Ainsley and her unabashed love of life will be your guides for this random post

[lirazel]

Things I did not need today:

* People arguing that what Willow did wasn't rape. I can handle people forgiving her for it or still liking her despite it--that is, of course, their prerogative--but I can't handle the absolute denial that it was rape. I can't. I shouldn't even get involved in these arguments because it just makes me mad.

* Totally random instances of people hating on people with Southern accents. Like, not light-hearted, the way I talk about people with Boston or New York accents or whatever and how they grate upon my hears with their nasal quality. ;p Serious dismissal of people because of their accent. Classism. It really is, I swear.

When I was a little girl (I'm talking before I started school), I had an accent so thick it sounds almost...Cockney. I mean, ridiculous (but charming! I was a cute little girl!). My parents didn't own a video camera, so we only have one VHS tape of my sister and me growing up that was filmed just whenever one of my aunts or uncles or whoever had theirs around. And there is this one absolutely priceless bit of footage of me at about three, three-and-a-half, doing a puzzle and singing a song and my accent is so thick it's unbelievable. I wish I could figure out how to take that snippet of footage and get it off the DVD and upload it so y'all could see it. You'd laugh hysterically, I am telling you.

But I learned to code-shift really young. Probably as soon as I started school. I was smart, in the gifted program from kindergarten on, and I loved school, worshiped my teachers, took to reading and writing so fast it'd make your head spin. School was my kingdom. And I wanted to thrive there. And so I learned how to turn my accent off. I swear, this is a survival skill for kids, learning to talk like your teachers (one of my favorite song lyrics of all times is from a Don Williams song: "but I was smarter than most and I could choose / I learned to talk like the man on the six o'clock news." Newscaster English. They call it that for a reason).

Because you learn very, very early (and I'm sure this is true, and even more so, for kids with other kinds of accents--like if you speak African American Vernacular English or if you're an immigrant and your accent labels your country of origin) that people who talk like you aren't smart. They aren't successful. They are stupid and backwards and bigoted and probably barefoot and marrying their siblings. This is what pop culture taught me. And like it or not, it's what my teachers taught me when they spoke in their Newscaster English (for instance: three of my favorite professors in college were from small towns in Arkansas. Not one of them talk with the slightest bit of an accent. And two of them, at least, came from working class backgrounds, so I know their parents spoke with them) instead of their natural ones. I don't blame them, of course--they probably wouldn't have gotten hired if they had spoken the way their parents did. But I noticed. Trust me. I noticed.

And look--a Southern accent doesn't necessarily mean bad grammar. I mean, sure, some of us use the word "ain't" a lot (though that word has quite an interesting history--it's old, old, old and was once the contraction of choice for the English upper classes before it fell out of favor). But you don't have to butcher the grammar to have an accent. It's more than that It's (for me) flat vowels (yes, I really do say "tur" instead of "tour" and "ol" instead of "oil" most of the time) and Shibboleths ("fixin' to" and "grocery store" and whatever). And yeah, sometimes saying "got" instead of "have." But I can write in perfect grammar, diagram sentences all day long, and speak without any trace of accent. And when the situation demands it, I do.

But I kind of resent the fact that I have to. Sometime during college I realized that I didn't need to be ashamed of my accent, and I started embracing it again. Flipping the on-switch on again. And it feels really freeing. Even though people mock me (and they do--even people from around here, and also my daddy who, despite his Tennessee father, was raised in Indiana, primarily); most of the time it's good-natured, and when it isn't, I've learned not to care, most of the time. Look: I can have this accent and talk about Foucault or metaphysical poetry or whatever. I can have this accent and be successful. I can have this accent and make straight A's. I can have this accent and do a dang good job at work. I can. I'm learning this and loving it and it feels really good.

But I still get annoyed when I see depictions of Southerners on TV or movies. I am very sensitive to it for two reasons. One is that they are almost always faked and almost always sound bad. And a lot of that badness comes from this belief that there's one kind of Southern accent when--no. Dozens. If not hundreds. Accents vary greatly by location and socio-economic status and education level. I swear, I can tell whether someone is from East, Middle, or West Tennessee just by having a conversation with them. Not to mention that you really can tell how much money they have. I have a middle class Middle Tennessee accent, with tinges of lower class and East Tennessee because of my family background. And my word choices, my syntax, speak of my education.

