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I get this a lot.
Mar. 4th, 2008 12:41 pm"Where you from originally?"
"Georgia."
"Then what's up with the accent?"
"Um.... My dad's from Ohio?"
"Huh. Cause it's not straight-out Northern, but it sure ain't Southern."
The truth is, my accent (or lack thereof) puzzles me, too. I've lived south of the Mason-Dixon line all my life. My mother is one of those people - you know, victims of the War of Northern Aggression. I grew up eating barbecued hash (which I always hated, by the by), and having black-eyed peas and hog jowl (pronounce it like the name, "Joel") for breakfast on New Year's Day, and fishing out of the pond with a cane pole. I am a firm believer in the validity of "y'all" as a valid plural reference for "you all." ("You guys" is plainly ridiculous, because - seriously - what if they're not all guys?) I get Blue Collar comedy. I should be Southern, through and through.
But somehow, I didn't pick up the accent. Go fig.
Aside from my Northern papa's influence, I suspect a lot of this has to do with my early realization that few people from outside the region can understand Southern people talk. I know this because I routinely translated for my mother and grandmother, explaining that my mom's name was not "Elena," but Eleanor, and that when my grandmother referred to "chillun", she meant all those young folks in the house under the age of fourteen.
"Georgia."
"Then what's up with the accent?"
"Um.... My dad's from Ohio?"
"Huh. Cause it's not straight-out Northern, but it sure ain't Southern."
The truth is, my accent (or lack thereof) puzzles me, too. I've lived south of the Mason-Dixon line all my life. My mother is one of those people - you know, victims of the War of Northern Aggression. I grew up eating barbecued hash (which I always hated, by the by), and having black-eyed peas and hog jowl (pronounce it like the name, "Joel") for breakfast on New Year's Day, and fishing out of the pond with a cane pole. I am a firm believer in the validity of "y'all" as a valid plural reference for "you all." ("You guys" is plainly ridiculous, because - seriously - what if they're not all guys?) I get Blue Collar comedy. I should be Southern, through and through.
But somehow, I didn't pick up the accent. Go fig.
Aside from my Northern papa's influence, I suspect a lot of this has to do with my early realization that few people from outside the region can understand Southern people talk. I know this because I routinely translated for my mother and grandmother, explaining that my mom's name was not "Elena," but Eleanor, and that when my grandmother referred to "chillun", she meant all those young folks in the house under the age of fourteen.
