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I went to high school and college in the south, and my high school U.S. history teacher once exclaimed that a southern accent is essentially an English accent slowed down.
There are both southern U.S. and English accents that can sound grating to me.
I went to high school and college in the south, and my high school U.S. history teacher once exclaimed that a southern accent is essentially an English accent slowed down.
There are both southern U.S. and English accents that can sound grating to me.
The fact that your teach told you that don't make it so. US southern and any variant of UK English I can think of don't sound alike (I'm originally from London).
The fact that your teach told you that don't make it so. US southern and any variant of UK English I can think of don't sound alike (I'm originally from London).
I didn't say it made it so. It was just a lighthearted statement.
The southern accent that one can find in North and South Carolina and parts of Georgia (especially the Tidewater regions) has strong influence from some English accents. I thought this was common knowledge but apparently not.
Just curious what British people in general think about the way people talk in the Southern U.S.?
do they think it's similar to the basic British accent in anyway?
do they like it? or think it sounds stupid? and backwards?
(I especially would like to know what people from the south-west/bristol/somerset think and from the Borders/Northumberland think?)
supposedly the Southern accent was heavily influenced by these areas of England and Lowland Scotland also, in historical times.
Which Southern accent are you talking about? The Southern Tidewater accent (non-rhotic, dropping the "R") is VERY different from the Southern Piedmont or Appalachian accents (the "R" is pronounced, but the long "I" is drawn out).
For that matter, the Tidewater accent is fading away, due to the influence of broadcasting, mass media, and country music singers who uniformly adopt the Appalachian accent. For example, one would never guess that TV political satirist Steven Colbert was raised in Charleston, SC.
I'd say it sounds interesting. Whether "good" or "bad" I find it depends on the voice. Some people's voices make it sound quite pleasant. Some sound too twangy. It isn't good on a chick with a high pitched voice.
The Tidewater South accent is the most pleasant accents to my ears, but I'm American. The British think that we all speak like rednecks and the south is triple distilled redneck to them. Their loss.
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