I dislike the Texan accent (Houston, Dallas: spring break, quality of life, to live)

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by TheFarmer'sDaughter

I like a good Texas drawl. Reminds me of cowboys
I really think Midwesterners got the short end of the stick when it comes to accents. I don't sound like anything special until I say "wash" which comes out with an "r" in it.

Interesting observation! In my own experience/outlook, Midwesterners (that is, those north of Oklahoma, west of the Rocky Moutain states and north of the Ohio River) get a "pass", so to speak (pun intended! LOL

That is, the "Midwestern accent" is considered no accent at all. Bland "American". The one that many colleges/universities in the South (including Texas), offer as a course in the mass communications department, to try and teach the students to duplicate. Rationale being, that a "Southern accent" will be a hinderance in the national job market...

I might have mentioned it in this thread (if not, then I know I did in another), but I once had a candid conversation with a "voice and diction" professor.

She was a native Texan and frankly said something like "I don't like it any more than you do, but fact is, a Texas/Southern accent will work well if you want to stay here and be a used-car salesman. But if you want to go to the top in mass com? Then you better lose the accent. It brands us as 'dumb'"

I have a very good friend/distant cousin in Mississippi by way of norther Alabama, who told me she was up north once, and her percieved IQ plumeted by 20 points once she opened her mouth! This gal has an IQ off the radar screen, as it is. BUT...the yankees looked at her like she had dropped in from another planet...even condecendingly asked if she was from Texas! Geez....!

[neilthedeal]

I run a large auto dealership, and bought a vehicle at a NY dealer auto auction(online). It will be the last time I hope I ever have to speak to a Yankee again. Yankees are all "know it alls", that you can't tell anything to. The vehicle was supposed to be here 3 weeks ago, but nobody in NY has the intelligence to read a map. So, I lost the $600 I paid to ship it, and had to send my own driver to get it. I guess I just assume everyone is an honest, and hard worker, like we are in the South. I buy thousands of vehicles a year, but they are all from the South, and I always have them here in 48 hours.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by neilthedeal

I run a large auto dealership, and bought a vehicle at a NY dealer auto auction(online). It will be the last time I hope I ever have to speak to a Yankee again. Yankees are all "know it alls", that you can't tell anything to. The vehicle was supposed to be here 3 weeks ago, but nobody in NY has the intelligence to read a map. So, I lost the $600 I paid to ship it, and had to send my own driver to get it. I guess I just assume everyone is an honest, and hard worker, like we are in the South. I buy thousands of vehicles a year, but they are all from the South, and I always have them here in 48 hours.

This reminds me of another good story (once one passes a certain age, something always reminds one of "another good story"..by golly).

Anyway, it was back in my retail produce business days, and there was this gal from the New York City area, who worked in the deli part. She was not a bad person, but just had recently relocated to Texas and had that "yankee attitude" that prompted her to treat all us natives like a bunch of backwater rubes.

Well, one time we were all taking a break in the deli area, sitting aroud a table, and she popped off. Said something like: "I swear, if I wanted to, I could 'con' people down here so easy...you guys are so gullible in the South..."

I had had it with her. But let me break here just a moment. She (like many yankees) honestly didn't realize (as she told me later) that her comments were tacky and rude...and insulting... by our definitions. She just saw it as admirable frankness, according to her own value system of where she came from.

Anyway, I -- quite riled, I admit -- replied as follows: "Honey, (she looked startled when used that affectionism) what some of you northerners may think of as 'gullible" is just that we down here trust in one another and a word is a bond in business. So my advise to you is don't mistake it otherwise. Lots of people down here will not call a lawyer if you screw them around. They will simply, to put it in blunt terms, send you home with your head on backwards. And no jury in Texas will convict them of doing it.

It was the proverbial "word to the wise".

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

This reminds me of another good story (once one passes a certain age, something always reminds one of "another good story"..by golly).

Anyway, it was back in my retail produce business days, and there was this gal from the New York City area, who worked in the deli part. She was not a bad person, but just had recently relocated to Texas and had that "yankee attitude" that prompted her to treat all us natives like a bunch of backwater rubes.

