[Pharmboy]

Hmmm...I always thought "fixin' to" was from North Carolina. Oh well...

[cajun-jack]

or fiddin to....people always ask me about my accent...i tell 'em i don't have an accent, i have been talking this way all my life...you are the one that sounds phunny.

[The_Victor]

Why is it always the South whose accent is treated like a foreign language? I'd love to see this sort of effort put into the "yous guys" New England perversion of the language.

[Mercat]

Makes me want to call and talk to my cousin Jane. I grew up in Texas and have something of an accent (or can at least pull it out of my unconsciousness when I need to) but Jane has the total full blown accent with that extra "y" and everything. It's wonderful to listen to but you had better have a lot of time because there's no hurrying the conversation.

[wizardoz]

These students are sort of re-inventing the wheel, linguistically. There was a study done in Chelsea, Michigan back in the 1980s that showed already that those with the strongest accents have the most positive attitude toward their home. Kind of common sense stuff anyway, really. Oh well, gotta write a thesis on something, ah s'pose.

[Nita Nupress]

Texas bump

[skinkinthegrass]

Hmmm...I always thought "fixin' to" was from North Carolina. Oh well...

More Slander from the Easterns...Y'all. :))

[Dundee]

It's really strange that in the US and UK there's a real difference in accent depending on what part of the country you come from but in Australia we haven't got that. You could have three people, one from Sydney, one from Darwin, and the other from Perth (in the US it would be akin to New York, Fort Worth, and LA) and you wouldn't be able to tell who was from where.

[tet68]

The upgliding dipthong

Monica has moved to Texas?

[TexasCajun]

Hey Ralph Blumenthal,

You're attempt to make southerns and Texans look stupid and uneducated is just another hit piece from the Liberal NYTimes.
There is a new south and it is mostly Republican now! Eat your heart out!

Oh! By the way, Did ya'll happen to catch dat Texan having Thanksgiving turkey with our troups in Bagdad! huh?

[tutstar]

ping

[texaslil]

The problem with all this is we're so often misunderstood. Some years ago at the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, (It sits on a slight rise and is approached by a set of rather wide and steep concrete steps),there was a very large group of Japanese business people from Japan who were visiting the exibits there. When they were leaving and had already reached the bottom of the steps, the docent, who was standing at the top finally remembered to say our usual parting words. "Y'all come back now." It was then the entire Japanese delegation turned around and dutifully climbed back up to the top of the steps.

And then there was the new journalist on an east Texas newspaper who was initiated to the newspaper business by being assigned to write obituaries. He reported that a recently departed man had been, "a tar saleman." The family threatened to sue the paper for the ignorance of some upstart Easterner confusing an automobile "tar" salesman with someone who merely sold asphalt.

And lastly, the notion that Austin is the capitol of the United States is probably shared by most Texans. To wit: All directions begin there. No matter what part of Texas one lives in, when traveling, we all say, we're going "up" to Amarillo (that's north of Austin), "out" to El Paso (west) or "down" to Houston (south).

[steplock]

All Americans, even if they're from the South and 'stupid,' should be represented," - Wesley Clark

[Dog Gone]

Next Ms. Aguilar quizzed Mr. Greer on a lexicon of Texas words and phrases. Had he ever heard the expression "y'all?"

They actually asked a 70-year old native Texan this question?

[JennysCool]

Ping-A-Roonie, Y'All...

[NTegraT]

Any other Texas ever heard of "yonder"? When my husband and I lived 4 years in Nashville, besides the obliging y'all and fixin to, his entire office were in stitches to hear him say he lived "out yonder" (pointing to the county to the south). Out yonder sounds like "ow-chonder." Can be used like "Take that thing out yonder."

[IronJack]

I wonder when the Tahms will take such a in-depth look at the gibberish they speak in N'yawk. What are Texans, some kinda lingustic sahd-show that the hah and mahty can come down and stare at? Hope they didn't get nuthin' on they fancy loafers whilst they was a-gawkin' at the rubes.

Maybe it's just me, but this here awticle sounds a trahfle patronizing.

[mylife]

One of my favorite Texas colloquialisms is "Pallet", basically an improvised bed, sleeping bag or blanket on the floor. "Pa, kin we sleep on a pallet 'n front uh the TV tonaht?"

[Servant of the 9]

There never was a 'Texas' accent.

Fourty years ago I could tell where any Texas native I met came from within 50 miles based on their accent. The accents were so different that, for instance, thse with a 'Brazos Bottom' accent from 50 miles Southwest of Houston and those with a 'Galveston' accent from 75 miles to the Northeast of there found it very difficult to understand each other.

All that is left of Texas accents, or Southern accents, is a tiny whisper of what they once were.

That is why Southerners and Texans almost always laugh at movie accents.

So9

[hispanarepublicana]

Can I also just say that I called a Washington D.C. federal agency one day, and I couldn't understand a single thing the young lady of African American descent who answered the phone was saying? Additionally, my luggage was lost as I arrived for some international travel in Asia a few years ago, and I spent a good amount of time dealing with the airline/airport employees there at the airport, and I dealt with them again as my bags were searched for the return trip. When I landed in San Francisco, I was stunned by my observation that the airport/airline employees in Asia spoke better, more clear, English than the ones of various ethnicities at the San Francisco airport!

[SeeRushToldU_So]

Texas ping