Southerners putting on a fake, ironic northern accent

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... or using ironic Northern vocab, ie "summat" etc. I wonder why this is so common. I notice there are plenty of equivalents in other cultures, ie East Coast Americans mimicking Southern American accents ("y'all" etc.), urban Australians doing a comic "ocker" accent with ironic usage of "sheila", and in France, there's an ironic southern accent as well...

Reet strange.

― hmmm..., Monday, 9 August 2004 10:01 (twenty-one years ago)

same reason Brits sometimes put on comedy American accents for no reason at all, la.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 9 August 2004 10:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I say "y'all," and the only time I've heard someone from the NE US say it was to make fun of me.

― sgs (sgs), Monday, 9 August 2004 10:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Or anyone else who wasn't southern, for that matter.

― sgs (sgs), Monday, 9 August 2004 10:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Do Yorkshire people put on ironic Estuary accents? Some accents seem to be deemed more comic than others.

― hmmm..., Monday, 9 August 2004 10:09 (twenty-one years ago)

the first time I heard "y'all" was in a seafood restaurant called Landry's on the Gulf of Mexico (it was somewhere near Texas City) and the waitress said "Y'all have a good meal" and I thought she was saying "You'll have a good meal" which I thought was somewhat presumptious.

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 9 August 2004 10:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe I'm wrong about ironic use of "y'all". I just seem to read it a lot on messageboards. But perhaps all these people are all from the south.

― hmmm..., Monday, 9 August 2004 10:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Sgs, you've heard me say y'all, I'm sure! I am positively emo about it.

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Monday, 9 August 2004 10:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Why is the mockery/imitation always directed downwards on Ye Imagined Class Ladder? How common is the reverse?

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Monday, 9 August 2004 10:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I like a lot of Northern words: snicket, mithered, etc.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 9 August 2004 10:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, I must've Greg...I can imagine it clearly, though I can't specifically remember you saying it :) But I seem to link it with your (fluent) use of snoop-esque vocabulary for some reason.

(When I first moved to London I had to train myself not to say it so much since my flatmates would then repeat it after me in sing-song nasal tones.)

― sgs (sgs), Monday, 9 August 2004 10:23 (twenty-one years ago)

It does happen the other way around too. "Amma bovered? No really? Not bovered."

(Stolen yes, but popular in our house, containing one northerner, one Midlands-type a Scot and a Londoner [Islington variety])

― Anna (Anna), Monday, 9 August 2004 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Sometimes it can be unconscious too, if you are a Southerner who has lived amongst Northerners or vice versa etc. You just pick things up. Universities especially are obvious breeding grounds for this kind of thing.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 9 August 2004 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

homsar8 to thread

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 9 August 2004 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

and woah haha i thought this thread was about southern americans putting on a fake ironic northern american accent.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 9 August 2004 11:24 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, y'all should be more clear

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 9 August 2004 11:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i do it a lot. i think it's funny. and it is.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Monday, 9 August 2004 11:41 (twenty-one years ago)

us northerners are always mimicking the cockney accent, we think it makes us sound more intelligent.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 9 August 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I've yet to hear a non-Southerner do a convincing Southern accent. I'm talking American, now. The first problem is that Northerners always go for the Georgia accent (think Gone With the Wind), instead of the Texas/Louisiana/Oklahoma/Arkansas type. So, in movies, you get people who are supposed to be from Texas sounding like they're from Georgia, and usually done really, really badly.

And why are movie producers still under the impression that it's a good idea to get British actors to play Southern Americans?

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 9 August 2004 12:01 (twenty-one years ago)

OTM, they all make US southerners in movies sound like Scarlet O'Hara.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 9 August 2004 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I met some Virginians on Saturday -- and they had very English vowels, like Philip Seymour Hoffman in 'Cold Mountain', or Cartman as the Confederate General.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Monday, 9 August 2004 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, it varies from region to region obviously, but in movies non-southerner actors always make southern characters sound like the Gone With the Wind type.

