Thanks for the post, I enjoyed it (as a veteran ex-BF of an Alabama gal.)
Florida is like the speed of light. It’s so far south, it’s north again.
How do you get to xyz? Why, you go down this road, turn left where the Smith’s house used to be, cross the crick, and then you make a right turn at the Big Chicken. Keep going for a spell and turn left again. You can’t miss it.
Shouldn’t that be “I’m plumb tuckered out”? 
Momma was from Missouri. She lived most of her life in Southern California, but she always said “vee-hickle” and “battrey.”
~VOW
This very much depends on where you are in Florida.
This. There has to be a “turn ___ where ___used to be” somewhere in the directions.
Where in northeast* TN? I taught at King College in Bristol for a few years back in the '90s.
*Alternatively “upper east Tennessee”
Down in Busan, South Korea, there used to be a shopping center composed of concessionaire; name of the place was Migliori for some odd reason. Well, the place got sold and remodeled into a bit of a real mall, but still the same kind of stuff as before, renamed NC Mall. While still single, when I took my vacations in Busan, I’d stay at a nice motel near Busan Station. One of the bus routes went from Busan Station to the mall. I got a great laugh when I was waiting on a light to cross the street and that bus was waiting for the light to change. The route sign in the front window of the bus changed from Korean to Japanese to Chinese to English. Now, the English one was the best for me: “Busan Stateion ↔ NC Mall (used to be Migliori)”. My first thought was, “Yep, they’re Southern Koreans”.
Up in Daegu, the subway stations have a cool little map on the platforms to let you know how to get out in case of an emergency. One station has your location conveniently shown with a large red dot with a label in English on the dot: “You be here”. Again, yep, they’re Southern Korean.
My late father hated this joke after he retired. (He was from Richmond, Virginia and retired to Florida.)
Question: What do Virginians call New Yorkers?
Answer: Yankees.
Question: What do Virginians call Floridians?
Answer: Yankees.
I think that’s the classic usage. But I’ve got a buddy who’s from a family of rural Texans, and he himself grew up in rural Arkansas.
“Plumb” is used a lot more liberally in his lexicon!
The common adage is, the farther north you go, the farther south you get. This is because snowbirds generally migrated south to tropical South Florida. Southerners remained north, where the climate is subtropical. A southern drawl is common in the panhandle; a NYC dialect is common in Miami Beach.
Someone on the SDMB once said, “A lot of Southerners think that they are prejudiced against Jews, but it’s not true. It’s actually New York accents that they hate.”
Quoted for truth (or, in Southern, ain’t that the damn truth). Erik Singer is a dialect coach who has a series of fascinating YouTube videos on North American accents and dialects My favorite is a three-parter he did, examining the variety of accents heard in the United States and Canada. He noted that the most accent-diverse state in the country is probably North Carolina, with at least three native historical accents - Piedmont, Appalachian, and the Okracoke “Hoi Toider” brogue (which is rare, but not extinct - I heard a ferry operator using it, once). Not only are there multiple widespread accents, like Appalachian, Southern Midland, and what he calls “Piney Woods” - the “redneck” accent of south Georgia, north Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi - but there are pockets of distinct variations scattered around the region, like Cajun, Miami English, Gullah Geechee in the Sea Islands, Creole in Lousiana, Tidewater Virginia’s raised “ou” vowel. And of course variation in African-American and Hispanic-American Englishes, as well.
On the other hand, for reasons that remain obscure, New Orleans has a distinct historical accent that shares a lot of features with New York City accents. Possibly related to both being port cities with similar immigration patterns. When I visited New Orleans in the '80s, I was surprised by the number of “Noo Yawkers” I kept running into.
I know it’s a bit of a breach of etiquette to post a video, but Erik Singer’s video survey of North American English accents is fascinating. This should be cued up to the segment about North Carolina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1KP4ztKK0A
We have a distinct hillbilly/redneck dialect here in the outback of southern Arkansas. I personally put a few words together strangely in sentence construction. I consider it a feature most days.
My brothers, who have the same upbringing as me, say I have a definite Cajun vibe going on as well. I blame that on mid-Dau who lived in Nawlins’ for several years.
Then I shut-up and don’t talk at all. Mysterious, you know.
There’s also Southern Genteel, which Foghorn Leghorn’s speech resembles. Rs that follow A and O sounds aren’t usually pronounced. “Heart” and “Organ” would be pronounced as “Haht” and “Ahgan.”
I can count at least six.
1 - Eastern Piedmont (Raleigh, Greensboro, and surrounding area)
2 - Western Piedmont (Statesville, Hickory, and surrounding area)
3 - Down East
4 - Johnson County
5 - Appalachians
6 - Hoi Toid
I’m sure there are different Appalachian accents, but my ear can’t differentiate.
Bristol. 1987 graduate of King College. One of the few who didn’t support Reagan.
I can’t confirm this statement about Texans, but depending on which PART of Virginia you’re in… DC suburbs are NOT “southern” in any way except going back to 1861.
I’ve heard it expressed that when you’re traveling on I-95, Baltimore is the first Northern city you hit, Richmond the first Southern one, and in between is the weird hybrid agglomeration of Washington.