Why are toothless, in-bred, belly-scratching, belching, semi-literate, foul-smelling subhuman primates ridiculed?
Can’t imagine.
Dunno either, I haven’t been up in Yankeeland in years to find out why.
It’s really kind of sad, in a way. I was born in England, and spent my life living all over the world. I really don’t have much of an accent of any description as a consequence.
I find that if I’m talking with someone who has a pronounced regional accent (as opposed to, say, someone with a foreign accent), that I have to be careful, otherwise I’ll start picking it up unconsciously. This has led at least once to my being accused of making fun of the person. Sigh.
It has also been my experience That those with a deep southern accent come across as unsophisticated, or down right ignorant if their grammar is poor ("can I ‘axe’ you a question?). I don’t know where I picked up this prejudicial bent, but I recognize it for what it is, and suppress it.
I totally agree with madpoet… i do customer support for an ISP and the minute the customer start talking you just think to yourself “god this is gonna be a looooong call!” You pretty much know how to talk to the different kinds of accents tho… you know people that talk this or that way usually need the things explaind one or two times more than other cutomers and you know not to youse any words longer than 2 syllables (sp?) when you talk to people sounding this and that way… Doing phone support you really cant help judging people on their accents… it becomes part of the job really!
Ive pretty much let go of my danish accent too, i havent really travelled much, im just pretty fast to pick up other accents i guess… altho when i first came to the states last year people muistook my acent for being canadian (ARGH!) Now they just think i got an american accent they cant quite place to anywhere specific… but i dont have to spend more than about a week somewhere to pick up traces of their accent… I wish i could pick up a british accent tho… most american girls seem to LOVE that… dunno why tho… i think it just sounds posh!
Because it’s so easy.
All regions have their bias against other regions. When I first moved to Texas many years ago, I caught so much flak for being a “Yankee.” (and a carpetbagger)
Alabama was not known for its’ progessive attitude for many years, i.e. George Wallace. That makes it easy for other areas to think they are superior. The entire deep south tends to hold on to traditions that can be thought as backward. The Confederate flag controversy comes to mind. (Even if that was a different state.
However every region gets painted with the brush of the worst examples. Air head Valley Girls for Calif. Brooklyn thugs for NY. Grundge rockers for Seattle. etc, etc, etc.
Get used to it. You’ll get the flack no matter where you live.
Hey, Skummy, Fuck Ya’ll, ya heah?
Hmmmmph.
I, for one, consider Brooklyn thugs to be the very best that New York State has to offer. Brooklyn thugs date their lineage in this country back to the Mayflower. Brooklyn thugs are not to be taken lightly. Brooklyn thugs are the sort of people who matter.
– Ukulele Ike, Brooklyn Thug
I’ve lived in several Southern states-TN, MS, and GA-and worked with people from all over the country, as well as a 4-year college stint in Maine. I have heard many accents and am the proud owner of a southern one. I learned quickly not to judge people on their accents-because my best friend sounds like the biggest hick- but is about to complete her PhD. Smartest person I know.
On a side note- I find the Alabama accent the most difficult to understand- especially LA. I don’t know why- but even having grown up in the South, I have to ask them to repeat themselves and feel terrible about it.
-Lsura
My voice is terribly monotonous, however I have a slight enough an accent for it to be noticable. My vernacular is also diffrent from that of my peers. I often hear about how the south is evil, the confederacy was all about slavery, and “You come from VIR-GIN-IA, are you a VIRRRRRRGIN?”. I know that the history of the Southeastern US is spotty, but the history of the US as a whole is spotty to. The confederacy wasnt about slavery, that was a big issue, but it wasnt the main issue, it was about states rights. Personaly I prefer one national goverment with states getting some rights then 50 state goverments with a national goverment getting some rights. And the jokes…well…they are just painful.
I’ve spent my entire life (less 2 yrs. I was abroad–not “a broad,” you smartasses 
) in the South. North Carolina and now South Carolina (Myrtle Beach is the redneck riviera no matter what people say).
And I still can’t help thinking that a Southern Accent is beautiful and sexy as hell on a woman, but it sounds…well, undereducated on a man. Bear in mind, one of the most brilliant men I ever met was a geneticist who wore a 10 gallon hat, drove a Ford pickup with a gun rach and monster wheels and spoke in a drawl as thick as molasses. Go fig.
