[sparklite2]

As a Texan living in Canada, working full time, and going to York University in the evenings, I stood out among my classmates not by accent alone.

On the evening just before going to take my final exam in economics, my wife asked over dinner how economics was derived. I began a long exposition on the laws of supply and demand, diminishing returns and all that.

When I got to class, the major question on the exam was to explain the derivation of economics. Since it was so fresh in my mind, the words spilled out onto the paper like a gusher.

The next week, the professor handed back our graded exams and said loudly to me in front of the class, “You know, you talk real slow. But you sure do write fast!”

I aced the exam and the course.

[Smokin' Joe]

In grad school, I found most northerners had only been exposed to a Southern Accent through such wonderful venues as The Dukes of Hazard and The Beverly Hillbillies. The effect was that they assumed that all Southerners bore an intellectual resemblance to such caricatures.

And here, I thought all that annoying smugness on the part of the tourists was just because they had prevailed in the War Between the States. (We just smiled, said "Bless your heart.", and took their money.)