# "Larry the Cable Guy" and Southern accents **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140 "2014-10-31T16:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/1 "2014-10-31T16:37:34Z")
The [“How is Gillian Anderson’s British accent?”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17861836&posted=1#post17861836) thread reminded me I’ve wondered about Larry the Cable Guy and his fake accent. Wikipedia says “He credits his [college] roommates from Texas and Georgia for inspiring his imitation Southern accent.” [Video of Pre-“Larry the Cable Guy” Dan Whitney doing stand-up with no trace of a southern accent.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqm-vKWEkoUhttp://) I’m not agreeing with the title of that video that he’s a “fraud”, plenty of comedians adopt personas. Just curious about his accent. I don’t have a very good ear for accents, but I’m sure there’s a big difference between a Texas and a Georgia accent. I know if I tried to pull off a Southern accent it would sound very fake and maybe even offensive to a Southerner. So, Southerners or those with more of an ear for different regional American accents, does LTCG’s accent sound anything close to a real accent, and if so, from what region? He seems to be popular in the south, so even if his accent does sound fake to Southerners I guess they still like him despite that. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/2 "2014-10-31T16:45:31Z")
His accent is faker than fake. The only movie Southern accent I’ve ever heard that comes the closest to the real thing is Brad Pitt’s east Tennessee accent in _Inglorious Basterds_. I live in western NC and I hear people that sound like that all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/3 "2014-10-31T16:49:06Z")
Whitney was born in Nebraska and raised on a pig farm. Maybe his Larry the Cable Guy voice is closer to his real voice than his lame stand up voice. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/4 "2014-10-31T17:15:00Z")
I always loved Jan Hooks’ (fake) southern accent. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/5 "2014-10-31T17:27:26Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Whitney was born in Nebraska and raised on a pig farm. Maybe his Larry the Cable Guy voice is closer to his real voice than his lame stand up voice. I’d have to argue that his fake-o “Southern accent” is an attempt at a generic “rural” accent, playing to urban audiences that frankly don’t know better. It’s certainly not an authentic Nebraska rural accent, since Nebraska is about as close to a “[neutral Midwestern non-accent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American)” as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/6 "2014-10-31T17:46:59Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I always loved Jan Hooks’ (fake) southern accent. Was it fake? Jan Hooks was from Atlanta - some of us have stereotypical Southern accents, some don’t. I’m sure she amped it up when she was playing a Southerner, as she did for example on _Designing Women_; I’m equally sure she suppressed it while on _Saturday Night Live_. I’ve never heard her speak out of character, so I don’t know what her native accent might be. Or did you mean you loved her fake-as-opposed-to-her-real Southern accent? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/7 "2014-10-31T17:55:25Z")
I knew people in Texas who sounded similar to that of Larry the Cable Guy, in fact he sounds a lot like a cop I used to work with. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/8 "2014-10-31T18:05:16Z")
> [@solost](#): > > The [URL=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17861836&posted=1#post17861836](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17861836&posted=1#post17861836)”]So, Southerners or those with more of an ear for different regional American accents, does LTCG’s accent sound anything close to a real accent, and if so, from what region? He seems to be popular in the south, so even if his accent does sound fake to Southerners I guess they still like him despite that. I live in North Carolina and to me he only sounds like he’s doing a very inaccurate and grating version of a rural southern accent. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/9 "2014-10-31T18:05:29Z")
His southern redneck accent is obviously fake, but still miles better than any fake southern genteel accent I’ve heard Hollywood attempt. I think a lot of southerners might say he sounds country, but not from their neck of the woods. In other words, he doesn’t sound like any one specific region that I’ve ever spent time in, but it doesn’t make me wince, either. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/10 "2014-10-31T18:13:48Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Was it fake? Jan Hooks was from Atlanta - some of us have stereotypical Southern accents, some don’t. I’m sure she amped it up when she was playing a Southerner, as she did for example on _Designing Women_; I’m equally sure she suppressed it while on _Saturday Night Live_. I’ve never heard her speak out of character, so I don’t know what her native accent might be. > > Or did you mean you loved her fake-as-opposed-to-her-real Southern accent? LOL. Well now I’m not sure either. All I know is I liked that girl I saw on the TV. I was assuming when I said ‘fake’ in my earlier post. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/11 "2014-11-01T00:52:15Z")