For the most part, though, I think that the SE US is picked on primarily because there’s a backwater mentality evident in the vocal minority. I mean, Jesse Helms, Launch Faircloth, and that 174 year-old senator whatsisname. And lets face it, we still haven’t gotten over the War of Northern Aggression…you Yankees know it as the “Civil” War. Then there are the Southern Baptists. But don’t let’s get into that.
There’s something about the stubborn resistance against progress that gives people an easy target. And TBH, the South can resist progress better than anyone. Of course, therein lies some of the greatest charms…
[Baglady tries to wade through all the hijacks to swim upstream towards Nocturne.]
Nocturne, it’s 'cause the South lost.
LOL 
Sorry Uke.
One of my best friends lives in Flatbush.
I gotta agree with ultress, our heritage and lifestyle just makes everyone else jealous. The sexy accent is just icing on the cake. Eat your hearts out!
Well, I’m proud to be a Southerner too. My accent is something I can live with, and if it’s offensive and uncultured to some, well I ain’t losing any sleep over it.
Having said all that:
**The National Transportation Safety Board recently divulged they had covertly funded a project with the US auto makers for the past five years, whereby the auto makers were installing black boxes in four-wheel drive pickups in an effort to determine, in fatal accidents, the circumstances in the last 15 seconds before the crash.
They were surprised to find in 47 of the 50 states the last words of drivers in 61.2 percent of fatal crashes were, “Oh, Shit!”
Only the states of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama were different. Over 89.3 percent of the final words were, “Hold my beer and watch this!!”**
I guess being from the South also means learning to laugh at yourself every now and then.
I was born in southern Alabama. So southern in fact that I was almost in the Gulf. As an Air Force brat, I travelled around a great deal especially early in life and pretty much lost any strong accent that I might have ever picked up or had. I have always had people intrigued by my accent,'cause basically I don’t have one and people can’t figure out where I’m from. Drives them nuts. Gives me a great telephone voice though. Over the years however, I find that men will jump through fire if a soft-spoken southern women talks to him. I’ve been told that a southern accent in a women sounds more intimate than the conversation really is. So guys, have you ever had a southern women ask you pretty please sugah? If so, how did you respond?
It even works on southerners.
The Yankees are just jealous of Southern culture and accents
when they denigrate the South.
Let’s compare, shall we?
The South has the best writers: Truman Capote, Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Margaret Mitchell, Edgar Allen Poe,and William Faulkner. John Grisham may not be a great writer, but he writes entertaining books.
The North has Hawthorne, Melville, and Stephen King.
The South has the best food: fried catfish and hush puppies,
pecan pie, jambalaya, cornbread, boiled crawfish, ham and collard greens, shoofly pie, shrimp etoufee, and many more wondefully aromatic and tasty dishes.
The North has Yankee pot roast.
Yes, racism has long been a problem in the South, but I recall how gracious the people of Boston were when busing started in the 70’s. :rolleyes:
Yes, the people on Jerry Springer sound uneducated; that’s because they are trailer trash. The South has many varieties of accents, from the softened vowels of Georgia to the exaggerated A’s of Texas. Frankly, I prefer the sound of “y’all” to “youse guys.”
Most important, Southerners are mannered, genteel, and kind, even to benighted Yankees who had the sad misfortune to be born North of the Mason-Dixon line.
It’s just a small part of the Southern sterotype. Perhaps if there hadn’t ever been a war Southerners would not be looked down upon by so many others in this country like they are, even today. I happen to think that many Southerners, even the educated ones, reinforce many of these negative sterotypes through stubborness or unwillingness to give up some very negative “Southern Traditions”. As for the accent, I believe a liguist would not be able to tell you that it is any less gramatically incorrect as say a Canadian (Ay!) or a Brooklyn accent. As for a Southerner using incorrect grammer like “acts” instead of “ask” that is just not true. That isn’t Southern at all, that’s African American, (we won’t debate Ebonics I hope) which sounds quite a bit like a Southern accent because it has it’s roots there.
Needs2know