Scholars of Twang Track All the 'Y'Alls' in Texas

NY Times ^ | RALPH BLUMENTHAL

[stands2reason]

"Wooster." How do you pronounce "Worchestershire?"

[stands2reason]

I remember as a lil girl in Lubbock how horrified my parents were at my pronunciation. They teased me for saying "laht" (light) and "raht" (right).

[Centurion2000]

fascinating.

[Centurion2000]

Everyone around the world knows about Texas apparently.

Yes, they do .... even the Russians and especially the Japanese.

I believe that we can thank the success of the TV show "Dallas" for some of it.

[Revolting cat!]

And what does this scholar of twang have to say on the subject, y'all?

[IronJack]

pointy-headed liberal dweebs from elite, snooty Yankee educational/media outfits are the butt of my jokes :)

Yep, the sun's setting on that clique. But they're so arrogant they don't realize it. That's okay. Neither did Louis XVI or Marie Antoinette.

[Maria S]

“duddn't”, "fixin' to”, "pulleybone", haddn”, "y'all”, and "warsh" are all legit for the Texas Panhandle. The rest is baloney. The use of ‘ah’ in place of ‘i’ (ah-deah, for example) is not very common. Also, most native Panhandlers do not say ‘I-ther’ and ‘Nigh-ther’. They still say Either and nEither. We assume you’re either a Yankee or somebody just showing off if you use the long ‘I’.

One expression these ‘researchers’ HAVE missed (and is used quite often) is: “I tell you what.” Four little words that can become a paragraph, a statement of fact, a question, pretty much whatever you want. Examples:

Can you believe how hot it is today? “I tell you WHAT!”
Did you hear about Bush flying to Iraq! “I TELL you what!”
Yep, Bush and Miz Clinton were there at the same time. “I tell you what!”
Did you hear that Leroy may have cancer? “I tell you what…” (said with sadness, of course)

[lqcincinnatus]

These furiners are just jealous because we are an independent nation with a superior language.

[PJ-Comix]

Most interesting Texas accent is from the Del Rio area.

[PJ-Comix]

I'd love to see this sort of effort put into the "yous guys" New England perversion of the language.

Actually that's NY, not NE.

[PJ-Comix]

The CLEAREST American accents are those from Norheast Ohio including Cleveland.

[evilC]

Don't know if you be fixin to read this. In any case I don't know nuddin about this Souddern dialect thing.

Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving.

[Pharmboy]

Nicely done...I learn a LOT from Freepers, I tell you WHAT.

[Pharmboy]

Speaking of Sen. Gramm, he's got one of my favorite lines ever when asked about how many guns he owns:

"I've got more than ah need, but less than ah want."

[Amelia]

Seems a Texas accent tain't that much differnt from a Georgia accent.

[Senator Pardek]

Oh Mayn!

[Khurkris]

"Can you believe how hot it is today? “I tell you WHAT!” Did you hear about Bush flying to Iraq! “I TELL you what!” Yep, Bush and Miz Clinton were there at the same time. “I tell you what!” Did you hear that Leroy may have cancer? “I tell you what…” (said with sadness, of course)"

One of the best examples of this is the TV show 'KING OF THE HILL'. Hank Hill talks real Texas.

[twntaipan]

My wife is a native Texan. She says "fixin' to" all the time, along with lots of other things. She has a "friend" from SoCal that makes fun of her language (as do some of her Yankee acquaintances)--seems you can poke fun of anyone from the South. Drives her crazy.

This has been a great thread==I have not laughed so hard in a long time.