Southerners confronted by Northerners touring our section are made aware of the difference in their speech from ours. They approach us speaking a form of English known outside the United States as “American.” We of the South also like to consider ourselves American; however, it has long been an accepted belief that we Southerners have an accent. And not just a different accent but a laughable accent. We are hesitant to ask the Northern visitor to repeat; he will laugh at us.
Unlike France, the United States has no Academie Francaise to issue the final word on pronunciation and usage, no court of appeal as to what constitutes good speech.
Who then determines what is accent and what is “correct American?”
You and I know: the Media.
More @ The Abbeville Institute
The Academie Francaise has been a laughingstock for decades, commanding the tide of the Anglaise to stop rising. The Media is also a laughingstock but more recently, as we've seen that they too are telling the American tide to stop rising.
ReplyDeleteI say this as someone who grew up in Maine, but who can't stand the snotty Harvard Men who think that their degree allows them to tell me how to live my life. Even though none of them can shoot worth a damn.
Even though none of them can shoot worth a damn.
DeleteHear! Hear! :)
I grew up in the Peoples' Republic of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Because of my immigrant mother, however, I never developed a Bah-stun accent. (Though for a while I did, thanks to influence, pronounce tomato "to-mah-to" which got me labeled as being from England until I self-corrected.)
Deletetomato = "to-mah-to"
DeleteThen why isn't potato ="po-tah-to" ? :)
Never got quite THAT into her accent.
Delete:)
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