# Why do people in the US say people in the south talk slow ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345 "2012-12-28T03:54:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/21 "2012-12-30T03:54:23Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I don’t believe it’s a speech processing problem, that implies some alternate functionality in the brains of people based on the accent they have, which I do not believe is supported by science. Any healthy human’s brain is going to have a similar ability to process speech as any other human. Not based on the accent _they_ have, but based on what they’re used to hearing. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but I find the idea at least plausible, and intriguing, that some people can listen faster than others, and that this is at least partly due to the speed at which they are used to listening (or the speed at which they grew up listening). After all, different people do _read_ at different speeds. If people differ in their ability to process written speech, why not in their ability to process vocal speech? ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/22 "2012-12-31T00:45:42Z")
I still don’t know how everyone here keeps going on and on how people in the south talk slow when I check out the youtube clips and they not that much different in speed than Hollywood or speed at people talk in Canada or the UK. I think it people in the north or north east that are not talking normal. Even this speech coach on job for work place on how to talk in the proper way for a high skilled job does not talk fast like the TV broadcasters I posted here. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LdhJxAmUu3Y/hqdefault.jpg "Uptalk and Public Speaking: Does Uptalk Make You Upchuck?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdhJxAmUu3Y) ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/23 "2012-12-31T05:19:30Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > It’s the drawl. In a lot of the South, people speak with a drawl, which lengthens out the words. That makes it seem like they’re speaking slower. Yep. There are places here where the word “wash” almost turns into a three syllable word. 🙂 Even the non-southern-specific sentence of “Jeet?” can turn into multiple syllables. It’s certainly not universal, anymore than everyone in the Dakotas/Minnesota sounding like they were in the movie Fargo, but it exists. You’re far more likely to hear that drawl in rural areas than cities. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/24 "2012-12-31T05:33:51Z")
The cast of “Rocket City Rednecks” can be pretty fast-talking, and they’re all residents of Huntsville, Alabama (three of the five are from one family. The youngest is the nephew of one castmate and the grandson of another). ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/25 "2012-12-31T14:48:59Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Because southerners DO speak more slowly, on the whole. I’ve been taking phone calls from people all over the country for 40 hours a week for the past 4+ years, my job is my cite. FYI, people who speak slowly (including, but not limited to, most southerners) also process speech at a slower rate, especially compared to people in the northeast. I’m a midwesterner, and before I learned to adjust my speech rate to match my caller’s, southerners were constantly asking me to slow down. The only people I _ever_ have to ask to slow down are New Yorkers, New Jerseyites, and Massachusians (or however you say that). Interestingly (to me anyhow) I live in Massachusetts (originally upstate NY) and have some friends from Tennessee. They’re great folk and _very_ smart but I swear I could go and get a cup of coffee in between their individual words. I haven’t met any slower-talkers native to MA. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/26 "2012-12-31T14:58:23Z")
I have to share this; [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ktYwuw9Mnjo/hqdefault.jpg "Bob & Ray - The slow talker") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktYwuw9Mnjo) Bob & Ray’s “The Slow Talkers of America” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/27 "2012-12-31T16:09:41Z")
My Dad is from New Hampshire (USA) my Mom is from Georgia (USA) and I can definitely confirm that she talks much more slowly than he does. Even for me, waiting for her relatives to finish a sentence is absolutely agonizing, and I’ve spent most of my life in Virginia. My Dad’s NH relatives all talk very quickly, and I sometimes see them waiting for me to hurry up and finish. But they’ve got nothing on the County Down folks back in Ireland; great googly moogly those folks can speed talk to beat any auctioneer I ever heard. Once those cousins get on a roll you’d swear there was some sort of time warp between the two of you. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@The\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Face)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/28 "2012-12-31T16:42:29Z")
[http://www.youtube.com/user/tailgate32?feature=watch](http://www.youtube.com/user/tailgate32?feature=watch) OP…here are some good examples from across the US…skip the first minute or so of each video(intro) and listen to the variety at the “tailgating” scenes in the second half closely. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/29 "2012-12-31T17:10:34Z")
