Accent Stories

Y'all crack me up, all your stories of your accents! Thank you! Quite a few of you scored spot on with your locations. Cool! I love that Coffee Bean's says she'd be good on TV or radio. I think she's probably sticking with internets, though.

Tammy, a Canadian, scored American Midland. What does that mean? Is Oklahoma Midland? Where exactly is that? I went back and took the test again, thinking I'd fool it, but only scored stronger on that Philly accent. I've never BEEN to Philadelphia.

Asthmagirl also wants to know where the Midland is so she can visit her people. What exactly does that mean, visit her people? Long lost relatives? Friends she didn't know she had? What? And if Tulsa is in Midland, maybe I'M her people! Woohoo! Wait. No. I'm from Philly.

Motherhood for Dummies was frustrated with the lack in this quiz. No Canada or Alaska. She's not the only one. Evidently, though, there's an identifier for Canadian, as Indy can testify to.

Now Candace, who I've known for about a million years (it's true, Candace. Count it. I've known you AT LEAST a million years) comes in with Inland North. She's puzzled by that, having lived in central Florida her whole life. I can tell, you, though, that Central Florida has no accent. Most people there are from everywhere else. Including Candace's parents. Thinking about Cliff and Shirley, I can hear it. Florida is not the south. It's the east coast.

Colleen reminds me of why I migh have scored Philly. When I was a freshman in college I was marked as the southern girl. People were always asking me to read Cajun Night Before Christmas so they could hear my accent. This bugged me. Not the reading aloud, since I'm an attention hog. But the whole being marked by my accent. Why should people automatically judge me as slow and stupid because of my accent? I worked all year to rid myself of it.

The worst came the last week of school. My wing was riddled with girls from all over the US, and I hung out with the girls from Wisconsin and Illinois. One day, passing someone's room, as we're all packing our things to leave, I hear a phone, so I ducked in to answer. The girl's mom left a message with me to call her, which she did. Later the girl tells me her mom wanted to know who that "nice southern girl was." And I'd worked so HARD! WAAAHHHH!

By my junior year I was dating a boy from Minnesota, had already gone home several times with friends from Illinois and Wisconsin, then visited said boyfriend in Minnesota a couple of times. I was determined to rid myself of the accent.

When living in Florida the first year, someone asked my if I was from Wisconsin and it was the ultimate compliment. Now people are always surprised to hear where I'm really from. I love it. And it makes me sad. Fortunately the accent returns when I go home. :) But I don't sound like a New Orleanian. Which means that most people can understand me when I speak (as long as I don't mumble). And really, New Orleans is a mix of deep south and Brooklyn.

Thanks for your responses! Let me know if you post the quiz to your blog? I know Poltzie has! Evidently people mistake for a Canadian a lot. Ha!

Until I write again ...

Flea