Texas Tawk Part II (Houston, El Paso: home, job market, school)

[Lakewooder]

Scholars of Twang Track All the 'Y'Alls' in Texas - New York Times

[TexasGirl@Heart]

My results....go figure!

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

LOL Gutgawdamight...how many times do I have to explain to you, dear Texas sis, that a "West Texas" accent IS, along with MANY others from Texas to Virginia, a sub-dialect of larger "Southern American English"?

Kinda like the old "western movies" stereotyped Texas as all desert and cactus, "Gone With the Wind" sorta entrenched the notion that a "Southern Accent" is limited to that spoken in the Deep Deep South! In fact, folks in eastern Tennessee sound more like west Texans, who in turn sound different from Georgia, and likewise to Virginia. ALL though are, legitimately, "Southern" accents!

ONE of these DAYS, I am going to get out your direction and us meet over a beer or chickenfried steak or BOTH. AND we 'is-a-gonna 'tawk" about it! *grins"

But you know I like ya, doncha' ya?"

LOL!!!!

Yes, I know that the so-called "southern" accent has many regional variations. But how in the heck could I come up with NORTHERN?? That is a STRETCH. You have to admit that some of the answers were a little strange, and didn't really fit. I just picked what I THOUGHT was the closest to how I think I sound.

Allll righty, you just come on up here, and we'll have a "tawk" over an icy cold one....just make mine Tecate with lime....and a plate of enchiladas...LOL!!!

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

LOL!!!!

Yes, I know that the so-called "southern" accent has many regional variations. But how in the heck could I come up with NORTHERN?? That is a STRETCH. You have to admit that some of the answers were a little strange, and didn't really fit. I just picked what I THOUGHT was the closest to how I think I sound.

Allll righty, you just come on up here, and we'll have a "tawk" over an icy cold one....just make mine Tecate with lime....and a plate of enchiladas...LOL!!!

Yeah, I gotta agree with you that NORTHERN sounds quite strange! I agree too that some of the answers didn't really fit, either.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Yeah, I gotta agree with you that NORTHERN sounds quite strange! I agree too that some of the answers didn't really fit, either.

Here is another one I took recently:

What American accent do you have?

My results: The West (which makes a LOT more sense than the North!!)

"Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech...you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta."

That's weird, too, but more reasonable than Northern..!!!

[smguy101]

It gave me Western! Hit the Nail right on the head! haha being from El paso and all!

[deschain]

Neither one of those quizzes had the right answer for "ON" ---- it's pronounced OWN dangit!

and how in the world would "bag" and "vague" ever sound alike?

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Scholars of Twang Track All the 'Y'Alls' in Texas - New York Times

Interesting article for sure, LOL!!

The man they interviewed sounds (on paper, obviously) like he has a very heavy "southern" accent.

I suppose the "flat I" means "Ah?"

[blueskies49]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Yankee blood? Very possible (LOL!!), but I keep telling you, many West Texans do not have a pronounced southern drawl!! With great-great grands from MS, GA, VA, etc. the southern background is definitely there, but that doesn't mean I have to sound like it, LOL!!!

But isn't Laura Bush from West Texas? She has a very heavy accent.

Originally Posted by JamesAbilene

Well, I am neutral according to the test--the accent from Kansas through Pennsylvania. I don't think that is correct, because when I am out of the state people always say, "Are you from Texas?"

This test told me I was neutral, too, but people tell me I have a southern accent.

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Here is another one I took recently:

What American accent do you have?

My results: The West (which makes a LOT more sense than the North!!)

"Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech...you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta."

That's weird, too, but more reasonable than Northern..!!!

And this one told me I had a Midland accent and said the same thing, Cathy, that I was from Dallas or Atlanta but it also threw in Charleston!

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by blueskies49

But isn't Laura Bush from West Texas? She has a very heavy accent.

Yep, she is....Midland, TX, native, no less. I haven't heard her speak in a very long time, and I cannot remember what she sounds like.



This test told me I was neutral, too, but people tell me I have a southern accent.

I have never been told that I have a southern accent....but there ARE people in all areas of Texas (including West) that have heavy southern accents. I have been asked if I were from the Midwest, though I was born and raised in WT, and had spent all but about a year of my life there. I moved 300 miles away to New Mexico last August. Nobody here has yet told me that I have a southern accent...



And this one told me I had a Midland accent and said the same thing, Cathy, that I was from Dallas or Atlanta but it also threw in Charleston!

LOL!! I don't know what to tell you about all of this! Every test I have taken has a different result, but "southern" has never been one of them. It does make one want to tear one's hair out sometimes. My sister has a classmate that grew up in the same area we did...and yet her accent/heavy drawl sounds more like southern MS than anything else to me.

Go figure???