Having moved to eastern Tennessee, I have noticed that most people speak at the same speed as the north, many with no real accent, but some…just a few, make you wonder if they’ve had a stroke or ate lead paint chips as a child. These are intelligent people, but their speech skills are something to be heard. We just hired a new person as the director of our department. When he speaks at meetings, you can see people almost falling off their chairs in anticipation of him finishing a thought or sentence (and these people are from here). It would sound something like this, spoken very slowly: “Let me tell you what I think…and correct me if I’m wrong…from what I know…and this is just my opinion…is that most people…and again, I’m just thinking out loud…but most people feel…and I guess I do to…that people in the south…and I might be wrong…tend to speak slower…now I’m not necessarily saying this…but slower than …” and by this point you want to hit them with a hammer. In non-professional (the bar) situations, I’ve jokingly told people that I know I’m a Yankee and all, but I could’ve expressed your 3 minute thought in like 7 seconds. Again, this is not the norm, but it’s a speech pattern I did not encounter up north. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/30 "2012-12-31T17:53:38Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Having moved to eastern Tennessee, I have noticed that most people speak at the same speed as the north, many with no real accent, but some…just a few, make you wonder if they’ve had a stroke or ate lead paint chips as a child. These are intelligent people, but their speech skills are something to be heard. We just hired a new person as the director of our department. When he speaks at meetings, you can see people almost falling off their chairs in anticipation of him finishing a thought or sentence (and these people are from here). It would sound something like this, spoken very slowly: > “Let me tell you what I think…and correct me if I’m wrong…from what I know…and this is just my opinion…is that most people…and again, I’m just thinking out loud…but most people feel…and I guess I do to…that people in the south…and I might be wrong…tend to speak slower…now I’m not necessarily saying this…but slower than …” and by this point you want to hit them with a hammer. > > In non-professional (the bar) situations, I’ve jokingly told people that I know I’m a Yankee and all, but I could’ve expressed your 3 minute thought in like 7 seconds. Again, this is not the norm, but it’s a speech pattern I did not encounter up north. This sounds a lot like what I was referencing in [my first post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15840174&postcount=10), except that in the recording I heard it was painful waiting _word-to-word_, not phrase-to-phrase. The woman calling the FBI wasn’t reporting a crime, she was just asking some very simple question for informational purposes, and IIRC it took her almost two minutes to ask it. Anybody I know could have asked the same questions, with the same wording, in less than 30 seconds. IIRC (it’s been several years) the woman was from Mississippi. Maybe this extreme slow-talking is more of a _deep_ South, backwoods thing, rather than something you’d hear in a larger town or in the media. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/31 "2012-12-31T18:21:24Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > This sounds a lot like what I was referencing in [my first post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15840174&postcount=10), except that in the recording I heard it was painful waiting _word-to-word_, not phrase-to-phrase. The woman calling the FBI wasn’t reporting a crime, she was just asking some very simple question for informational purposes, and IIRC it took her almost two minutes to ask it. Anybody I know could have asked the same questions, with the same wording, in less than 30 seconds. IIRC (it’s been several years) the woman was from Mississippi. > > Maybe this extreme slow-talking is more of a _deep_ South, backwoods thing, rather than something you’d hear in a larger town or in the media. This is pausing between words, with extreme pausing between sentences, along with a whole lot of filler phrases. I’ve met a few people whom you would swear are related by the way they speak. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/32 "2012-12-31T23:14:19Z")
Mone of these people below talk fast like the TV broadcasters posted above or \*\*Tailgate32 EP23: New England \*\* posted by the poster above and none of them talk slow. Appalachian English [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/03iwAY4KlIU/hqdefault.jpg "Appalachian English") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03iwAY4KlIU) The Accent TAG! (Toronto-Canada) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hv2SI0aynEY/hqdefault.jpg "The Accent TAG! (Toronto-Canada)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv2SI0aynEY) Girl from UK speaking UK accent [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2qlUQuS3sM) ---
**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:** [January 1, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/33 "2013-01-01T04:02:21Z")
It seems like you guys constantly ignore sweat209’s questions in their threads. It’s kinda getting annoying. Do we want to fight ignorance or not? The answer, **sweat209** , is that not all Southerners talk slow. The idea is based on a stereotype. While stereotypes always have some truth to them, that is not the whole story. Furthermore, as stated above, the Southern accent has a “drawl,” in which vowels have multiple sounds to them. Having more sounds makes them sound slower to a native speaker. Since you are not a native speaker, it doesn’t sound slow to you. And, as you said, some people really far north do speak rather fast, and so, to them, Southerners sound slow. News broadcasts are designed to be understood by everyone in the country, so they speak slower than these fast-speakingNortherners, but faster than the slowest-speaking Southerners. Finally, as non-native speaker, your brain has to go through extra work to translate the language, so slower speech doesn’t seem as slow to you as it does to others. So you probably don’t notice small changes in speed, only the big ones. And the difference is often quite subtle. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/34 "2013-01-01T05:28:37Z")