The other is that the majority of characters in popular culture who speak like me are stupid or poor or horribly bigoted. We joke about the fact that whenever there's a tornado or whatever down here, the big city Yankee news teams come down and find some old woman in her bathrobe and curlers standing outside her double-wide or some guy with a mullet and teeth missing to interview. And hey--my grandparents live in a double-wide. I love a lot of people like that. But that isn't all we are. If you only knew about our culture(s) from TV, you'd think that we're all either Poor White Trash (a phrase I despise because of the classism in it) or the débutante-ball-having, Derby-attending, mint-julep-sipping modern white aristocracy. Uh. Not true. We have hipsters and nerds and geeks and party girls and every other kind of stereotype you can imagine. We really do. Never mind the fact that it isn't just white people down here--we have a ton of diversity, too, and a lot of people who you might not expect to have Southern accents based on the way they look do.

This isn't intended to be all Oppression Olympics-y. It really isn't. I don't think that what I face because of the way I speak can possibly compare to the prevalent racism in this country, for instance. And I am incredibly middle-middle class, so even though this reviling of my accent is class-based, I've still got at on of privilege in that area. But I know, I absolutely know (because I have been told point-blank by more than one person and because I pay attention to the culture around me) that people automatically deduct 20 points from their estimate of my I.Q. as soon as I open my mouth. And as fun as it is to then surprise them by being really, really pretentiously smart from there on out, it also makes me angry and sometimes makes me feel really small.

So when someone like Ainsley Hayes or Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer or the ladies on Designing Women or any character Ben Browder plays (his accent is subtle, but discernible, especially if you're listening for it) comes along--a character who's smart and sharp and a good person--it's really heartening. Maybe it shouldn't make me feel better but it does. And when I go see Rick Bragg speak and remember that that man has written four New York Times bestsellers and he still lives in Alabama or when I see Dolly Parton and remember that she is ridiculously smart and generous and successful and talented, it does give me hope that I can be me and still be who I want to become.

And I hope some day when I am a successful novelist, some girl somewhere hears me speak and hears an accent like hers and realizes that she can be more, too. That she can do whatever the hell she wants to and still say y'all.

Yeah.

I just needed to get that out. I'm gonna go watch cheesy kdramas now, okay?

Comments

[angearia.livejournal.com]

THIS. SO MUCH.

I love you and your Southern accent. Also, I love how you embrace the Southern style of speech--it's not something to be ashamed of. Communication isn't about perfect grammar--it's about getting your point across. And colloquialisms are often incredibly good ways to communicate because they express so many levels of meaning, including the heritage and experience of the speaker.

People who harshly judge Southern accents and present them as stupid? Basically, I think they're idiots.

Language benefits from rules until it doesn't. And breaking the rules isn't done purely out of ignorance but also because one can choose to break the rules.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I love you always! I like the way I speak! It's fun! Language is such fun to play around with, and while there are violations of it that drive me CRAZY (leaving out the Oxford comma, for instance, or people who use "____ and I" in the objective), I do believe wholeheartedly that sticking it in a box and trying to force it to follow a set of random rules is stifling to the glorious chaotic beauty of the thing!

Like...not ending a sentence with a preposition. That is stupid, and it's new, too. It wasn't till the eighteenth or nineteenth century (I forget which) that a bunch of scholars decided that Latin was the perfect language and so English should follow Latin's rules. And they randomly decided that the preposition thing should be a rule even though it never was before. They decided a lot of things like that, and it's silly.

People who harshly judge Southern accents and present them as stupid? Basically, I think they're idiots.

Word.

I absolutely choose to break the rules. And I love it!

[blackfrancine.livejournal.com]

Language benefits from rules until it doesn't. And breaking the rules isn't done purely out of ignorance but also because one can choose to break the rules.

As a copy editor, I want to draw a heart around this and hang it on my refrigerator. This is just so true--and I truly think that anyone who really knows language feels the same way. You get a lot of amateur grammarians trying to fix split infinitives or delete "ain't"--and what they're doing is really not in keeping with the mission that most writers, editors, and copy editors have in mind. What we want is to communicate in the most effective way possible. And, in a copy editor's case, we want the rules to be followed whenever the rules don't impinge on the message or the desired style. But the rules should never be an end in and of themselves. And for a lot of judgey Magees it's just a game to point out how CORRECT they are and how much they KNOW. Really, it stems from insecurity, I think. So I try and have patience with them. But it's still annoying.

[ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry if this makes you pissed off, but when was Willow a rapist? (this isn't an argument. Simply saying that I haven't watched Buffy for a while and I might have blocked that moment out. I didn't even remember Spike's rape attempt until a few people wrote about it and I was like, "OH YEAH." Then again, I watched Buffy back when I didn't even know what rape was.)

You're awesome and it sucks that people subtract points from your intelligence. I'm not even sure what people think of mine (seeing as how it's constantly switching from Californian, Guatemalan, Southern, and British without me even noticing it thanks to all of the traveling I did when I was learning how to talk)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

No, you don't piss me off by asking. Never! When she uses a spell to wipe Tara's memory. Tara was angry at her, pulling away, and we have every reason to think she wouldn't have wanted to have sex with Willow. But then Willow uses the spell, makes her happy, and we see them have sex in OMWF. Basically, I am firmly in the Yes Means Yes camp, wherein someone has to give enthusiastic consent in order for sex to be okay. And Willow definitely violates that.

Aw! Thank you! And I love the idea of you and your switching accents. Awesomeness.

[shamoogity.livejournal.com]

What a great post! Being Canadian, I've met very few Southerners irl, so it's a perspective I haven't heard before. I have definitely noticed that on TV, any sort of Southern accent is used as short-hand for stupid, which is incredibly offensive and goes almost unnoticed.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I basically just needed to get it out of my system, so I'm glad it didn't come across as self-indulgent and silly. :D

I have definitely noticed that on TV, any sort of Southern accent is used as short-hand for stupid, which is incredibly offensive and goes almost unnoticed.

Exactly. And I probably should have gone into this more in the post, but it's definitely tied to classism--the South's economy was pretty much destroyed after the Civil War (I mean, it pretty much needed to be because before that it was based around slavery, which had to be gotten rid of at all costs), and it still hasn't recovered. There are some areas that have been able to thrive (actually, Middle Tennessee is one of them, though the East and West still have a ton of poverty), but all of the poorest states in the union are in the South. We also have the worst education systems and the highest obesity rates and the highest infant mortality rates and things like that. So because we're poorer than the other regions of the country, class enters into it a lot.

Anyways, thanks!

[deird1]

"Grocery store"? Huh? Don't all Americans call it that?


I like your thoughts on accents. I actually code-switch the opposite way: my natural accent is terribly snobby and upperclass, but when I'm trying to be friendly to tradies or lowerclass people, I go into the broadest ocker accent I've got, and end up talking precisely like the person I'm talking to - because I don't want to come across as snobby or up myself...


But I still get annoyed when I see depictions of Southerners on TV or movies. I am very sensitive to it for two reasons.

Same two reasons I get annoyed at fake Aussie accents on tv. Always badly done, and nearly always there to emphasise the Crocodile Dundee-ish aspects of us Simple Outback-Living Kangaroo-Hunting Folks.




We should never ever get into a discussion of Willow. We'd both end up yelling and tearing our hair out.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Nope. Apparently people in other parts of the country say "supermarket." Which I thought was just a TV thing--I had never heard a person say it in real life until I was in college and made a ton of friends from other parts of the country.

Code-switching is endlessly fascinating to me and so necessary just for life. I love hearing about you doing it backwards.

Same two reasons I get annoyed at fake Aussie accents on tv. Always badly done, and nearly always there to emphasise the Crocodile Dundee-ish aspects of us Simple Outback-Living Kangaroo-Hunting Folks.

I can so, so, so see this. I am going to notice this from now on.

Interesting aside: I have found that generally Australians do better fake Southern accents than just about anyone. Ryan Kwanten's on True Blood is a thing of beauty, and I've noticed it in other circumstances I can't quite think of right now. I need to come up with a theory on why that is.

Hey! I really am fine with people loving her! I just don't think the text ever acknowledged her rape of Tara and it bothers me!

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

- Eh, I'm afraid to look at that Willow post. I wish fandom in general would learn to embrace the middle ground sometimes. It's always so into the extremes of "I LOVE THIS CHARACTER AND THEY NEVER DO BAD THINGS SHUT UP" or "THIS CHARACTER IS THE WORST CHARACTER EVER AND EVERYTHING THEY DO IS EVIL". Ya know, it's possible to love a character while admitting that they do some fucked up stuff. For serious.