I live in the south, so I SHOULD KNOW TEH DIFFERENCE.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 9 August 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe that's why they sometimes get British actors to play Southerners, because that Gone With the Wind thing features the soft 'r' sound ('ah') similar to British accents, and they figure British people will sound more natural doing it than some guy from L.A. or New York. But still, Ewan McGregor in Big Fish = why?

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 9 August 2004 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I say y'all - but unironically.

Also, from hanging around with a friend from Virginia, I now say "whaddyacallit" in the middle of sentences.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Monday, 9 August 2004 12:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Y'all is a perfectly good term because otherwise english has no second person plural.

I have found that Australian actors can emulate a good southern accent much better than those from the British isles. cf Eric Bana in BHD vs. Ewan MacGregor in Big Fish.

A badly executed attempt at a southern accent puts me off really badly. Also see: inaccurate local dialects etc. I mean Tom Hanks is CLEARLY from Tennessee Appalachia in Forrest Gump, not Alabama at all.

Of course, I think Dick Van Dyke was GREAT in Mary Poppins.

― TOMBOT, Monday, 9 August 2004 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

You mean Mwary Pourpinz?

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 9 August 2004 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Brett Anderson IS Dick Van Dyke in Cor Blimey, Guv'nor. Also starring Carter USM.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 9 August 2004 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Of course, right this second I am listening to the Australian group Underground Lovers and their song "My American Accent."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 9 August 2004 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Ooh I like it

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Monday, 9 August 2004 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

If American English has no second person plural then what the fuck do you call yous guys???

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Monday, 9 August 2004 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

My time up north has led to me adopting "Now then" as a welcoming.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 9 August 2004 13:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Aye up

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 9 August 2004 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I just stick to "Yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo!"

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 9 August 2004 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

After living Up North for a few years, I still say things like "Be sure to call Kevin, he can certainly come with." I also say "I must've drank sixteen beer last night," instead of sixteen beers.

The Scarlett O'Hara thing reminds me of that "King of the Hill" episode where Hank was having to entertain a Yankee for his business. The Yankee (who was also stereotyped badly) keeps wanting Hank to do these "Texas" things, like wear a cowboy hat, boots, etc. By the end of the show, the guy tries to order a Mint Julep in a strip club and Hank cries out "That's not even the right stereotype!"

Oh, and I also still say "Oh, for cute!" when I'm around babies and puppies.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

When I'm talking to Northerners, sometimes I say "take care" instead of "bye".

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i usually say "fuck off yankee!" and flip em the bird! yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

cinniblount pls next time post this image after typing "yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" k thx

http://www.javelinamx.com/carstars/dukes5.jpg

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I always wondered where the Dukes of Hazzard were supposed to be from. Best I could figure it was somewhere in Missouri.

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

GEORGIA!

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

seriously Hazzard County was supposed to be a fictional Georgia county. Obv. the scenery was Southern California.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Luke and Bo didn't even have the same accents!

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:23 (twenty-one years ago)

or same genetic makeup, obv.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean okay my brother's blonde and I've got brown hair, but at least we have the same kinda chin.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

well, we never saw their parents

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

er isn't hazzard county in kentucky?

i never got to be bo. i was always luke.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

they sprang full-grown from the head of Uncle Jesse, I think. Like Greek gods, only in Georgia.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Tracer there is a Hazard (one Z), Kentucky and it is not a county and nothing like the fictional one on the TV show.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Also Hazard is in Perry County.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

my birthdays at the end of next month yall

hazzard county's jawja - i had the honor of voting for cooter the first time i voted (he lost)(fucking gerrymandering)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

they all make US southerners in movies sound like Scarlet O'Hara.

or Foghorn Leghorn.

Also, the "General Lee" anywhere but Georgia--hah.

I've noticed that my grandparents have very different accents than most other people I meet while I'm back in SW Arkansas. There's definitely a generational element to all of this--my grandfather used to tell me stories in slang from the 1920's, very region-specific stuff that's obsolete (and probably almost forgotten) now.

