The PBS documentary you might be thinking of is "The Story of English." Maybe not, but I recall part of the series focusing on regional dialects here in the US. The settlers of different regions carried their regional dialects from The Merry Olde... Northern accents are primarily from London and parts of Yorkshire (as someone stated), Tidewater accents from someplace else, etc...

Personally, I find some Southern accents warm and welcoming and others grating. Anything like Flo's exaggerated "kiss my grits" is like nails on a chalk board to me. Despite being relatively accent-free, myself, I grew up in NJ and now live in Boston, so I know nails on a chalk board!

soccr, you seem to be well informed with regards to historical accents. What kind of accent would the following have had- George Washington, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, JohnQuincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Abe Lincoln and Stonewall Jackson?

Growing up in PA whenever I heard a southern accent it made me cringe. But now that I've actually lived here for a few years I find I barely notice it anymore. But I do notice the thick PA Dutch accent my relatives have and it now makes me cringe!

Funny thing though, my SO is from Russia, moved here about 7 yrs ago. An associate of ours speaks with the thickest Southern accent I ever heard. Sometimes I can not understand him. But my SO can understand him perfectly! I think it is because he has gotten used to listening more carefully than I have had to.

SteveJudd:

*LOL... little publicized fact = Alexander Hamilton was from St. Croix, so perhaps he spoke wit a bit o' an islands accent, mon.

Good point on Hamilton. Euro-Caribbeans are almost a lost tribe, if you may, and are mostly absorbed into the African-Caribbean population. It would be interesting to know what kind of accent Hamilton spoke with.

Yikes! My face is red and burning! I'm sorry to offend, guess I should write my responses in one sitting. I will attempt to be more clear about what I meant.

I admitted that I do judge people's intelligence by the way they speak. I am not necessarily proud of this but people who use both bad grammar and talk slower (like many southerners do) I tend to think they are slower mentally. I KNOW they are not dumb. I appreciated Catherine's comment "Just because I talk slow, doesn't mean I think slow" as something I need to remember when talking/listening to people with accents, especially southern.

I meant to say I find it easier to understand those people who pronounce the words with all the letters that are supposed to be pronounced.

I am not sure it was 'politeness' that kept people repeating what I did not understand. Yelling at someone who does not speak your language is not polite. It might have been nicer to try and find another way to say it. Usually, when I figured out what they were saying (if I was able to) I usually would make a joke that was learning (taking the blame on myself).

The question asked if we found southern accents annoying, my opinion is yes. Not all but certainly a heavy southern accent will eventually grate on my nerves.

So sorry!!

Well, flame away, but I do associate poor grammar with lower intelligence levels. i think that's pretty valid.

You don't know nuthin' about no grammar !!

Good on Rusty...actually I'm going to ammend that last statement. I associate poor grammar with a severe lack of education...not necessarily a lack of intelligence.

Where do you draw the line? Turn on the radio, you'll hear some pretty egregious errors in spoken grammar ("none of the survivors were [sic] injured"-- that should be "...was..."; "she told my wife and I [sic]"-- it should be "she told me and my wife"). Do you call everyone who makes mistakes like that a nitwit?

I know what you mean. In business situations, around strangers and in public speaking, I actually hyper-correct myself, speaking extremely precisely (I studied language in college, so it's ingrained in me-- and annoying to friends; but I can't help it). Around people with whom I'm comfortable, my Southern grammar comes back and it's "ain't" and "Can y'all get me a Stoli Screwdriver?" and "WhaddayaMEAN he don't have Stoli?!" (and I curse like a sailor with Tourette's and hemorrhoids). If sufficiently surrounded by other Southerners, all bets are off. But everyone still thinks it's cute.

My brother-in-law is from rural Arkansas, and his twangy accent is a bit grating (maybe because of the annoying banalities he's usually saying, but that's another whole family therapy session). The gentle purr of my uncle's wife's Virginia drawl (and she's a brilliant woman who happens to speak in measured cadences) is beautiful, in contrast. It just depends on the region and the speaker.

Oh how I wish Jeff Foxworthy would respond to this one.

You might be a redneck if............

If my memory serves me correctly, this great southern comedian (who uses lots and lots of incorrect grammer)is a GA Tech graduate (electrical engineer, I believe)...and worked for IBM for a few years before making tons of money by talking southern!!

None WAS injured ????

