y’all can light your candles now
Growing up in the South has proved a trying experience. Imagine: knowing that a Southern drawl is incorrect, articulate speaking, and having to keep yourself from acquiring the various word combinations and slurs. Only the strongest make it out alive, and make it out alive without the accent. I did pretty well, not pretty good.
Today, I attended the wedding of a cousin of mine here in South Carolina. Were it not for my family members who have only minimal accents, I would have otherwise been surrounded by people who spoke as if it was of second importance. Communication anything less than total priority? Never!, I say. Anyways. It was a great time, though.
The ceremony and reception were both held on the premises of Spiegel Farms, a lovely equestrian kind-of locale. Apart from the stoned deer (deer made of stone, not the inebriated ones) and the fake sword lodged in some rock near the entrance, the whole landscape was gorgeous. Seriously, very beautiful. And the weather was pristine for the occasion. All in all, what a perfect day for a wedding!
Now, I sit, rather lay, on my bed on the fifth floor of a Fairfield Inn, Marriott-owened, and sip some substandard, free decaf coffee while enjoying internet access at no charge. Lovely, no? Not as lovely as getting this summer over with so I can get back to VT. Almost there, but I must stop counting the days.
May 22nd, 2005 at 9:45 am
You crazy northerners think you know how to do everything better than us.
May 22nd, 2005 at 1:57 pm
I don’t see what’s so wrong with having “slurs” and “combinations.”
May 22nd, 2005 at 3:50 pm
Jeremiah - Yes; yes, you’re correct.
Rianna - There’s absolutely nothing intrinsically wrong with that type of accent. But, in my opinion, in the advanced stages of the Southern accent, as it may be, it causes communication to somewhat slow down. At least for me; it causes me to pause and reiterate what was just said to me. And I think that pause before response can be viewed as being impolite; yet, I wouldn’t respond without knowing exactly what was said because that is dumb. So, I just think some Southern accents are a bit exhaustive for me.
May 24th, 2005 at 12:57 am
You guys should hear a real East Texas drawl; it gives even the “Jawja” accent a run for its money.
May 26th, 2005 at 1:51 am
Have you ever thought that speaking with perfect diction and grammar in certain contexts might be a disadvantage? For instance, wouldn’t being able to speak the vernacular with the locals help the communication process considerably rather than forcing them to stumble upon the ivory laden speech that you wish to use? In my own honest opinion, I think the ability to condescend one self to effectively utilize what may be considered a lower level of communication (perhaps even thinking of it as a specialized method of communication) is indicative of brilliance.
May 26th, 2005 at 11:25 pm
Cliff - Yes, it is a disadvantage if I ever desired to appease a particular culture. I would not, though, call such degradation of language a sign of “brilliance”. I am a purist when it comes to communication and am somewhat outraged by the persistent inconsistencies of people in regards to their native tongue. There are many in mainland Europe who know more about proper, correct English than do a great portion of the students in our high schools of today. I don’t support beating a language into people, but a heightened appreciation for correctness could go a long way over the course of a few generations.
May 27th, 2005 at 1:50 am
I see where you are coming from. I suppose I have always valued a bit of flexibility when it comes to communication; that is to say that there is a time and place for certain modes/styles of communication. Also, when I speak of the ability to effectively utilize vernacular, I mean it as far as one can get what he wants/needs from that group of people. I would agree that it is important to learn, as perfectly as one can, the language of the land, and be able to employ it in its appropriate contexts (e.g., academic work in general, or any circumstance where there are grave consequences resting on every point of the communicative structure). However, academic speak would hardly get you along in certain other circumstances. It has been my experience that I get along better with people when I can “speak their language,” so-to-speak. Also, along the way, I may gain a unique insight in to these peoples’ perspectives on life or other things. Now, I must say that I am by no means a linguist (or largely informed on the matter) and must further admit that the preceding were merely conjectures based on my experience communicating with different people in different regions of the country with different backgrounds.