[poinq]

I'm from New Orleans there are three large groups with distinct accents.

Cajun: thats the one that sounds harsh and dirty. Generally from the small towns outside the city or lower working class neighborhoods.

Southern, very pretty southern accent from the city mostly white upper middle class. This is the country club and Krewe set. New comers never get it right. Nicer sounding than other southern accents, Scarlet O'Hara type.

Black intercity New Orleans: doesn't sound anything like northern urban accents. Its a very old version of slave and southern. Intercity New Orleans black tend to be very old families. Most of them have had families in New Orleans for 150 years.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Long family histories in some of those black families. They were often literate and doing well when my momma's daddy's people couldn't write their names.
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