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Getting back to the main point of the thread. The worst Southern accent that I've ever heard is the country singer Reba McEntire. I don't know what kind of "Southern" accent that is, but it absolutely grates on me. I hate her voice and accent. Thankfully most of the Southern accents I've heard are not that extreme. I think that TV and other forms of broadcast media have mixed the Southern accents with more ordinary Midwestern accents, which makes the Southern accents a little less grating on the ears. I don't know how Southerners ever got those dog-awful accents, because they don't sound anything like the British (which is where most of them came from) or other Americans in the north or Midwest.
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeStater
Getting back to the main point of the thread. The worst Southern accent that I've ever heard is the country singer Reba McEntire. I don't know what kind of "Southern" accent that is, but it absolutely grates on me. I hate her voice and accent.
She is in fact from Oklahoma, so not technically a Southerner. It's a bit more complex than that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeStater
Thankfully most of the Southern accents I've heard are not that extreme. I think that TV and other forms of broadcast media have mixed the Southern accents with more ordinary Midwestern accents, which makes the Southern accents a little less grating on the ears. I don't know how Southerners ever got those dog-awful accents, because they don't sound anything like the British (which is where most of them came from) or other Americans in the north or Midwest.
Forgetting your gross generalizations and comments based on lack of knowledge, the dialects of English in the South are very much influenced by the British but more so from Irish and Scottish and various African languages as well as Native American dialects. Most of it can blamed on the Ulster Scots though:
Reba McEntire might be from Oklahoma, but she doesn't talk like most Oklahomans that I've heard. Her accent is VERY "Southern" sounding. Almost like a cartoonish version of a typical Southern accent.
There are arguments to that effect (along with a lot of other stuff that has happened over the last 150) that place Texas not as a solid Southern state but sort of a transition state between the Old South and the Southwest.
But I thought your argument was "simply geography".
Again, the Civil War is over and has little bearing today on how regions are. Also, I assume you are aware that there were plenty of Southerners who stayed loyal to the Union (and enlisted in the Union Army) as well as how there were many Northerners who either supported the confederate cause and at various points during the war considered going over to the Confederacy or whom joined the Rebel Army, right?
That war was not as simple as the "South" vs the "North". Those types of wars never are. Also, I fail to see how it has much merit today. I am a Southerner from Georgia born and raised....who has New Yorker parents and is half African-American and Japanese-American. Do you think that if the Civil War happened today I wouldn't join the Union Army? It's 2010 bub. The past is the past.
No. California was a Western and Union state during the war.
I'm not really sure why you are so insistant on combining the Northeast with the Midwest.
Do you believe Northeastern culture to be superior and that by co-opting that culture you too become "elite"?
Do you not believe that Midwestern states and cities have their very own culture and history separate from that of the Northeastern states? Shouldn't Midwestern states be allowed to have that?
That brings up a good point? Why should you "care" if the South is the largest populated region in the country? Do you lose something? Do you think the South is below you and not just in a literal way? Especially since it is a fact that can not be "cared for". For instance, someone may not "care" if the sky is blue, that won't make it not blue.
It is what it is. The South covers the largest chunk of the this country and has the most states in an American region, thus has the most people. Knowing this does not diminish any other region of the United States in anyway and for you to think that it does is really, really, childish and ignorant (sorry mods, just calling a spade a spade).
Then you'd better allow states such as Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, Tennesee, etc to have their own cultures, too, since they're apparently too far west to be part of the true South...again, just some attempt on a "land grab" by you while trying to deny that a historical bond of sorts exists between Northeast and Midwest over a similar-sized piece of US real estate..
What are the similarities between North Carolina and Texas? You seem to think that there are some, and you insist on lumping them together, and yet you seem to think that Vermont and Wisconsin have nothing in common, and shouldn't be in a similar grouping...just in some vain, chest-beating attempt to boost the South's numbers..
Kid, I don't care who has more, but to try to distort history and geography to prove it, and feel some need to point this out to everyone when it wasn't called for, is just childish and hypocritical at the same time..
I think all Southern accents are beautiful as long as they are spoken by Southern natives. What I don't understand are "fast talkers". What is the hurry?
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MassVt
Then you'd better allow states such as Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, Tennesee, etc to have their own cultures, too, since they're apparently too far west to be part of the true South...again, just some attempt on a "land grab" by you while trying to deny that a historical bond of sorts exists between Northeast and Midwest over a similar-sized piece of US real estate..
