[AXOmom]

We moved from West Virginia to Denver when I was seven. I think I spent the first 1 1/2 years there repeating the words "Pie", "Hi", "Sky" basically anything with a long i sound because that's what everyone asked me to do. I was beginning to think I was a parrot.

When I moved to Oregon at 18, everyone my freshman year of college would ask "Are you from Texas?" apparently believing the only state that produces a southern accent or some semblance of it is Texas....and I didn't even HAVE a southern accent (it's hillbilly, thank you very much and a very worn off hillbilly at that).

Sometimes they would look at me quizzically and ask "Where are you from?" Just to throw them I'd say, "Denver" and wait for them to get confused. Then I'd say, "Well, I'm from the south end of Denver."