My cousin once insulted pretty much all of the South as being a bunch of ignorant rednecks. He was a pretty intelligent guy had a degree from U.M. in eng. and has done a lot of things with his life. When he insulted me and the South in general I reminded him that he was the offspring of a Alabama briar hopper and an Eastern KY hillbilly. I asked him if he figured his IQ had jumped 50 points when he crossed the Ohio River heading north? He had no response to that.
I can turn my Southern accent off easily and speak with a clear Midwestern pronunciation. It’s very interesting and amusing to see how people from different parts of the US respond. Yankee women are the worst. They assume you’re slow and stupid. The Yankee men may make the same assumption, I’m not sure, but they don’t care; they love all that sugar.