Posted on 06/06/2015 2:46:41 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Recently, Hillary Clinton made what was ostensibly an ordinary campaign stop in Columbia, South Carolina. Or, perhaps I should say — as Clinton herself did at one point — South Carolahnah. Clinton, as a few reporters immediately noted, at some points during her speech slipped into the faintest hints of a Southern accent; you can mostly hear it in the softening of the vowel i: retirement became retahrment, I sounded more like Ah.
Here's a short clip from her appearance:
[clip]
Clinton is far from the only politician to be accused of putting on a fake accent in order to pander to the voting public, but she's been in the public eye for so many years at this point that we've had decades to observe the way her accent comes and goes. (Recently, Bloomberg produced an ambitious video that claims to catalogue the former secretary of State's accent evolution over the years — it's fascinating.)
(snip of psychobabble)
In Clinton's case, [Lawrence D. Rosenblum, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside, who has studied speech imitation] acknowledges, "It could be, to some degree, that she is trying to ingratiate herself," he said. "But it could also be she does it because she happens to be a pretty empathetic person. It's not something I would ever really criticize anybody on."
(Excerpt) Read more at nymag.com ...
Probably the day was hot and she had the “slows” ....
“Hillary is the most fakest person who ever lived.”
Also the most authentic phony that eve lived.
Yes, I do, and like the accents it's entirely unconscious dang it! Ah jes cain't hep it.
12 seems to be the splitting point because that’s right around puberty. Our minds are more able to learn things (language, riding a bike, etc) prior to puberty.
If you listen to early Dan Rather, he has an accent that rivals GW Bush. (And Bush caught flak for THAT, being Texan)
So when you watch the news in Chicago, or NYC, or LA, they speak with what I would call NO accent. But I'm from the Midwest, (Ohio) so no biggie.
The same can be said for the BBC.
You'll NEVER hear an anchor speak with say, a Cockney accent. It's ALWAYS the King's English.
Hillary is a total phony.
If I were black, it would insult me to have a candidate speak in "black" dialect.
But apparently it works.
No idea why.
Bill Clinton never changed his Arkansas accent as far as I know.
Hillary is from Chicago. Obviously she doesn't speak with a regional accent.
She'd otherwise speak like a Bob Swerski's superfan.
Da Bears!
I agree with the author on this. I have a mid-Atlantic accent, but have lived in Kansas for 24 years. When dealing with native Kansans, my accent shifts ever so slightly toward the local accent. I have no doubt while I’m on sabbatical in England next year, I’ll have a slightly more British version of the mid-Atlantic accent than usual — I noticed the slight shift the last time I was in the UK, even though I was only there for two weeks. It’s not “faking”, which would indicate a conscious choice to speak in a different way than usual, just something some of us who move in circles with lots of accents (like government or academe or international business) tend to do relexively.
‘__________Our minds are more able to learn things prior to puberty.’
Okay - I’ll go with that.
I think when just about all who move around will subconsciously adopt the regional ‘accent’ or ‘twang.’
However, my spouse never did, nor did I, having lived now in 4 US states.
East to west. Have no idea why - except being over 12 years of age!
I also spent a lot of time in Wisconsin & Chicago and picked up some of that local lingo as well...rather a mixed bag...LOL!
could not agree more. as a Southerner, nothing turns me off more or faster than a fake Southern accent. for a politician, my radar immediately goes up: warning! pandering ahead.
Ummm no
I recently gave a compensated speech in Nashville and I did not speak with a twang.
I am a Yankee and occasionally slip in a y’all but that’s about it.
I’ll never say you’s.
Cruz does not try to effect a Bronx accent in NYC, nor would Perry try to butcher a Boston accent if he were there.
Only Dims can stomach this type of condescension. It's as bad as when Al Gore did his rap delivery to a black audience.
That’s what I’ve heard. So he certainly has one but it’s not as heavy. I still have a bit of mine (I was born there and left when I was 12).
I know what you mean but that shift usually isn’t turned on and off during a campaign stop over - and done primarily in the south (the rubes love it).
Another thing about regional accents - television viewing (and hearing) has “smoothed out” accents and given the population more of a national speaking style.
‘I’ll never say you’s.’
You may be a Yankee, but you have to be from Brooklyn to say ‘youse.’
Not all people born in raised in WI speak like that. I was born and bred in Milwaukee and don’t pronounce things like that. I’ve never understood it myself but there is a local dialect that pronounces things a bit oddly.
For example they turn the “th” blend into a “t or d” sound. So birthday becomes “bertday”. There becomes “dere”. They drop the “g” on words ending in “ing”. Hunting becomes “huntin”.
I don’t know if it denotes a German heritage or???
I have had the same experience. I have lived in the Pac NW and the South. I work very closely with lots of locals, there is even a difference in my NC accent than my WV accent. I could wow them with my perfect college English, but they don’t need wowed, they need comfort.
I had a friend from Michigan who did all the time.
I dated a girl from New Jersey who went to school in Boston, so I went up there to see her. All her friends said 'You're from Georgia? Talk for us!' So I did, and they couldn't understand that I'd pretty much gotten rid of the accent by that time. But then I talked with a really exaggerated southern accent, and they liked it.
Come to think of it, half my platoon on Parris Island was from Georgia and Tennessee, and the other half was from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. So at any time, half the platoon couldn't understand what the other half was saying.
: )
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.