[Pharmboy]

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

[Khurkris]

>"Y'all ain't from hair ayr ya?"

An anecdote-

During the late 80's I ran a Gov't office in several cities in South Texas. One gentleman working with me was born in Pennsylvania, but raised in England and Austrailia. He was a 'public school' man. (Means he went to private schools rather than public ones). His British accent was very thick and proper, but he was not a tight a**. Very funny guy actually.

We had to do a lot of investigation by telephone and this led to some humorous incidents. The most common one being, his calling and introducing himself followed by a very long pause. Then he invariably would respond with..."No...I am not from here". Eventually he would add that he was from Pennsylvania, that seemed to satisfy most folks.

[usmom]

My mother and her side of the family are from Texas. Try as she might, she can't stop calling a pen a pin. My dad is from southern Illinois, and his relatives all say warsh instead of wash.

[Diddle E. Squat]

So if you love Texas, they say, be fixin' to say "naht" for "night," "rahd" for "ride" and "raht" for "right."

Total BS.

[mikegi]

My father's side of the family is Texan from way back (late 1700's and early 1800's). Dad was born in Boerne, TX and grew up in Marble Falls. Mom's family is southern Georgia (Valdosta).

Here are a couple of my observations about accents in the US:

1) Absolutely the best woman's accent is the high class south Alabama/Georgia one. It's like getting an audible massage when you listen to it. So soft and sultry.

2) Absolutely the worst woman's accent is Boston. All I can remember is hearing is "my f---ing legs" in that nasty tone. Blech!

3) For me, growing up in Austin and SA, that good ol' Texas twang always carries with it a strange combination of strength, confidence, and friendliness.

When I stayed in England many years ago I was always introduced by my host as being from Texas as opposed to the United States. Everyone around the world knows about Texas apparently.

[EagleMamaMT]

Read later.

[Liberal Classic]

Funny, I've never thought of it but I do say 'pin' for 'pen' with a short e. I don't have much of an accent, but I do use yall. When I was a kid I was accused of talking like a yankee because I talked so fast.

[DallasMike]

Why city Texans, more than country folk, should disdain to write with a "pin" is not clear, although it seems that some pronunciations carry a stigma of unsophistication while others do not.

My first college roommate -- a truly great guy who was originally from New Jersey -- made it clear to me that his name was "Ken" and not "Kin."

[Allegra]

We Texans don't have any accents.

It's all y'all other people who talk funny.

[Old Professer]

Afterward, Ms. Aguilar and Ms. Earheardt said that Mr. Greer, though white, employed some noticeable African-American and Deep South speech patterns. There were also Spanish influences, common in Texas, where Spanish was widely spoken for nearly a hundred years before English.

Ah mahta knowed, they's fixin' ta blame this on tha thievin' whaht folk.

[GatekeeperBookman]

There was, some 10 or 20 years ago a Professor Tarply I think-at the then East Texas State Teacher's College-Commerce-who was expert in the details of these matters. He compiled great lists of defintitions & the manner of their pronunciation...

I could construct a map of perhaps six 'dialecticly' distinct regions within the state. A native, born & reared in a given region, preferrably over 60, would deliver very nice examples of unique dialect.

One of W's problems during the campaign was his pecular phrasing of any argument or idea ( GRAMMER, SYNTAX AND HIS ENTIRE THOUGHT PROCESS-though his manner of speaking is more art than science-more an affectation than a system of logic )-The Cowboy Way-a manner of inverse logic which led the uninformed to presume his brain was inserted backwards-they were entirely mistaken.

"The War does indeed have many facets; http://aztlan.net/ Look at your enemy."

[FreedomCalls]

And North Carolina keeps the "r" (Scottish style) saying "cheer" for chair whereas north of them in Virginia and south of them in Georgia and South Carolina they say "chay-uh" instead dropping the "r" (English style). The North Carolina accent has some peculiarities possibly due to it being settled by Scotch-Irish (who pronounce "r" sounds) with the areas around it being more likely to have been settled by Englishmen (who usually drop "r" sounds). Tomatoes become "tuhmaters" or even shorted "maters" for real old rural folk. Potatoes become "puhtaters" or "taters" (everyone knows "Tater-Tots"). Unfortunately the word "Negro" mutated that way as well into the word which one cannot say.

[Carolinamom]

Re #1 The ancestors of a lot of Texans came from North Carolina...via the Daniel Boone trail.

[Centurion2000]

fascinating.

[Revolting cat!]

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

[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]

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.

[Amelia]

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