- Word on the accent thing. I code-switch a lot. Especially as I used to work in a call center, and I had a supervisor tell me to tone my accent done (I hadn't realized I was toning it up).

I found it interesting on the phone as Texan accents were always instantly recognizable to me. Not Southern in general, but Texan (even though, yes, there's a variety of Texan accents). I could always identify the misplaced Texans, and they almost always made a guess that I was in Texas. They could tell even with my toned down accent.

Anyway, my Texan accent is pretty substantial. Moreso than even some of my friends that have lived here their whole lives (I haven't). It gets especially pronounced when I'm angry or upset.

I still need to write some meta on Brenda Leigh Johnson because she is Awesome and should be written about.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

+ It's not that bad, aside from the rape denial. And I totally understand what you mean--I don't actually like Willow after about S3, but she's a very well-constructed character and I think it's totally possible to love her while admitting she did bad things. Like, I would never deny the AR or the fact that Spike can be a giant jackass or whatever, but I still love him. Yes, it's possible.

+ Code-switching fascinates me.

I found it interesting on the phone as Texan accents were always instantly recognizable to me. Not Southern in general, but Texan (even though, yes, there's a variety of Texan accents). I could always identify the misplaced Texans, and they almost always made a guess that I was in Texas. They could tell even with my toned down accent.

This sort of thing is exactly what I'm talking about! I love it!

Mine gets more pronounced when I'm upset or when I'm talking to people who also have accents or anyone in my family. My roommates in Vienna would laugh whenever I called home because it came out so thick!

I WOULD DIE OF HAPPINESS IF YOU DID. Brenda Leigh meta? YES PLEASE!

[hkath.livejournal.com]

As a French Canadian, I had a very similar experience growing up. Everyone here speaks in varying degrees of a very thick dialect, and the degree to which your speech differs from Newscaster French leads people to assume all kinds of things about you - not just about class and intelligence, but in the case of where I live, also political affiliation. And of course, in school you learn to read and write "proper" French, which is like an entirely different language.

Of course, I sort of sidestepped all those issues when I fell in love with the English language at age 4. So while I did have the experiences I described above, they didn't affect me as much as being a voluntary anglophone in a world of people who felt culturally threatened by the English language did. But that's neither here nor there as far as relevancy. :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oooh. I can definitely see the correlation there. I really like hearing about this--thanks for sharing. And it's totally relevant!

That's really kind of beautiful, you falling in love with a language. I am very in love with English, but I'm sure my relationship to it is different than yours--I can't remember falling for it because it was always there.

I adore your icon.

[mollivanders.livejournal.com]

I had to comment on this. You should absolutely embrace your accent and own it. I never really had an accent, coming from California, but I do have a Scottish background and lately, that oxymoron Starburst commercial is really annoying me. You know, the one with the Asian man and his daughter, and the man is in a kilt and holding a bagpipe, speaking with a thick Scottish accent. And this is supposed to be ~weird and ~unnatural. Screw that. Whenever I go to a Scottish festival I'm so proud of my culture because, among other things, we are not particularly racist. And it shows in that we've married into a hundred different cultures - there are Asian Scots, black Scots, Indian Scots and of course white Scots. But we're all Scottish. And we all can do the amazing accent.

And word to the Willow as a rapist post. I read the comments there (including yours) and I agree with you completely. I was in shock at the ending to Tabula Rasa - I couldn't believe my Willow would do that. And S6 did a lot of horrible things to her.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

OMG. I HAVE NEVER SEEN THAT COMMERCIAL AND IT IS A GOOD THING BECAUSE I WOULD PROBABLY KILL SOMEONE IF I DID.

And this is supposed to be ~weird and ~unnatural. Screw that.

SCREW THAT INDEED.

And it shows in that we've married into a hundred different cultures - there are Asian Scots, black Scots, Indian Scots and of course white Scots. But we're all Scottish. And we all can do the amazing accent.

Exactly! We're the same way--the most famous example is Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana. I have some issues with the many himself, but I think it's endlessly adorable that he's (I believe) second generation Indian-American (from Indian, not First Nations) and totally embraces the accent. There are also a lot of Korean and Chinese girls who were adopted by white families throughout the South, and they tend to have accents as well, especially when they're from small towns. THIS IS NOT UNNATURAL. THIS IS THE WAY OF THINGS. GET OVER IT.

Also--I also have a Scottish background! (Among other things!) My first ancestors in America came in 1745. I'm sure you can guess why.