> **[Do Southerners Speak Slowly?](http://dialectblog.com/2011/10/22/do-southerners-speak-slowly/)** > > One of the most commonly held assumptions about American accents is one with arguably negative connotations.  That would be the pernicious rumor that Southern people speak ‘slower’ than… ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/35 "2013-01-02T22:00:41Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It seems like you guys constantly ignore sweat209’s questions in their threads. It’s kinda getting annoying. Do we want to fight ignorance or not? > > The answer, **sweat209** , is that not all Southerners talk slow. The idea is based on a stereotype. While stereotypes always have some truth to them, that is not the whole story. > > Furthermore, as stated above, the Southern accent has a “drawl,” in which vowels have multiple sounds to them. Having more sounds makes them sound slower to a native speaker. Since you are not a native speaker, it doesn’t sound slow to you. > > And, as you said, some people really far north do speak rather fast, and so, to them, Southerners sound slow. News broadcasts are designed to be understood by everyone in the country, so they speak slower than these fast-speakingNortherners, but faster than the slowest-speaking Southerners. > > Finally, as non-native speaker, your brain has to go through extra work to translate the language, so slower speech doesn’t seem as slow to you as it does to others. So you probably don’t notice small changes in speed, only the big ones. And the difference is often quite subtle. Well I don’t know where to even start with this reply:o I’m going to say people in New England ( Tailgate32 EP23: New England ) that talk really fast and the TV broadcaster that I have posted above talk really fast But most all posters here in this thread I take it they live in New England and so to you that does sound normal speed.To my ears we talk the speed closer to the south and that normal speed and New England talk really fast . I have posted many clips here of people south US talking and to me that does not seem slow. To me this closest thing I can find to slow talking. May not be so much she is slow :o but she has hard time getting her thoughts together that come across slow https://www.youtube.com/embed/BfTxHwwmcpc?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque She has more slow way of talking https://www.youtube.com/embed/OD1PEe1x75o?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque Has for other stuff I will have to get back to you on that , **I have to get back to work now.** ---
**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:** [January 6, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/36 "2013-01-06T01:59:48Z")
Do you have any clips of people from where you live talking? It’d be interesting to compare. I’m not sure what else to answer you at the moment, other than to say that I agree that both of these people talk slow. The Iowa one is much slower sounding than the Texas one. And I’m from Arkansas, which is just above what is usually called “the South,” although our accent sounds rather Southern to a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/37 "2013-01-06T14:49:27Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Because southerners DO speak more slowly, on the whole. I’ve been taking phone calls from people all over the country for 40 hours a week for the past 4+ years, my job is my cite. FYI, people who speak slowly (including, but not limited to, most southerners) also process speech at a slower rate, especially compared to people in the northeast. I’m a midwesterner, and before I learned to adjust my speech rate to match my caller’s, southerners were constantly asking me to slow down. The only people I _ever_ have to ask to slow down are New Yorkers, New Jerseyites, and Massachusians (or however you say that). It’s not that we’re slower prosessors; we’re trying to think of a nice way to reply. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/38 "2013-01-06T17:32:39Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > But most all posters here in this thread I take it they live in New England and so to you that does sound normal speed I’m a New Englander and have been since birth. Serious counter-question, how do you suppose it could it **not** sound normal to us? Normal is defined to each of us as what we’re most used to, so people in various regions believe how they speak is normal and how others speak is different. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/39 "2013-01-06T19:54:16Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > It’s not that we’re slower prosessors; we’re trying to think of a nice way to reply. Two young, recently-married Southern belles are sitting on the front porch, sharing a pitcher of sweet tea. The young woman whose porch it is extends her left hand to display her gorgeous diamond ring and says, “My husband bought me this _lovely_ diamond ring!” Her friend replies, “That’s nice.” The first belle then gestures toward the new Cadillac parked in the driveway. “And my dear, dear husband just bought me that beautiful new Cadillac, too!” The second belle responds, “That’s nice.” “Oh,” says the first, “and remind me to show you my huge walk-in closet and all the _lovely_ gowns he’s bought for me!” “That’s nice,” says the second woman once again. “But enough about me,” says the first belle. “Has your husband done anything so wonderful for you?” “Well,” says the second belle, “He sent me to charm school.” “Oh, _really_? And what did you learn at charm school?” “I learned to say ‘that’s nice’ instead of ‘fuck you’.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345/40 "2013-01-06T20:17:48Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > It’s not that we’re slower prosessors; we’re trying to think of a nice way to reply. Are you trying to connect the slow talking with the patented southern fake-nice? well bless your heart! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-in-the-us-say-people-in-the-south-talk-slow/645345.md?page=3)