Posted on 08/02/2014 7:32:12 AM PDT by CharlesOConnell
I was born in Tennessee.
And even though Ive lived in New York City for the past decade, I still take my tea sweet, my chicken fried and my biscuits buttered. Im proud to call myself a gun-toting, Bible-clinging Tennessee Volunteer.
So you can imagine my befuddlement when I learned the Oak Ridge National Laboratory wanted to crack down on workers who have Southern accents by holding a Southern Accent Reduction course.
In other words, them government folks want to learn us rednecks how to talk right. Bless their hearts.
(Excerpt) Read more at en.actu.net ...
Pioneering anthropological-musicologist Curt Sachs observed a "crinkle" between a singing angel's eyebrows on a medieval European painting. He attributed it to a nasal vocal technique, generally called melismatic singing, that was lost in the rise of orchestral music, but is still retained in Appalacian and other Sourthern American singing. This was documented by English musicologist Cecil Sharpe, as he discovered a strong survival in America's Appalachian Mountains, of music that was torn from the English people by Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads. When you hear great country singers like Merle Haggard using a very nasal tone of voice, this was actually part of musical fundamentals for fine signing in the middle ages.
The Lil' Abner view of Southern American culture that made a convenient target, and lots of money, for Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1960s, was largely undone by The Waltons.
Star Trek theme composer Alexander Courage deserves a lot of credit for including very sensitive, traditional musical elements in The Waltons.
Screw ‘em, y’all!
Only thing I’d change would be the last word in the essay, from ‘wazoo’ to ‘ass’ otherwise, it’s all good here. ;)
I lived in Hawaii for 2 years. I was the only one on that island without a funny accent.
Individuality and liberty is something the new managers can not stand.
Seriously? I would thicken my drawl on purpose, and I have a thick Southern accent already.
Southerners rarely complain, but there is a HUMONGOUS bias against Southerners in this country. Hollywood leads the way in the stereotyping. The government wants to start down this path, they will get all the resistance they ever wanted.
And you can count on that, ya hear?
Caliph Baraq is actually pretty good at tailoring his diction and cadence to the audience. Those years spent in the ‘hood in Chitown gave him some on the job training.
Y’all come on down and we’ll kick your azzes, intellectually and literally, back across the Mason Dixon line...arrogant basturds.
There is no end to these people’s idiocy, is there?...Its a limitless expanse of stupid.
Years ago, I tried to learn to speak without an accent. It didn't work.
My wife's accent from Middle Tennessee has, quite literally, opened doors for us. When I talk, I watch people deduct IQ points and make Forrest Gump jokes.
Hey`n, t`weren`t nuthin wrong with a mountain twang??
Never had a drawl. Can’t explain why.
(not that there’s anything wrong with a drawl)
I had a work associate who is Boston Irish. "Tic" Boston accent. You needed a chain saw to cut it.
He used to say of a Southern accent - "When I go down there, they all talk funny. When they come up here (Boston), I hear funny!"
The only thing I don't like about a Southern accent is when a Southern woman starts with "Why Bless your heart....". I know I'm in for a broadside!! :-)
If your *working* TV set sits on top of your *broken* TV set...you might be a redneck!
This Colorado boy lived in Nashville for one year and I’ll always proudly proclaim my residency there! You and I both know how blessed you are!
i’m a yankee,now y’all don’t ya heah.
How about accent reduction and speech therapy for blacks? Especially black southerners. Makes as much if not greater sense.
I've lived here all my life and I promise you that you've got it wrong.A "tic" Boston accent is an Irish accent.A true "Boston" accent is,in fact,"paak ya cah in Harvad yaahd" or "wickad pissah".
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