Thank you! I think that her arc in S6 actually makes a lot of sense (the magic addiction nonsense aside), but it will never stop bothering me that that one thing was never dealt with.

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

This was a really interesting read, and I have to say A+ for you for embracing your natural accent. I have to agree with the poster above that as a Canadian I haven't heard that many Southern accents in real life (and I hate even saying "Southern" accent because I know that's a broad generalization). Most of the Southern accents I've heard are on TV and in films, and like you said they're often tied to class and negative stereotypes. It's really unfortunate. I myself have mostly become desensitized to accents because I live in Toronto, Land of Diversity. I hear about 25 different accents every single day. There are some examples of accents being linked to class though - the Newfoundland or "Newfie" accent is often tied with ignorance and lack of education much like the Southern accent is in the states. There's also the francaphone accent(s), which have a whole whack of political and cultural connotations that are very sensitive for a lot of people.

Oh, and I also share your frustration with the way your accent is portrayed in the media on a simple "that sounds terrible" basis. I love How I Met Your Mother but whenever they have Robin speak in a Canadian accent I have to laugh because it sounds terrible. I suppose though that puts me in good company with the rest of the folks around the world whose accents are butchered on a regular basis.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And don't worry about saying Southern like that--I do it, too.

That's actually really cool about being desensitized in that way.

Hey, even I can tell that the Robin thing is ridiculous. I feel your pain.

I suppose though that puts me in good company with the rest of the folks around the world whose accents are butchered on a regular basis.

Exactly!

Your icon is hysterical.

LAURENNNNN

[madcap-shiny.livejournal.com]

I can handle people forgiving her for it or still liking her despite it--that is, of course, their prerogative--but I can't handle the absolute denial that it was rape.

THIS KIND OF THING INFURIATES ME SO HARD. I saw somebody on Tumblr once arguing that Damon compelling Caroline to sleep with him wasn't rape because he didn't force himself on her, she was enjoying it/not fighting him or ever saying "no," etc etc watch Kyrie carefully click out of the window and breathe in and out slowly with her eyes closed for a few moments as ALL HER FAITH IN FANDOM DRAINS OUT OF HER. >:(((

(Of course, this is also someone who hates Bonnie for reasons essentially amounting to "She's a horrible person and Katerina Graham is an ugly bitch who can't act" and who also reblogged a Bonnie-hate macro + captioned it with a sentence starting out with "if I get a bunch of feminist shit for this" so...clearly there are some people who should just always be avoided forever!) (my temptation to reblog her and add a bunch of feminist shit was so great though omg)

As for the main point of this entry! Basically: I love your eloquence and intelligence so hard, and anybody who thinks those things correlate to accents needs to...stop and actually realize what judgmental classist bullshit it is. Just. Ick. Also, I love your eloquence and intelligence so hard. (yesitneedstobesaidtwice.)

Re: LAURENNNNN

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

NO NO NO NO NO! DAMON TOTALLY RAPED CAROLINE. WHAT IS THIS? WHAT IS THIS? I HATE PEOPLE!

"She's a horrible person and Katerina Graham is an ugly bitch who can't act"

WHAT. BONNIE IS AWESOME AND KATERINE IS GORGEOUS AND IS AN AWESOME ACTRESS. WHAT.

I kind of hate this person a lot, though I do not know her.

I love you so much! So, so much! So much! Thank you!

[blackfrancine.livejournal.com]

AHAAAHAHAHAH! I AM SO GLAD YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS THAT I HAD TO SCREAM! Oh, the feelings I have on this subject. They are multitudinous.

Serious dismissal of people because of their accent. Classism. It really is, I swear.

You bet your sweet boots it's classism. And good golly it hacks me off like none other. In a linguistics class, I watched a movie (it may have been part of the Do You Speak American PBS series) in which a woman from Massachusetts talked about a relationship she had with a southern man. They lived in Massachusetts. And she found his accent charming--like Truman Capote--she said. They got engaged. She went to Tennessee (or wherever he was from) to meet his family--and noticed that his accent got deeper, and less refined. Suddenly, the Capote association became a Deliverance association. SHE DUMPED HIM WHEN THEY GOT BACK TO MASSACHUSETTS. She was going to marry him, and she didn't because his accent deepened. Horrible human being. I'm glad her horrible-ness is immortalized on film.