Dude, are you seriously suggesting that I personally am overstating the size of the South? How many states are considered to be a part of the South is not determined by me but by a shared culture (that isn't relegated to just the Civil War) and by the Federal Government who divide the country in the following way:
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey
The South
Deleware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Viriginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana
The Midwest (aka "Not the North)
Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa
The West
Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii
Now granted, this list is not hard and fast. For example, Maryland and especially Delaware today are culturally closer as a whole to the Midatlantic states in the Northeast than it is to the South and Oklahoma and Texas can be seen as transitional areas. The fact remains though that even when you remove those four states from the South, the South still has the largest amount of states and the largest population of any of the other regions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MassVt
What are the similarities between North Carolina and Texas? You seem to think that there are some, and you insist on lumping them together, and yet you seem to think that Vermont and Wisconsin have nothing in common, and shouldn't be in a similar grouping
Are you under the impression that every state in a region has to be "just like each of them"? Do you think that there is no difference between Mississippi and Alabama or Tennessee or Georgia? Every state has it's own identity and it's own separate culture.
However I will say that North Carolina and Texas have far more in common historically and culturally than Wisconsin or Vermont ever will. Hell, North Carolina and Vermont will have a lot more in common given than it would with Wisonsin since they were both colonial states.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MassVt
...just in some vain, chest-beating attempt to boost the South's numbers..
Why in the world would I do that?
And what do you call your attempts at combining the Midwest with the Northeast?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MassVt
Kid, I don't care who has more, but to try to distort history and geography to prove it, and feel some need to point this out to everyone when it wasn't called for, is just childish and hypocritical at the same time..
Says the person who thinks a state in New England somehow has something in common with Wisconsin in any meaningful way....
Last edited by waronxmas; 11-29-2010 at 02:09 PM..
Dude, are you seriously suggesting that I personally am overstating the size of the South? How many states are considered to be a part of the South is not determined by me but by a shared culture (that isn't relegated to just the Civil War) and by the Federal Government who divide the country in the following way:
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey
The South
Deleware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Viriginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana
The Midwest (aka "Not the North)
Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa
The West
Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii
Now granted, these list is not hard and fast. For example, Maryland and especially Delaware today are culturally closer as a whole to the Midatlantic states in the Northeast than it is to the South and Oklahoma and Texas can be seen as transitional areas. The fact remains though that even when you remove those four states from the South, the South still has the largest amount of states and the largest population of any of the other regions.
Are you under the impression that every state in a region has to be "just like each of them"? Do you think that there is no difference between Mississippi and Alabama or Tennessee or Georgia? Every state has it's own identity and it's own separate culture.
However I will say that North Carolina and Texas have far more in common historically and culturally than Wisconsin or Vermont ever will. Hell, North Carolina and Vermont will have a lot more in common given than it would with Wisonsin since they were both colonial states.
Why in the world would I do that?
And what do you call your attempts at combining the Midwest with the Northeast?
Says the person who thinks a state in New England somehow has something in common with Wisconsin in any meaningful way....
Says the person who thinks that Vermont and North Carolina have anything meaningful in common..
Yes, I will make sure that the next time I'm in Wisconsin ( which will be soon), when the temperature has dropped into the single digits, and snow has covered the local dairy farms, as they discuss the ventures of ice fishing and the local hockey team.. then I'll remind them that they don't live in a northern state, and that they have nothing in common with Vermont.
And then I'll wait for the laughter to subside....
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MassVt
Says the person who thinks that Vermont and North Carolina have anything meaningful in common..
Yes, I will make sure that the next time I'm in Wisconsin ( which will be soon), when the temperature has dropped into the single digits, and snow has covered the local dairy farms, as they discuss the ventures of ice fishing and the local hockey team.. then I'll remind them that they don't live in a northern state, and that they have nothing in common with Vermont.
And then I'll wait for the laughter to subside....
Well, in your head, if you think Wisconsin is a "Northern state" then it must hold true I guess. You should know that the idea is a bit ridiculous.
Aside from that, I wonder why you are even posting on a thread about a subject you obviously have such disdain for. Oh well....unanswered questions will persist I suppose.
Well, in your head, if you think Wisconsin is a "Northern state" then it must hold true I guess. You should know that the idea is a bit ridiculous.
Aside from that, I wonder why you are even posting on a thread about a subject you obviously have such disdain for. Oh well....unanswered questions will persist I suppose.
Self-awareness is a beautiful thing, and if you really believe the above statement, then you're in need of a complete makeover...
But I'm nothing, if not fair-minded. Should you ever decide to drive from Atlanta towards Chicago, I would suggest that you head "north"; now, you seem determined to head in the "other" direction, and I understand--that's your choice. But I want to help, so when you decide to leave, I'll notify the authorities at the Port of Miami, just in case they have to fish your car out of the Gulf of Mexico.
That, or you could just turn "your" map around; it's really up to you.
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