― sgs (sgs), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I admit to often putting on a Southern accent viz Derek and Clive.

― jump, you facker jump, Monday, 9 August 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, the "General Lee" anywhere but Georgia--hah.

well the real General Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia, so...

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

what is hazard KY like, hstencil? i'm guessing it does not have small but effective ramps positioned next to every major creek.. :( It's weird i thought that, i guess they always just seemed more like hillbillies to me.. of course i always forget GA has mountains too. i've never been over to that part.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Hazard KY, for people bored of risk-free buttsex. Every tenth tube contains superglue!

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I have never been to Hazard, closest I've been is probably Prestonburg or Morehead or maybe something on the Western side of the Daniel Boone National Forest (Slade? Campton? I dunno). The whole region though is about as Appalachia as you can get, though. No ramps over creekbeds (which are prolly just slurry beds now, thank you coal mining industry!), poverty TO THE EXTREME, still selling "mammy" figurines in the gift shops, etc., etc.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Boy oh boy, how this thread ever changed when the Merikans woke up.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm waiting for the Australians to start saying things about the accent in Darwin.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

My ex-band played a show in Hazard, KY. It is actually a pretty friggin creepy town. Part of that county's telephone area code is 666.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Has anyone else noticed this, or am I crazy...but do New Zealanders' accents sound like a total hybrid of middle-Southern-American (a la Kentucky/Tennessee/North Carolina) and North British?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

tying this in with the sammich thread, I once knew a New Zealander named Rueben.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

the only thing I know about NZ accents is that "head" sounds like "hid"

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Who had an affair with a Cuban?

(gah, x-post)

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

no, but he got angry at us for being loud and drunk in our dorm room. So I'd be all like "you're named after a SANDWICH!!!!!"

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

well the real General Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia, so...
many x-posts...touche.

What flag is painted on the side of the car?

― sgs (sgs), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

um, http://www.confederateflags.org/

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

"Here you can read about the numerous flags of the government and armed forces of the Confederate States of America, and view many images of those flags."

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

howard dean to thread

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

That's what I thought.

― sgs (sgs), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

god that seems like ages ago

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah but to not be snarky the flag on the side of the General Lee is the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, which isn't the same (exactly) as the Confederate flag(s), so...

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

OH okay.

― sgs (sgs), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

they should've had the flag of the confederate air force cuz that fucker flew!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

So what you're saying is that Hazzard County is actually Alexandria.

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

hahahaha WHUT?

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

that was really to blount but works just as well for allyzay's post.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't even know who you are.

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

oh fucking OUCH. goddammit.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

man i'm totally tripping to some robin trower and thin lizzy and sabbath SABBBBATTHHH and now i'm gonna go get some chinese and maybe go wake up my sister and see if she has any pot. if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry christmas. later dudes!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I just watched some of 'The Day Today' and the American accents were largely good, but they kept using phrases like "to whom" and I was like, 'Dude, WHAT?!"

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 9 August 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

oh speaking of which, friend of mine downloaded the pilot of the US version of the Office, and said the script was almost identical, but the mood totally different, basically like a regular goofy sitcom. Shame on us, Americans.

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 9 August 2004 17:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Ugh, horrible idea.

I just watched some of 'The Day Today' and the American accents were largely good, but they kept using phrases like "to whom" and I was like, 'Dude, WHAT?!"

I dunno, I think I say that from time to time.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 9 August 2004 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah they already made the american sitcom version of the office. it had kevin arnold in it, i think winnie cooper did a guestshot.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah but to not be snarky the flag on the side of the General Lee

Ahem, the flag was on the top of the General Lee. Nothing on the side but 01.

And yes, it was set in Georgia.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 9 August 2004 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

oh jesus christ.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 9 August 2004 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

buhlee dat

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 9 August 2004 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I just watched some of 'The Day Today' and the American accents were largely good, but they kept using phrases like "to whom" and I was like, 'Dude, WHAT?!"

I dunno, I think I say that from time to time.

Actually, it was something else, I'll rewatch.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 10 August 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

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