I think if I ever met her, we would get along!!! I'd be like "whoa another Asian gal with a Southern 'dialect' Oh ma goodness gracious!!"

lol, geez louise I'm a dork!

I hear ya! I'm also from SW Ohio, and a friend's husband said, "So, did you grow up in the South?" Hmm....

I might talk funny, but he had a Philly accent. :p

one of my brothers is from Alabama why he chose OSU i don't know but the accents were off a bit just going by his. You know i think we came up for the best nickname for him too "Bama" so original.

TN accents
 

Tn has regional accents as well. Someone raised in, for example, Shelbyville (Middle Tennessee) has a VERY different accent from someone raised on the mountains of East Tennessee. Tennessee accents can sound as smooth as a pat of warm, melted butter or as thick as a lump of sourdough bread.

I have always been told that I have a rather strong Tennessee accent; however, recently, many people have been asking me if I am from Canada:eek: .
I just don't understand how I went from having a strong regional Tennessee accent to having what some Tennesseans perceive to be a Canadian accent.
Silver

I lived in Houston for eleven years. I describe the Houston accent as valley-girlish with a little southern twang!! Definitely nothing like the southern dialect where I am now. :D

Check this out:

My mom grew up in Kentucky her whole life, and had a strong accent. But she went to school up in Michigan. During her speech class that she had to take, her teacher told her and a few other students that they would fail the class if they didn't lose their accent and speak correctly!!! :eek: Well, she lost it!! I find that sad.

Personally, I've always wanted a southern accent [ok technically I wanted to be a southern belle. haha] But being from Jersey, I htink that's out of the question. But the funny thing is... I don't have a Jersey accent either. My parents weren't from jersey so it's not like I picked an accent up from them either... so now i'm accent-less.

However, friends from home claim i've picked up a southern twang by going to school in sc.

the "Texas twang"
 

I have a slight Texas "twang"... it's really not *that* noticable, but just knowing I have it annoys me.. hehehe.

I still like it though, and wouldn't ever try to 'lose' it.

I think there is a difference from the south and deep south accent wise. Like I think alot of people in VA sound more Yankee than they do southern but I am sure some one from NY would think the VA folks sound very southern.

I thought everyone would get a kick out of the Soft Drink map. :) The whole South is covered in red (except for South Florida, of course).

http://www.popvssoda.com/countystats/total-county.gif

oh honestly!!

My home county is yellow and I NEVER called it soda - if I had I wouldn't have fought about it with my freshman year bf & his friends (all from Philly).

What constitutes "other"?

Yay for Coke. I am not suprized almost all of Georgia and most the south says Coke. Even in Atlanta that has alot of yankee transplants people will look at you funny if you say pop or soda.

Soft drink?

Re: TN accents
 

Maybe you said "aboot" :rolleyes:

After going to Ole Miss, I can definitely spot a Mississippi accent.
I can usually tell whether someone is from west, middle, or east Tennessee. Westies sound like a TN accent with a bit of Mississippi thrown in for good measure. I grew up/live in Middle so that's a no brainer. And, Easties have an accent of their own! They tend to have a VERY Appalachain sound to their accents.
And, I can usually spot someone from GA.

I would guess that, at least in North Carolina, the OTHER category is probably dominated by "drink".

I mostly say Coke, but if someone says, "Can I have some drink?" I assume cola. No A in front of it though... "a drink" could mean anything, but just "drink" is cola.

I live in Ohio now, but born and started to grow up in NC. All my family is there and I am used to their accents and the accents of other family from Georgia. I can totally tell the difference in accents and also if someone is trying hard to have one. Even in Ohio though there are accents. Those who live close to WV and PA have a PA accent and those who live in the Cleveland area def have a northern accent. You can totally tell the difference in them and thats just in Ohio.

As for the soft drink map thats too cute and sooo true. I always called it coke but when we moved to Ohio the kids laughed at me growing up so now its pop. Everyone in my family in NC it is coke everything, even if it isnt coke lol.

Re: TN accents
 

Being a born and bred East Tennessean *Johnson City* I can attest to that. When I moved to Wyoming/Colorado, my friends here make fun of the way I pronounce words....I'm like Hey, that's they way they talk 'down there'. They don't believe me. It amazes them that people can just pick up an accent and where a person is from. I can pick up Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. It's just how words are pronounced and how fast they talk. *haha* But then again.. I can go to North Eastern Ireland or North Western Scotland and can do pretty well on understanding people since the Southern dialect is Scot-Irish.

ETA: When I moved to Wyoming I called everything Coke. I moved to Worland, Wyoming and they have the Pepsi plant there...man, did those people get pissed that I called it Coke. They would go off...It's not Coke..IT'S PEPSI! Talk about a touchy subject. One would be outcasted for drinking Coke products instead of Pepsi there! :rolleyes:

I can't believe there wasn't a category on the map for "Co-cola." I always heard that growing up in coastal southern areas. The first time someone offered me a "soda" I politely refused, thinking she was offering me some of that stuff in the yellow box that my mother kept in the fridge.

i am from Biloxi and my Southern Accent is pretty strong. I laugh at all those fools in Lexington who claim the South, especially those who have a passion for Shrinky Dinks.

i can defintely tell when some chump Oregonian is trying to be like a FLoridian.

