I work with the public everyday and have definately noticed this. Especially true of young men from Seattle and Portland.
Just noticed my tagline has the wrong dte...should read Jan 20, 2009...a national day of mourning...fixed
That is among the many things that makes me grateful to have been born racially-mixed. Though my voice is not particularly deep, it is mellifluous (as far as I’ve been told) and I have been asked if I’m from the “South” because it’s more of an ‘urban accent.’
I have unfortunately taken on the accents of some of the Midwestern flatness of both Iowa and Seattle (whose progenitors were from the Upper Midwest in many cases) but I still retain some of that ‘street’ which gives me a more distinct vocal pattern.
I certainly do not sound “surfer dude” “valley boy” or even MTV “accent-less.”
Thank God!