Well, one time we were all taking a break in the deli area, sitting aroud a table, and she popped off. Said something like: "I swear, if I wanted to, I could 'con' people down here so easy...you guys are so gullible in the South..."

I had had it with her. But let me break here just a moment. She (like many yankees) honestly didn't realize (as she told me later) that her comments were tacky and rude...and insulting... by our definitions. She just saw it as admirable frankness, according to her own value system of where she came from.

Anyway, I -- quite riled, I admit -- replied as follows: "Honey, (she looked startled when used that affectionism) what some of you northerners may think of as 'gullible" is just that we down here trust in one another and a word is a bond in business. So my advise to you is don't mistake it otherwise. Lots of people down here will not call a lawyer if you screw them around. They will simply, to put it in blunt terms, send you home with your head on backwards. And no jury in Texas will convict them of doing it.

It was the proverbial "word to the wise".

Great hospitality! You sure you guys weren't playing marbles outside during recess.

[iansltx]

I'm a transplant from Florida to the TX Hill Country, but go to school in Colorado. Coors-town, U.S.A. to be specific Half the time people don't have a chance to judge me by accent or figures of speech...I swear that I'm the only soul on campus (~5,000 students) with a full-on wide-brimmed hat. Seniors get Stetsons (yay Texas) but wearing them for more than a few days after they're purchased tends to get associated with the oil/chemical state; I'm at an engineering school and Texans (which are actively recruited) tend to be hammering out a Petroleum Engineering degree (not me).

Anyway...

Due to the mix of in-sate versus out-of-state, combined with the relatively minor Colorado accent, I've gotten a comment or two that was actually about my accent, one of which came from one of them darned Yankees, whose quick-talking northern-style speech patterns are more pronounced than my verbal affectation. That said, unless I'm in an area where the Texas accent (drawl or twang) is common mine is generally reduced to a warmer, slightly slower version of run-of-the-mill English. Folks are MUCH more likely to catch incredibly useful second-person plural pronoun (y'all). Heck, I do believe my usage has rubbed off on a few of the folks I associate with.

When I'm back home in Texas OTOH I tend to adopt the drawl a little more, comfort food style. The town I call home (Fredericksburg) doesn't have as distinct an accent as your more rural areas (I can say this because I spent seven years in Sisterdale), partly due to its German heritage and partly due to the massive influx of folks into the area from across the nation. Probably also helps that neither of my parents have much of an accent, though their closest accentual classification would definitely be Texan.

As mentioned before, different regions have different accents. Go east and you get the drawl. Go west and you get the twang. So south and you get a touch of Mexico. Go north and it depends. Some regions are definitely stronger than others, regardless of city size.

It's pretty fun when I'm able to pick out a Texan accent over the phone when calling customer service. We aren't talking about something that makes the conversation hard to understand, or would make it hard for anyone as far as I know. It's just a warmer, slightly slower, friendlier tone, just like our population is known for face to face. Sets me at ease too, though honestly I'm not one to get frustrated on a phone call. Just impatient

All that said, I must agree, UK/AUS/NZ accents rock.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

I hate any accent that makes people sound uneducated, which is most all the strong drawls.

How does a Bronx, New York, Maine, Boston, etc, etc, accent not sound affected and just as uneducated?

I find them harsh and irritating.

[UKUKUK]

I find the upper midwestern accent the most pleasing, and really don't like the southern drawl, but Texas's idea of a drawl vs. the old eastern Kentucky drawl... I've spoken to Texans on the phone many times and encountered the accent of SA... It's not that bad!

That being said I always get asked if I'm from Chicago when I open my mouth :P

[PanTerra]

Originally Posted by lmkcin

I'm from New England and DO NOT have an accent. I'll admit the Boston accent (which is the one you're referring to) is harsh to understand. But most New Englanders pronounce every letter as it's intended. This is why every national newscaster comes from here, you can understand what we're saying.

ps, I didn't meant to rate this positively, I clicked the wrong button.

Y'all might not like our accent. I don't care for y'all's grammar.

[Sparklez_304]

i think a texas accent is one of the cutest things ever lol. a texas guy could make me swoon

[houstoner]

I guess I'm in the minority. I've never met an accent I didn't like... or couldn't imitate.