Yeah, it’s fake, but fake in a way you might expect a Southerner to do for exaggeration purposes. I was actually surprised he was from as high up as Alaska. I was thinking Southern Missouri or so, but pretending to be Texan, with a little Nashville thrown in (the “country” accent). ---
**Author:** ![AliceCoopersGolfGame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@AliceCoopersGolfGame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AliceCoopersGolfGame)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/12 "2014-11-01T01:23:41Z")
I agree with one of the posters above - as someone who lives in (but is not from) the South, I’d say his accent is more redneck/rural than Southern. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/13 "2014-11-01T01:32:10Z")
I’ve heard Southerners with accents that thick, but not that particular accent. Compare his accent to Jeff Foxworthy’s, who really is from the South - suburban Atlanta, as it happens. Larry the Cable Guy sounds a little more like he’s copying an Ozark or Appalachian accent. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/14 "2014-11-01T02:20:28Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > His accent is faker than fake. > > The only movie Southern accent I’ve ever heard that comes the closest to the real thing is Brad Pitt’s east Tennessee accent in _Inglorious Basterds_. I live in western NC and I hear people that sound like that all the time. I grew up in East Tennessee and I thought it sounded fake. Watch a YouTube video of Tennessee wrasslin’ legend Ron Wright to hear the real deal. Of course I haven’t lived there in over 20 years. When I go back the accents of people I know seem to get heavier than I remember. It seems like it’s still ok to make fun of the way southerners and mountain folk talk. I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum politically from these people, but making fun of accents and dialect ain’t cool, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/15 "2014-11-01T03:01:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I was actually surprised he was from as high up as Alaska Not quite that high up. He’s from **Nebraska** not Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/16 "2014-11-01T10:31:03Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > It seems like it’s still ok to make fun of the way southerners and mountain folk talk. I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum politically from these people, but making fun of accents and dialect ain’t cool, IMO. There are people in my town (Asheville) who are highly offended that the newspaper runs _Snuffy Smith_ and I can’t say I disagree with them. The only group it’s always been okay to make fun of in this country are Appalachian Americans. > [@Kimballkid](#): > > Not quite that high up. He’s from **Nebraska** not Alaska. Psssht. Next you’re going to claim Arkansas and Kansas are different, too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/17 "2014-11-03T14:41:40Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > There are people in my town (Asheville) who are highly offended that the newspaper runs _Snuffy Smith_ and I can’t say I disagree with them. The only group it’s always been okay to make fun of in this country are Appalachian Americans. > Psssht. Next you’re going to claim Arkansas and Kansas are different, too. 😉 They AR different. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/18 "2014-11-03T14:59:35Z")
He sounds like a generic Appalachian hillbilly or hoopie. I grew up surrounded by people who sounded a lot like that and, if I don’t police myself, I sound a lot like that. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/19 "2014-11-03T15:01:04Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Not quite that high up. He’s from **Nebraska** not Alaska. I knew that. :smack: Never had a brainfart rhyme before. > [@SpazCat](#): > > Psssht. Next you’re going to claim Arkansas and Kansas are different, too. 😉 Considering I’m a [del]Kansan[/del]Arkansan, that was perfectly appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140/20 "2014-11-03T15:39:38Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Was it fake? Jan Hooks was from Atlanta - some of us have stereotypical Southern accents, some don’t. I’m sure she amped it up when she was playing a Southerner, as she did for example on _Designing Women_; I’m equally sure she suppressed it while on _Saturday Night Live_. I’ve never heard her speak out of character, so I don’t know what her native accent might be. > > Or did you mean you loved her fake-as-opposed-to-her-real Southern accent? Atlanta is not a good source for Southern accents. You have to go out in the rural areas to hear Southern accents. Furthermore, not all Southern accents are the same. My father’s side of the family comes from rural north Georgia, they have a moutain southern accent. It’s what most people think of when they think “Southern accent.” My mother’s family comes from middle Georgia, they have a pronounced Southern accent too, but it’s entirely different … much softer, not so harsh on the ears. It’s the sort of accent the lead in “Gone With The Wind” probably should have used. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-the-cable-guy-and-southern-accents/703140.md?page=2)