Another story on language/accent discrimination: my boyfriend is Hispanic. His mom, aunts, uncles, grandparents all speak fluent Spanish. But they all got together and decided to NOT teach his generation Spanish because they didn't want them to speak with accents, because they were afraid that it would eventually limit them. So now, all the cousins born in his generation of his family don't speak any Spanish. And it strikes me as so sad. For lots of reasons. But it was all well intentioned--they were afraid of the exact type of prejudice that you're referring to.

And, you're from Tennessee, so I don't know how you feel about Vince Young, or if you even follow football at all--but when Vince Young was the quarterback at UT (and when he was being considered in the NFL draft), he encountered a lot of discrimination because of the way that he speaks--which is with a heavy, southern African American accent. People literally questioned his intelligence on TV because of his accent. (It should be noted that, unlike most 1st-round NFL draft picks, Vince actually went back to school and finished his degree--after he already had a 30 million dollar contract in the bag. It should also be noted that I am a HUGE Vince Young apologist, and will smack down anyone who says a bad word about him.) I always think of Vince when this type of topic comes up, because I got into a knock down drag out fight with a friend of my boyfriend who was talking about how "ignorant" he sounded, and how it reflected poorly on UT. I swear to you, I almost killed a man that day.

And LAST! I will refer you to my go-to bible of language/accent discrimination fiction, which is How Late It Was, How Late, by James Kelman. It's a novel, and the entire book is written in Glaswegian dialect (so lower/working class Scottish dialect). It is a lot to summarize--but Kelman's mission in a way (in all of his work, but in How Late especially) is to democratize high literature. To call attention to the humanity that exists in all classes of people regardless of their job descriptions or jail records or accents. Kelman has said, and I FULLY agree, that language is the bastion of socially acceptable discrimination.

Also (I know I said "last" above, but I lied), DOLLY PARTON!!!!!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH. I flew to Tennessee 2 years ago for my birthday just to go to Dollywood. And I visited a friend. But mainly to go to Dollywood.

And I feel the same way about Tommy Lee Jones's accent. His is the first accent that comes to mind for me when I think of actors with Texas accents. And he's always so sarcastic and shrewd. I love him (even though I hear he's a jerk in real life).

OK. The end! Finally!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I THOUGHT OF YOU WHEN I WROTE IT. YOU KNOW IT!

WHAT???? WHAT KIND OF HORRIBLE PERSON DOES THAT???? I do not understand. (I have seen parts of that documentary, but not all of it. I need to hunt it down.)

But they all got together and decided to NOT teach his generation Spanish because they didn't want them to speak with accents, because they were afraid that it would eventually limit them. So now, all the cousins born in his generation of his family don't speak any Spanish. And it strikes me as so sad. For lots of reasons. But it was all well intentioned--they were afraid of the exact type of prejudice that you're referring to.

Exactly. And this happens all the time. And of course it's worse for them because it's tied to horrible racism (it must be so, so hard to be Latin@ in this country right now), too. But it's a similar dynamic.

I actually am not so much into football, but my family is, so I know the name, of course. I did not know that about them talking about him that way. That pisses me off. He sounds lovely! Very lovely! I will fangirl him, too! And I do not blame you for almost killing someone. Seriously.

Okay, I remember you recommending that book before but now I MUST read it. It will happen and I will report back to you!

SHE IS SO WONDERFUL. She is smart as a whip and generous and kind and genuine and a fantastic song-writer and musician and singer and so dedicated to philanthropy and literacy and basically I fangirl her so hard. Every person I know who's met her (and it's a lot because she's such a presence here) says she's genuinely the nicest person they've ever met. Also, her bluegrass albums are GLORIOUS.

I have actually never been to Dollywood! Though I am constantly in mourning over the Death of Opryland. I will make it out there someday, though. Did you enjoy it? If you're ever back here, I will drive out there to meet you and we will go together.

I LOVE TOMMY LEE JONES. I just adore him. Awesome accent, awesome actor, in so many good movies, great sense of humor. I want him to adopt me, basically. And now I want to watch "The Fugitive."

Are you Texan?

Anyways, I knew you would show up and be awesome in this post. :D

[aerintine.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Montana and now live in Washington - and I say grocery store, or grocer. Do people elsewhere call it something else? That struck me as odd.