And as far as Reese Witherspoon goes. She dont KEEP it rrrrreeaalllll with the South.

ok. just kidding. i think you all know I am from Cali and that I am weird. please don't kill me. please...:(

I can usually tell NC, Texas and Alabama.

Of course I get crap up here in the Pacific NW and Canada for having a Southern Accent :)

Re: Re: TN accents
 

Interesting... I recently went to Ireland with a girl from New Jersey and she couldn't understand a word that anyone said! They couldn't understand her either. I ended up having to be the translator, since I understood everything perfectly. I'm from the South, so that makes sense, I guess.

Having lived in Alabama for 20 years, I've gotten pretty good at picking out accents. I've more or less always been able to tell the difference in people from North Alabama, Central Alabama, and South Alabama (also known around here as Upper, Middle, and Lower :)).

People from North Alabama seem to have more of a mountain dialect, like Tennessee. To me, South Alabama has the cutest-sounding one. It's kind of like the South Georgia dialect--nice and mellow. And of course, the Central Alabama dialect, where I'm from, generally sounds like the most hick thing you can possibly imagine! That being said, I've learned to curb mine a lot, and I can even make people believe I'm not even from the South when I want to. Listening to people from Central Alabama butcher the English language tends to drive me nuts! Of course, there are those times (like when I've been drinking, when I'm angry, or when I've been around other people who talk that way) that it's painfully obvious where I really come from!

Since I've started working as a Directory Assistance operator, I'm also learning to place other Southern accents pretty well. I've noticed that everything everyone has said about the different states (and areas of the states) is right on target!

Growing up in FL I had no accent...and called everything a "soda" or referred to it by its proper name - ie Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7Up, etc. (perhaps that's what the "other" category is).

Going to school in NC (the western part) and coming back home, my friends made incredible fun of the new accent I (supposedly) picked up.

Moved out here to Charlotte, and there is definitely a different type of southern accent out here. Whenever I head back to the mountains, I can hear the way people talk and realize how different it is now that I'm not around it every day. Friends back home say I have lost most of my accent.

Supposedly there is at least another NC accent floating around this state somewhere...haven't heard it yet.

People here look at me strangely when I offer them a soda. They say, "You mean a coke?" I say, "No, I mean a Pepsi, 'cause that's what I have and it tastes better anyways."

Whenever we go down to Charleston, it's a completely different accent down there. Almost fake sounding....like a forced lilt. I don't know how else to describe it.

I worked at a restaurant in college and waited on a table from Georgia one day. I asked what they wanted to drink. They all said "Coke" simultaneously. I said, "Is Pepsi alright?" ('cause that's what that particular establishment served) and they all shot me this look like they were going to kill me. "We're from Georgia. We don't drink Pepsi." Whatever.

Re: Re: Re: TN accents
 

I learned that from one of my history classes, and I laughed when they said it, but it really is true. :) *laughs*

I lived most of my life in Huntsville, but I can guarantee you that I sound nothing like the mountain dialect. I suppose this comes from moving around a lot when I was little and my Dad having no accent whatsoever (he's from up north). I didn't have a trace of a Southern accent until I moved to Tuscaloosa. I'll probably spend the next 4 years of my life trying to get rid of it. I can't stand the way people talk around here.
I call it a soda because I hate Coca-Cola and I'm so afraid I'll be given one if I ask for "a coke".

Re: Re: TN accents
 

Love the JC/East Tennessee Accent. I think its cool how they can take the word 'No' and stretch it all out to 'Naaooohhww"

Being on the edge of the south I cant differentate Southern Accents, but can definately tell you where someone is from in Texas by the way they talk.

This is a sympton of being from differenet parts of the USA!

When you are From The Middle Part of the Country and Have travelled to others, there is a different accent from each other!

Ya All have different Accents, that are adjugded to be from a particular part of the Country.

Let Me List The States that are only unto them selfs!

Texass, Okie, Arkie, Tenn, in the South.

Now The Damn Yankees, Well they are unto them selves as no other!:D

Mass. for one!

Pak Yo Car! Oh In Havawd Yad!

We in the HEART of The Reall USA,(Ks.-MO.) can try to decipher from some of the rantings an ravings from all of those People Who do not understand the American English Way Of LIFE!:D

lifesaver, can anyone explain the True meaning of the Tn. Flag and what it means?????:D

Nobody speaks with southern accent here in Atlanta :(
Although my co-worker is from Charleston, he does not speak like a southie.

This reminds me of being in grad school at the University of North Texas. I had a professor who was from Rhode Island. He would say something and all us Texans would say "WHUT????" We would also tell him to talk slower - we can't listen that fast. One night he stopped in the middle of his lecture and said "I must be getting better. No one has said "WHUT??" to me all night."

I sound real Texan. That drives directors crazy when I'm in a play that is not based in Texas or the south.

Re: Re: Re: TN accents
 

Hahaha! :D I get teased by friends b/c of words that I do that to! I also get teased when I add a ville onto a word, like Nashville. Out here they say Nashville and in the Tennessee they say it like Nashvul.

I had a roommate from Pennsylvania. We used to laugh at how she said car, and mall, and many other words. *l* Too bad she moved back, I kind of miss the laughs now!:(