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View Poll Results: Whats your favorite Southern "accent"?
Virginia Tidewater (Richmond and Eastern NC and Coastal SC) 9 20.00%
Appalachian (West Virginia, East KY, Western NC, North Georgia) 8 17.78%
Gulf Coastal Plain (Jimmy Carter) 9 20.00%
General Southern Lowland (outside coast and mountains) 8 17.78%
Other 11 24.44%
Voters: 45. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 09-11-2007, 01:36 PM
 
Location: Richmond
1,489 posts, read 8,796,689 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ColdCanadian View Post
I believe I have heard drawls without twang that it'd almost an understatement to say simply they sound very southern. Accents that are very thick and slow from residents of rural areas or small towns of the eastern and coastal Carolinas. However I have not heard those accents anywhere else, and never on tv or in the movies.

(I might be mistaken as I'm going on pure memory of how it sounded from my vacations years ago and over the years my ears have grown more accustomed to southern pronounciations.)


That would make a lot of sense as I did not really hear one dominant accent in places like the Myrtle Beach SC area or around Wilmington NC. Charleston and some small towns were a bit different but it makes sense that lately a lot of people are from a lot of other places in the more popular or populated areas.
In the movie "Gone With The Wind" they were trying to do that type of drawl. Which is associated with the aristocracy of the South (Coastal areas that spread west to Mississippi and others) and was probably believe to come from upper crust 18th Century London speech mixed with African.

I do believe Vivian Leigh sounded pretty authentic Georgian to my ears- although some claim she didnt' sound Southern at all. I think Clark Gable (who hails from Akron, Ohio) opted not to do any attempt at a Charleston accent at all- which IMO, was a very good thing. Nothing worse than a southern accent gone wrong. They do them usually wrong in the movies and TV.

Vivian Leigh was able to do it right. Probably because she was British.
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Old 09-11-2007, 01:59 PM
 
2,356 posts, read 3,475,244 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ColdCanadian View Post
I believe I have heard drawls without twang that it'd almost an understatement to say simply they sound very southern. Accents that are very thick and slow from residents of rural areas or small towns of the eastern and coastal Carolinas. However I have not heard those accents anywhere else, and never on tv or in the movies.
For some strange reason, Hollywood likes to portray politicians and lawyers as having the coastal Atlantic (Foghorn Leghorn) accent. Whenever poor or uneducated southerners are portrayed, they will always give them that twangy accent.

I'm sure it comes from the 300-year old stereotype (at least in SC) that the upland people were poor, clannish, moonshine runners, Southern Baptist "hillbillies" and textile mill workers. Lowland southerners were always stereotyped as elitist, old money, morally philandering, smooth-talking, well-mannered plantation owners. The fact that these stereotypes still exist is a testament to how reluctant we are to change. (In reality, the upland areas today are better educated, wealthier, and politically stronger.. go figure.)

Quote:
That would make a lot of sense as I did not really hear one dominant accent in places like the Myrtle Beach SC area or around Wilmington NC. Charleston and some small towns were a bit different but it makes sense that lately a lot of people are from a lot of other places in the more popular or populated areas.
Yeah, you're right. It's all about race and agriculture; Charleston and Savannah were influenced heavily by African speech over hundreds of years. Myrtle Beach is mostly white transplants; up until the 1920's, it was basically an uninhabited stretch of sand.
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Old 09-11-2007, 03:38 PM
 
Location: moving again
4,383 posts, read 16,762,031 times
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Im not really sure, I've never been a fan of southern accents. I don't know how all of the ones listed sound though
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Old 09-11-2007, 04:31 PM
 
Location: Deep In The Heat Of Texas
2,639 posts, read 3,223,627 times
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None. Half the time, they don't pronounce words properly and it's hard to understand what the heck they're saying even though I've lived 29 years in the south. When I first moved here, it was much more difficult though than it is now.
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Old 09-11-2007, 05:00 PM
 
Location: Richmond
1,489 posts, read 8,796,689 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KewGee View Post
None. Half the time, they don't pronounce words properly and it's hard to understand what the heck they're saying even though I've lived 29 years in the south. When I first moved here, it was much more difficult though than it is now.
Actually Northerners don't pronounce things correctly, but I'll let that slide. We Southrons speak the King's English.
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Old 09-11-2007, 05:52 PM
 
Location: Indianapolis
47 posts, read 296,011 times
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New Orleans (although I can hardly understand some of them!) and ATL.
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Old 09-11-2007, 06:02 PM
 
Location: Richmond
1,489 posts, read 8,796,689 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IndyDiva73 View Post
New Orleans (although I can hardly understand some of them!) and ATL.
Not me. People from New Orleans sound like they're from Brooklyn.
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Old 09-11-2007, 07:08 PM
 
Location: Deep In The Heat Of Texas
2,639 posts, read 3,223,627 times
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quoted by Vasinger: Actually Northerners don't pronounce things correctly, but I'll let that slide. We Southrons speak the King's English.

I totally agree with the first part of your post, but this thread isn't about northern accents. Eastern accents are difficult as well and I guess some would say the west coast accents of which I'm a "member" are not enjoyed either.
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Old 09-11-2007, 10:49 PM
 
Location: Atlanta
2,848 posts, read 6,436,427 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vasinger View Post
Not me. People from New Orleans sound like they're from Brooklyn.
So right (which is why it's my favorite). It's funny and amazing but I once was watching an episode of COPS filmed in New Orleans. I kept thinking " I wonder why they hire so many New Yorkers for the New Orleans police Dept?" It then dawned on me that these were people from New Orleans.

I heard they once had a large number of Italians from up north living in New Orleans do you think this has anything to do with it?

The worst southern accents are the fake ones used by actors from outside the South on TV and Movies. They make me cringe.
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Old 09-11-2007, 10:53 PM
 
Location: Oceanside, CA
38 posts, read 144,568 times
Reputation: 25
The one with the long blonde hair and really big boobs
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