I have a dear friend from Oklahoma who lived in my hometown in MT for a few years when I was growing up - I unknowingly adopted one of her phrases (much to my mother's chagrin) which I still use to this day: "You want I should...?" For example, "You want I should set the table now?" or "You want I should pop by the grocer on my way over and pick up a bottle of wine?" I hope people find it charming, and don't think I'm stupid. I guess I never really thought about my speech patterns much before.

I have another friend from Knoxville whose mother may as well speak in a foreign language, for all I can understand her over the phone. I feel like I need a translator sometimes - her accent is THICK. But I must say, her accent sounds nothing like the southern accents I hear on TV.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Apparently people say supermarket? That is what they tell me. Maybe I should have used another example--"buggy" instead of shopping cart or something.

Yes! I love that phrase! It's more Midwestern (Oklahoma, like you said), but I think it's fantastic. I definitely think it's charming.

She may well have an Appalachian accent, which yes, can be incredibly thick. Some of them sound nothing like anything else you'll ever hear because of the way that communities grew in the mountains--in very secluded pockets, really. And you never hear anything like that on TV.

[magisterequitum.livejournal.com]

THIS.

ALL OF THIS FUCKING SHIT HERE.

I cannot tell you how many times as a Southern woman (with blonde hair and petite features) I've been judged as stupid or ignorant or as a backwards redneck hick.

Fuck everyone that judges accents and the horse they road in on.

But I kind of resent the fact that I have to. Sometime during college I realized that I didn't need to be ashamed of my accent, and I started embracing it again. Flipping the on-switch on again. And it feels really freeing. Even though people mock me (and they do--even people from around here, and also my daddy who, despite his Tennessee father, was raised in Indiana, primarily); most of the time it's good-natured, and when it isn't, I've learned not to care, most of the time. Look: I can have this accent and talk about Foucault or metaphysical poetry or whatever. I can have this accent and be successful. I can have this accent and make straight A's. I can have this accent and do a dang good job at work. I can. I'm learning this and loving it and it feels really good.

This. All of this paragraph here is how I feel about my accent. I love it.

Gahhh. I love this post.

And yes, Ainsley Hayes is amazing for many reason but one: because she talks in a true NC accent and is brillant and smart and funny and sexy and just damn awesome.

[magisterequitum.livejournal.com]

I just can get over how much this has made me happy tonight.

Thank you so much for this.

[snickfic]

A) English needs something like "ain't," darn it! "Aren't I pretty?" will never not be awkward.

B) Ditto y'all. I use y'all all the time, and I'm not even from the South (although my mom's Arkansan, so I guess I could use that for cred if I needed it).

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

A) Exactly! Ain't is awesomely useful!

B) As is y'all! Fixing an inherent deficiency in the English language! I always approve of people wanting to use it because it makes so much sense.

[gryfndor-godess.livejournal.com]

I just read the Willow thread, and good gosh is it annoying when people compare Willow and Spike ad say she's superior. She had a soul. He didn't. Her actions were premeditated. His was an act of insane desperation encouraged ('encouraged' is a bad word, but I can't think of a better one) by previously terrible relationship dynamics. Both were awful, and she wasn't any less in the wrong just because it wasn't physical. Grr.

I like your righteous indignation! (although I'm sorry it is inspired in the first place) It makes me examine my own reactions to accents, which is always a good thing. Reactions to southern culture are interestingly contradictory. Frex, in YA fiction, bloggers get really excited when a YA book set in the south comes along (especially fantasies set in the south) and go on at length about how it is an under-appreciated/under-represented culture. But people rarely get excited about southern accents. :/ I really liked True Blood's gung ho, unapologetically southern-ness in the few episodes I watched (although I can't speak to its accuracy).

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

1. FLAMES ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE.

Ha, you know, I was reading your argument/discussion with that poster you were talking to, and I was smirking my head off because the argument that Willow did not rape Tara holds absolutely no water. Anyone who tries to argue that... Observe my raised eyebrows. Willow wiped Tara's mind, and then they had sex later that Tara would not have consented to had her mind not been wiped. There is no grey area here. Willow is a rapist. (It's fine, most Buffyverse characters pretty much are.) Fucking get over it.

/bitch-face. Moral of the story: Fandom is often a pigsty.

2. AINSLEY. ♥

Yeah, nothing really else to add. Carry on with your awesome Southern self.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

I like this post!

