflake]

I know someone who moved from south carolina to Maine and I love to listen to her talk. She likes my Maine accent as well. It's funny to read the posts regarding different parts of your state having a little variations in the accent. It's like that here in Maine too.

I hear people faking southern accents here in Maine to fool people into thinking they are from the South.

[usc_gal98]

Originally Posted by southernmaryland45

How can you tell he is faking it?

He slips into a fake southern accent and back to a northern accent. I like the guy, I do, but he needs to give it a rest.

[usc_gal98]

[quote=averagejoe76;5877142]

Originally Posted by usc_gal98

I'll tell you one thing that irritates me and that would be someone faking an accent. I can't stand it when this guy comes in to my office and fakes his accent because he thinks it's more appealing. It sounds horrible.

I think very few people could actually pull it off,I mean look how many..
American actors are horrible at british accents.
I couldnt see a NY or Boston guy trying to fake a SC or any southern
Accent.I would like to give it a try but i dont hear a SC accent often.
I sound like a Texan at times but generally dont have an accent.
Its too bad some of the dialects in SC are fading away.
I find Dialects very interesting especially in the Southern US and England.

Hugh Laurie does a pretty good impression of an american accent on HOUSE. I believe he is either brittish or australian.

I love dialects, especially Boston's. The way the say Car, I like it. I do get confused with the Minnesota accents though. They remind me alot of Michigan accents.

[thechappells]

[quote=usc_gal98;5888201]

Originally Posted by averagejoe76

Hugh Laurie does a pretty good impression of an american accent on HOUSE. I believe he is either brittish or australian.

I love dialects, especially Boston's. The way the say Car, I like it. I do get confused with the Minnesota accents though. They remind me alot of Michigan accents.

hugh laurie is english. if you've heard an aussie and englishman speak at the same time, you'd hear the difference in their speech. that goes for kiwis (new zealanders), too.

bostonians, along with their new england brethren definitely have accent, now for a boston dialect, i think you might've confused that with the slang. although at times, it does sound like a different language altogether! we lived up there for two years (as well as the UK and other points overseas) and like everyday britspeak, i still use a lot of the unique phrases and have a hard time reverting back to 'normal speech'

[Kimmie]

I am from NC, and the same thing goes on there. I can tell what part of NC you are from, usually. Now that we are here in SC, the only distinct accent I can discern is the "Chaahlstun" accent -which is quite lovely, I think.
I forgot to mention that there is a difference between an accent and a dialect. Some might try to fake an accent, but without quite a bit of study, the dialect can't be.