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I think it's fair to say that he plays it up a little bit. I don't think it's 100% affectation, but his family isn't Texan and he was educated in the northeast.
I don't think his 'folksiness' would work quite as well without the accent.
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Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan
I think it's fair to say that he plays it up a little bit. I don't think it's 100% affectation, but his family isn't Texan and he was educated in the northeast.
I don't think his 'folksiness' would work quite as well without the accent.
Could you imagine if he said some of that nonsense in a CT accent?
I'm not saying it sounds intelligent or presidential, but lots of everyday Americans don't mind the sort of down-home folksy style he uses from time to time. All that junk sounds better with a twang.
Some of us must be running out of things to bash our President about if it has come to this!
That's hilarious. "An idle mind is a devil's workshop."
Like a tea bag that's been steeping for a while, accents can change. In 2 years of living in ATL, my accent changed a little bit toward theirs and then it reverted backto West Coast standard upon leaving. As long as he has been there, I think it's probably real and maybe just a hair "hammed-up."
I certainly think it's played up. However, some people are more succeptable to picking up accents than others. My best friend was born and raised in Texas but you'd think she was from California: her father grew up there and both of her parents were educated there. Despite growing up in an area that (until recently with the cities growing) was full of 3rd or 4th generation Texans with heavy accents, she never picked it up. The same with me- I moved to Georgia when I was 2 and still graduated at 18 with a hint of the Boston accent that my father still has to this day after 18 years of living int he South.
Then again, I know other people who pick up an accent no matter where they go. But really, do you think Bush would ever get elected as governor of Texas, considering his ritzy background, with a New England accent?
That said, I swear on Henry Kissinger's death bed he's going to say "Got ya" in a perfect middle American accent. :P
Your accent comes from your parents and other people you talk to during your first five years of life. Bush only lived in TX later in life. Its a fake!
Actually, he's lived in Texas since he was 2 years old. So if we assume your premise re: 5 years old, your conclusion is incorrect.
Speaking of that premise, I don't buy it. People can readily adapt their accents to where they live. It's happening to my wife right now. She grew up in downstate Illinois but she is gradually developing a Chicago accent. My sister has been in the military since she was 17 and she has lived all over the country. Her Chicago accent is completely gone, and she has actually taken on something of a southern accent (she spent 5 of the last 7 years in Georgia). A classmate of mine moved here from Moscow when he was 14. He is now 23 and speaks with a perfect Midwestern American accent. In short, I have numerous personal anecdotes that show your premise to be false.
As for GWB's accent: after hearing recordings of him speaking candidly when he was not aware of being within earshot of a microphone, I have concluded that while he may play it up a bit when speaking publicly (consciously or unconsciously), the underlying accent is real.
I was raised in eastern Ohio and moved away at 18. People still guess that I'm from eastern Ohio if they've talked to me for any length of time. I'd say his accent is fake, just like him.
So, you were raised in Ohio, and your Ohio accent is real. But a man who was raised in Texas has a Texas accent that's fake? I'm not sure I follow.
Bush isn't as much a dumba-- as other's may wish or believe he is.
Bush is an opportunistic carpetbagger groomed for public office. He is as much a southerner as a freshly relocated yankee in the sun belt.
It also makes him appear folksy and more conservative even when approving massive socialist programs while taxing the middle class to death (even his inflation tax is opportunistic because you can't say it's actually a direct tax on the people). Pretending to be pro-life and religious also help to offset his fiscal liberalism.
Karl Rove has taught him well.
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