I've spent a lot of time in middle TN because two of my exes grew up there/lived there. Both of them code-shifted (I rarely if ever heard one speak with his natural accent, the other switched all the time depending on whose company he was keeping). So I know what you're talking about accent-wise, although it hasn't been my own experience. I am from central FL and my speech sounds either accentless or like I'm from the Midwest to most people. My diction is really slangy (basically, I talk IRL exactly like I write online), and I have had some people criticize my speech for that reason, but *shrug*. I don't think that is an accent thing, though.

We say "grocery store" here, too!

Interestingly, I did not grow up using "y'all" and started using it when I started taking Latin in 9th grade after my teacher pointed out that "y'all" was English's only real equivalent for "you (pl.)" Growing up, I was much more likely to say "you guys," but I've started using exclusively "y'all" because it's gender neutral and friendly. :)

[bloodypoetry.livejournal.com]

I've always found the southern accent to be pretty.

I've kinda struggled with something similar. I grew up on the border of Texas and New Mexico. You know the label for food 'TexMex'? Well, there's an accent too. I fought it, tried to bury it, most of my life into my early 20s, and then Firefly came out and exposed me to it again. Suddenly, I didn't mind so much (I know, stupid reason to stop trying to hide my accent).

But yes, I constantly say 'ya'll' and 'ain't' and 'howdy' and the like. (And 'and the like' heh.) I've been known to say, when back home 'Oh yeah, Gramma will be going to visit her folk Sunday week.' I try not to say yonder, cause I think it's a dumb word.

As for the Spanish part? It fades more when I am not home, but I speak 'Texan' with a Spanish accent. And frequently refer to my children as 'hijo' and 'hija' (though with the 'New Mexican Spanish' it's pronounced like 'heetwo and heeta' where I am from), and throw in other random Spanish words I've picked up along the way, even though I am not totally fluent in Spanish.

The way people speak always fascinates me.

[redsilverchains.livejournal.com]

a) I’d get it if those fans still like her and at the same time know why it was wrong. I’d be interested a meta-fic from a Willow/Tara POV in which the writer is aware of why the memory spell was so horrible and has Willow feel crushing guilt for it after Tara’s death. That’s what I thought should’ve been addressed in “The Killer in Me” (and in all of season 7 really) but…nothing. :/

Under Your Spell? Ugly. Can’t find it romantic at all. Y’know, it would’ve been interesting if Willow was conscience-stricken and refused to sleep with Tara post-spell. But looks like Joss didn’t even give that a thought. Squick.

b) I’m really sorry you’ve had to encounter prejudice like that. :( I’ve always loved the way you speak.

Me, my mom and dad are from different ethnic groups and love the heck out of their own dialects. And they taught me and my siblings to love it too. I grew up with my Filipino vernacular sprinkled with two dialects, and knowing/loving English as well, and it was (still is!) very cool, almost like being multi-lingual. (Even though I’m envious at my older siblings for being so much more fluent than me—I am sooo not a quick study) Of course I’m not saying dialects are the same as accents. Just that, yes, embracing your cultures FTW. : )

Ooh, what kdramas are you watching right now?

[amyxaphania.livejournal.com]

This was an interesting post to read. I've never really thought about the differences in accent across the US. I might sound like an ignorant Brit, but to be honest, I hear very little difference between US accents. I can hear they're not the same but to me, they don't sound widely different.

I've always found accent and dialect interesting, though. Did a module on it at uni, but the focus was British accents, so this from another perspective was good to read.

I'm from Birmingham in the Midlands and we're the area of the UK that people dismiss as 'stupid' because of the accent. I've lost the Brummie accent as I've got older, but you're definitely considered stupid if you speak with the accent. Tell someone where you're from and they pretty much always say, 'Oh, from Buuuuurminghuuuum.' grr. I understand your frustration. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_jems_/]

I agree so much on Willow and everything you've said about her here on in the post you linked.

I'm gonna go watch cheesy kdramas now, okay?
You say that as if there's any other kind. ;-)

And I also want to know what you're watching! Work has curtailed my own Kdrama habit a bit (well, that and the fact that I think I've now seen the cream and I'm less enthusiastic about the rest) but I love to live vicariously.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

America is a melting pot and should be a melting pot, which means celebrating every single accent, color or religious belief. That's exactly what makes us a great country to live in.

And really, could you get any more brilliantly Southern and wonderful than Julia Sugarbaker :

[worldwasasong.livejournal.com]

I love this post. It makes me happy. Go empowerment. Go you and your accent - I say rock it. :)