This was an old accent that I doubt exists anymore. But it has a long history of use in movies, songs and literature. So it’s less that he’s trying to sound like a Texan, and more that he’s trying to sound like a stereotypical 1950s western movie. It’s an exaggerated callback to an established trope, like much of the rest of the film.
Or even more commonly “Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the bug.”
I’ve also heard, “Some days you’re the alpha panda and some days you’re the panda that gets peed on.”
You mean “far hydrant”?
I’ve only known the pronunciation in reference to the Ballad of Davy Crockett, but that reference is very well established in popular culture, helped by the song appearing in Back to the Future as something to set the story in the 50s.
I think you guys are missing half the joke. Throughout the film, the Dude repeats bits and pieces of things that he hears, both directly to him and via things like GHW Bush’s speech at the beginning of the movie. Some of those things he doesn’t really understand, he justs repeats them, sometimes incorrectly. When The Stranger pronounces “bear” as “bar,” the Dude later repeats the “sometimes you eat the bar…” line, but then cuts himself off when he sees The Stranger. The Dude didn’t know he meant bear, he was just parroting what he hears.
Too late to add:
The Stranger said it to simply set up another of the Dude’s repetitions/malpropisms
The real suburb in question is SE Portland, OR. Sam Elliot attended David Douglas High School there. I can guarantee you that he did not speak with a drawl growing up.
The way he speaks now is a schtick he developed over the years to reinforce his Western persona. It’s not real, it’s not based on any one region, it’s just something he does.
Other David Douglas students include Lindsay Wagner and Tonya Harding (who dropped out, surprise).
Bumped.
Just came across this profile of the Coen Bros.'s bowling consultant for the movie: Bringing the bowling to ‘The Big Lebowski’ – Orange County Register
I know what T-shirt I want for the next presidential campaign: https://thedudesdesigns.com/collections/lebowski20/products/lebowski-20-premium-tee
Lotta bears in Texas?
Not as common as elsewhere, but they’re there.
In any case, Texas has nothing to do with it. Sam Elliot’s accent is just a movie-cowboy accent and is not specifically Texan. And the pronunciation of bear as “bar” refers to that of Daniel Boone in Tennessee and Kentucky in the late 1700s.
From Against A Crooked Sky (1975) (as I was reminded here eight years ago):
♫ *Ahhhhh…
Killed a b’ar!
No, not hyar!
Over thar!
I didn’t really do it
I was drunk
Ahhhhh…
Killed a b’ar…* ♫
That’s “whose.” 