People tell me I have a strong Southern accent, but I tend to think THEIR accent is stronger :o)

I think I sound quite normal, ya'll!

Have always lived in the South. I say y'all all the time;here at the KT I try to use a different plural for that.

Dialects aren't written in stone. I have friends who grew up 15 miles apart in NC. One of them says y'all, and the other says you'nse.

I have a new neighbor who has a strong Northern way of speaking. I can't even spell some of the way she pronounces some words.

I can handle any manner of speech except profanity.

Sue

"I'll bet learning Japanese with a southern accent would be a real hoot!"

I was born in Georgia, and learned to speak while living there. My parents were both from northern states and did not have a southern accent; although when I first starting talking I certainly had a southern accent. My father was in the Army, and was transferred to Europe. I learned to speak Turkish, German, and Italian while living there (although I have long ago lost that ability, as well as the accent). I can remember my parents saying that it was so funny to hear me speaking those languages with a southern accent.

I think Gilbert Gottfried is hilarious and what's interesting is that he enunciates very well and at least to me, is at least very understandable.

The interesting thing with drawls, people with them don't have them when they sing. (Except for some "CW" singers who don't sing they just talk nasally to force their already forced accent anyway.) But when singing, there's no y'alls randomly tossed in for no good reason. So, where do they go if this is so "natural"? I get a kick out of watching something like American Idol and to plagerize a toothpaste commercial Y'all wunder were the yallin went when y'all is singing in public... I have yet to hear "Y'all are my sunshine, my only sunshine, y'all make me happy when y'alls skies are grey..."

I was raised in Minnesota and my cousin was raised in Texas. We had an interesting conversation about it and I asked her about it. She stopped for a second and went "You know what, you're right. I can't explain that." And she even made the comment they force in a lot of unnecessary "y'alls" especially when they're trying to make a point.

My Aunt was married to a guy from Mississippi. She was talking about her late husband and mentioned how the accent always got thicker when he got more frustrated or angry. I've never noticed it but after decades of marriage, she'd know. Another thing she mentioned was he never used "y'all" and never let the kids use it either. Guess he agreed with Will Smith's grandmother!

Back in the 80s I was sent to Charlotte, NC, for work and there were representatives from around the country. What a combination! Felt like the United Nations! Some of the ones I recall are people from Ohio, Boston, Minnesota (of course), Arkansas, Dallas to name a few. We nearly needed a translator! The guy from "Bwaston" had everyone scratching their heads. Looking for a "bubbla" and took a while for it to sink in he wanted a drinking fountain. But we figured him out quickly when he asked "shu-we hava bee-uh". This guy could put Cliff Clavin to shame. I occasionally am reminded of him when watching Cheers!

I'm sort of a news and weather junkie and there's another interesting thing I've noticed when I'd travel. I always would turn on the local news and try to catch several different channels. For a while I had satellite with several different newscasts available. With rare exception, the top rated news anchors and most voiceover announcers would be accent-free or what's known in media as the "midwest accent". It surprised me how people without the regional accent would be more popular. A great example is Houston's Dave Ward. Even Maaaaaaaarrrvin Zindler, Eyeeeeeeeeeeeeeewitness News had very little accent for being a Houston native at the end of his life. Actually, looking at old footage compared to later footage he actually seemed to lose a lot of his accent. I have my suspicions as to why though... In any case, I do have to say old Marvin was hilarious and I really enjoyed his "Rat and Roach Reports" and SLIME, in the ICE MACHINE! He was definitely one unique character.

As far as Paula Deen, besides the forced accent, the thing that troubles me most is that she claims recipes as "hers" when they've been around a long time. I highly doubt Paula Deen invented smokies in BBQ sauce. I got a recipe for butterscotch brownies from Franco Palumbo and saw it in an old, old cookbook too, but she claims it as "hers". To me it's at least fraud. People like that lose my respect and the phoniness on top of it just makes her move down that many more pegs. Nice person? Probably very nice. Like to have her as a neighbor? Sure, why not, at least from what I know now, but then ask if I would trust someone like that? Nope. I'd rather have Marvin, excuse me, Marrrrrrrrrrvin back.

Interesting thread.
I used to work for a gynecologist born and raised in Ireland who lived in Mexico for several years.
We lived in a small town on the central coast of California and had lots of people who were migrant workers from Mexico. It was wonderful to hear the doc talk to his patients in Spanish with a very pronounced Irish brogue.
My DDIL's brother is Japanese and lived in Mexico for a while....love to hear him speak Spanish, also.
If I am in the Southern states, or around people with a Suthern accent, in less than 24 hours I start sounding more and more like them.
I was born in raised in Bakersfield, CA......lived around lots of Dust Bowl transplants. When I went to Oregon to visit my grandfather, my step mother's son thought I was from Oklahoma.
I love regional accents and verbage.

As I said on the other thread,I say ya'll all the time and it sounds like "yawl".I don't think PD has any stronger Southern accent than anyone else from the South. I never thought I had a "reigional" accent either.Sounded fine to me.Like glenda said,just like everyone else.LOL Then about 2 months ago I was in Wal-Mart here (NM) and was talking to a guy in line ahead of me.He said,"You're not from NM are you?" I said,"No,Texas".He said,"I know,I could tell from your accent!"LOL
As far as the recipe thing goes,I have a lot of recipes that I say are "mine" because I have made them for years.I'm sure there are recipes out there just like mine that probably came from some cook book somewhere! May be the same with Paula.I know I have a lot of recipes that
I had never heard of when I first made them.Then after the miracle of the internet,I find them,or versions of them all over the place.Also,a lot of the recipes I call "mine" are mine because I have tweaked them in some way from the original.I guess anyone can "claim" a recipe as their own but I don't think that makes it against the law.
Oh well YAAWLL have a great evening! I'm gonna go play with my grandbabies now.Haven't seen them since Friday.

We were in Bath,UK, waiting for a bus, and chattering among ourselves. Presently a fellow asked what part of the midwest, USA, we were from!

This thread reminded me of my sister's move to southern Missouri. A native asked them if their horse had been hurt from war, as he had a long scar on his side. They, of course, wondered what war their horse could have been in. Seems the fellow meant "bahbed wahr" (barbed wire)

I was in Germany with some friends from Canada. Was translating, when the shop keeper told me: You speak very good German.

I just told her Thank You, LOL, was so much easier than explain, that I was born in Germany, live in the USA and am here with Canadians.

My friends still laugh about that one.

Now, my sisters say I speak German with an Okie accent.

Moni

I grew up in Connecticut. No discernable accent. Anyways, eons ago I dated a guy from West Virginia, which isn't even the deep south. The only thing I can remember about him is that I couldn't understand a word he was saying.

Sometimes it isn't the accent that bothers me, but the persons voice. Paula's nasal voice and cackle just drives me up a wall. A couple more come to mind, who have voices that makes me cringe. I can't stand Ben Stein when he talks in that monotone voice and Elizabeth Hasselbecks voice is so shrill. I would think that if a person is going to be in the media, they would develop a well modulated way of speaking. JMO Dottie