kniz said:
“if you read back you will find that I was accused by Collounsbury of having made ethnic slurs and I only knew of one unfortunate time that I used one. Collounsbury then said that he had been including my use of Damn Yankee.”
kniz, my apologies for the mistake. I’m glad you and Coll, whom I hope now has a better understanding of what “Damn Yankee” means, have patched things up.
kniz said:
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for defining “Damn Yankee” in a way that only a true southern belle could.”
[celestina blushing] You’re welcome, kniz. Even if you are a “Damn Yankee,” you’re a sweet one. I hope you enjoy your virtual drink.
celestina said:
“Rather it’s a way to deal with misplaced Northerners and Westerners who come to the South and start trying to tell us Southerners how we ought to be acting in our own region.”
Collounsbury’s reply:
“Well, thank god I have never been sent there, eh no?”
Sugarlump, even though you’re a “Damn Yankee,” you’re a lovable one. I just can’t wrap my mind around how much havoc you’d wreak if you came to the South, but it sure as hell’d be interestin’ to watch.
Collounsbury’s reply:
“Ahem. Well, there are Bostonians and there are Bostonians for one. My family is of old Bostonian stock, albeit transferred to New York.”
Coll, love, you poor thing. You can’t help where you’re family’s from, and I won’t hold it against you. Do you find that your Boston-NY twang follows you over to the other languages you speak?
celestina said:
“I was reading somewhere a few months ago how when Southerners move up North, they generally don’t lose their accents,”
Collounsbury replied:
“Nor do they seem to be able to do so in whatever language they speak, to my experience among the oil crowd who I meet from time to time here. Nothing more … eh how to put it? unfortunate than the accent transfered to another language.”
True. American Southernese is quite potent. Like Chinese and some other tonal languages, it’s very difficult for native speakers to keep those musical accents from spilling over into other languages. Spanish, which has a fast and fluid rhythm, and American Southernese, which has a slower, drawn out musical quality, don’t mix at all. I think it’s a damn shame that the American education curriculum doesn’t include phonetics as a part of foreign language classes so we could better avoid tonal clashes amongst languages. My sister, whose drawl is MUCH more pronounced than mine, majored in Spanish in college, and it wasn’t until she took a phonetics class that I could stand to hear her speak Spanish. [shudder] Sounded like a native speaker, she did, after that class. I’m weird, though. I don’t have a problem keeping my Southern accent from intruding when I speak Standard American English, Spanish, or Japanese for that matter. It’s so much fun to code switch!
Monty, I have little experience with speaking Vietnamese, so I’ll take your word that Georgia accents don’t mix with Vietnamese.
(Glad to see we have finally succeeded in fully hijacking this thread.)
Now, celestina, don’t get your crinoline in a wad. I’m no fundamentalist, and never have been. (Heck, I’m a godless heathen.) However, I do have some familiarity with the mores and taboos of the rural South, and wine was most definitely a taboo (albeit a mild one). Of course, times have changed, so I’m sure that is less true these days.
Oh dear, have I hijacked this thread? Sorry, Reeder, I didn’t mean to. I just get sidetracked easily, especially when it comes to talkin’ about liquor. Oooh. But I feel so naughty. Will this get me banned?
spoke, you don’t have to worry about me getting a crinoline or anything else for that matter in a wad. Anyone who knows anything knows that it’s not crinolines, but rather straw hats that are de rigeur. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re a fundamentalist or what. I’m actually glad to hear that you’re a heathen, (Even though much of the South is known as the Bible belt, ain’t everybody Southern a Bible-totin’ fundamentalist.) but then it doesn’t surprise me. I get the sense you like stirrin’ up trouble and purposely shockin’ folks. Let you in on a little secret. I do too! So, hon, let’s just agree that we both know different aspects of Southern culture, and that they’re both equally valid. After all, Southern culture is complex and multi-faceted and oh-so-rich. The mistake that people make is in simplifyin’ us Southerners into a narrow set of stereotypes. And as far as my “citification” goes, you may believe what you wish.
And Coll, love, point taken. Even though I’ve made a mess of payin’ attention to what’s been goin’ on in this thread, I’m still glad that I had the chance to clarify for those who may not know what “Damn Yankee” means.
Face it man - You don’t suffer fools gladly and are less than patient with the obtuse or unclear. I can think of far worse reputations to have . At least you’re usually right and have shown some willingness to back down when you realize you may not be .
Oh, now, I don’t know about that. Back when I was taking a course in Colonial Latin America, I had a professor who was originally from Argentina, but who had come to the states via graduate school in England ( and maybe a earlier, I was a little unclear on her academic background ). Her English was perfect and absolutely clear. But she had an Argentinian-tinged British accent which I found both musical and utterly fascinating . I even lost track of her lectures once or twice for a few seconds because I was so fascinated by her voice .
celestina, as I’m sure you know, some things just improve with age;
Likker,
Good singers,
Wimmen,
And this thread.
But, apparently, not state flags.
Peace,
mangeorge
Do you find that your Boston-NY twang follows you over to the other languages you speak?
?