Jackson Free Press

David E. Rosenbaum writes in the New York Times today about Haley Barbour's return to Mississippi: "Mr. Barbour must overcome the charge that he has spent his career as a fixer. His law firm, Barbour Griffith & Rogers, ranked seventh among Washington firms in terms of lobbying revenues last year, according to a study by The National Journal, and Fortune listed the firm as No. 1 in terms of political influence."

Previous Commentsshow

An analysis of accents in a story about politics? Why can't people not from here talk about Southerners without a jab at our regional voice patterns? And saying Musgrove sounds like Tammy Wynette is an insult to Tammy Wynette, may she rest in peace.

JW

Jun 11 2003

Girlfriend, I could not agree with you more about the accent thing. It goes back to the talk we had elsewhere on the site about "folksy" and "faulknerian." Northern journalists too often find ways to condescend to us southerners while pretending they're being fair and descriptive. Yes: what in heck does Mugrove's accent have to do with Tammy Wynette? Is it even the same southern accent? Where is she from anyway? Anyone know? One thing I liked about Rick Bragg in the NY Times is that he knew how to describe the uniqueness of southerners without making us sound like dolts. No wonder so many of my northern peers hated him.

ladd

Jun 11 2003

Tammy Wynette was born in north MS. They got that part right. The Starkville High School web site cataloging MS writers, artists, and performers has her on it somewhere. Musgrove does have a particularly grating version of a Southern accent--his words sound like they emanate from somewhere between his eyes, they're so nasal. Everything he says comes out like a whine, which I'm sure doesn't help his image any. (I think that's how come Salter at the CL hung the "Gomer" nickname on him) But still. . . Did you or anyone you knew from the South do voice coaching or anything to de-emphasize your accent while you were up North? Does that even work?

JW

Jun 11 2003

I'll tell you that when I was "outside" my accent got worse. It seemed almost like a tether, a vocal umbilical cord. Just put me on the phone with home and everything slowed down. I'm proud of my accent, it speaks of who I am and where I've been. Screw 'em if they don't understand. It'll just make our rise to the top that much easier.

Bingo

Jun 11 2003

Glad they at least compared him to somebody from Mississippi. It's really grating when southerners all get lumped into one big, "dumb" heap. As for accents, mine has changed dramatically over the years. When I first left Mississippi, I was immature enough to think that it mattered and I must admit to trying to change my accent. (Now I find that sad.) I also worked dramatically on my grammar (which wasn't sad); where I grew up, people would make fun of you if you actually said things correctly. I also did broadcast radio for a while, so that affects accents. But I found over the years that I really wanted to be recognizably southern and kind of started allowing my true self to shine back through. Now, I have enough of a southern accent that northerners catch it, and enough outside accent influence that southerners don't claim me as easily. But I also don't mind being a bit of a compendium of everywhere I've lived and what I've done. Ultimately, though, I am southern at my core, and that's what means the most even if I had to go somewhere else to discover that (Bingo talks about that in the cover story of the last issue.) I love the "folksy," "earthy" and, er, "faulknerian" expressiveness of my people and damn all those who don't appreciate us. ;-P

ladd

Jun 11 2003

Is this program really censoring the word "screw"? What about screwdriver? Screw in a lightbulb? Tee, hee.

ladd

Jun 11 2003

I love the regional variations in the Southern accent. Atlanta people have one, but it's hopped up in speed compared to ours. And Texas seems to leave "long i-i-i-i"s with everyone that grows up there. I taught at State for a while and cleaned up my slurs and elisions for the classroom but never lost the habit of "fixin' t'do" anything. :) And when I went to work in state govt. I REALLY slid backwards on slurring words to the point that when I'm tired, I'd hate to hear myself on tape. It's funny--my dad says my kids talk "yankee talk" when that isn't really what he means--people raised in Jackson talk faster than people in N MS do.

JW

Jun 11 2003

An accent discussion. Good. I want to be part of this. Us "Yankees" get lumped into one "Yankee" heap, no? I grew up in a small NYC commuter town called Mamaroneck, NY, 15 miles from Manhattan. I had no "accent" compared to my mother who grew up in an ethnic enclave in 1940s/1950s Bronx. Of course when I left NY for college in Virginia, I had a New York accent according to the Virginians. And to them it was 'New Yaawwk" as in NYC. In New York state (which includes the 99.5% of the state that is not NYC) there are distinct accents within a 20 mile radius of any one point. It's incredibly interesting -- especially in a world that is drifting towards sameness in almost every respect. I was at the Belhaven Market recently and bought a chicken (sorry Donna) from the organic farm in Meridian. One of the guys behind the table was telling me how I should cook it and I thought to myself, this guy's from somewhere in Rockland County New York (west of the Hudson, north of NYC) because he talked just like my cousins from that area. So I said to him "you're not from here." He replied, "no, I'm from New York." I said, "Rockland County?" His eyes popped. "Close," he said, "Hyde Park." Hyde Park is on the east side of the Hudson just across from Rockland County (FDR's estate is there). This is great. I love accents. My kids by the way say "you guys" or "guys" and not "you all" or "y'all" even though Liz and I say "yall" most of the time and the kids' little friends say "yall" too. Can't figure it out.

Matthew Dalbey

Jun 11 2003

I have an aunt that was born in MS and left when she was 19 to join the WAVES back in the late 40's/early 50's. She married and has lived in WV (in the same house!) for at least 45 years by now--and she says people can still tell she't "not from around here". That's scary.

JW

Jun 11 2003