That's right-- "none" is singular (a shortening of "no one"). You're also right-- it sounds and looks funny. It's a grammar error which is so ingrained in spoken and written English that it's accepted as correct.

Yes Rusty. None is the same as "not one."

Sara, you're digging yourself a deeper hole.

If I were to judge you on your sentence structure and grammar the way you judge us silly, slow-talkin' ole' suthenuhs, I'd say you must not have done too well in your English classes deah!

Bless your heart :)

I saw "George Washington" on TV the other night and he talked just like that actor fella Barry Bostwick. 8-}

Hey Kal, now that you mention it one of those Roman slaves in "Spartacus" sounded just like Tony Curtis. He musta been from Little Italy....

As a born & raised Southerner I find your comments very offensive. I have traveled all over the U.S. and I have never had any one treat me like an idiot because they couldn't understand me. My husband has some difficulties understanding some people from different regions, but he will ask me "what did they say", and makes every effort not to be impolite. Sounds like you need a lesson in how to be a human being.

Thanks Kal, I needed a giggle.

According to the Merriam -Webster Dictionary "none" as a pronoun is EITHER singular or plural. It means "not one" OR "not any" as in "not one was injured" or "not any were injured".

PCH,my friend...It is the simple ideas that the liberals can't fathom that are giving me fits.

What is really giving me fite now is that Hillary may need to enter the race now that Dubya is losing ground the the pathetic field of democrats. Waddya think,Clinton/Clark ticket for the Dems?

I was selling a car, and a guy drove a friend over who was interested. He had moved here from London less than a year ago. A few times he would say something and I'd say, "Pardon? I'm sorry." I felt bad that I couldn't understand him. His friend was cracking up laughing at him! He said that happens all the time.

ahhnold, interesting post. I have zero thoughts on any of them - W, Dean, Clark, Gary Coleman, the real Ahhnold. I look at '04 as a sleeper, when I catch up on my snooze time, and turn my TV to mute when the talking heads appear. Hillary is being mighty quiet these days. Not what I expect from leaders.

But am I really a liberal? You judge. Voted Bush Sr. in '88 (Mike the Tank, no thanks - leaders should reach a minimum height). Clinton in '92 (when I was thinking about tomorrow). Wrote in Jesse in '96 (it wasan integrity thing, but wow, if I'd only known about the love child). Reluctantly voted Gore in '00 (but my surveys showed Bush by a mile - anybody who cannot carry his own states no longer gets my support). Enjoyed W's acceptance speech (his high point), but he aint getting my vote in '04. My view is lets bring back Nixon. Where are the real leaders when we need them. So, next year, who knows. I'm not enchanted with any of them. Have a good day.

PCH..I thought W's high point was the bullhorn speech. Funny how I agree we have had no true leaders,since, Kennedy?
After which we had a long string of true leaders.

RNC. You're all wet. No leaders since JFK. How about Martin Luther King or Ronald Reagan. Both were more successful than JFK. Actually, the unloveable Lyndon Johnson accomplished a whole lot more than Kennedy until he got bogged down in that stupid war in Vietnam.

Leaders set visions - perhaps the powerful enduring influence of JFK, even though his legislative score was about 36 percent.

MLK as well.

Where are the Johnson programs today, as fine and idealistic as they were in 1964-1965? Civil Rights has endured, of course. The GOP has savaged the rest, with some help from Bill.

Budget deficits will tale care of the rest. Bush's great legacy - a bankrupt nation (financially, morally, economically, internationally)unable to meet the needs of even the late years of this decade.

I have no opinion one way or another on the accent but still remember (slightly fuming)a spelling test given by my southern raised teacher (my school was in central NY state). The word was "dovecot" (hardly a word that a northern raised city kid could be expected to know and it was on none of our study lists). She pronounced it as "dav (short A)- cat". It's one of the only spelling words I ever missed on a test and my protestations that her pronucniation made it unrecognizable fell on deaf ears.

You still can't spell it!! It's "dovecote".

Back to the accents...

There is a theory that people in the South man sound like the English did in the 1700's more than current residents of England do. Accents are constantly changing, and while the South was relatively isolated after the Europeans arrived, England was involved in an era of exploration around the world, bringing new languages and ways of speaking back to England. We'll never know how this country's founders sounded.

I don't find any REAL accents annoying, but I do know people who fake Southern accents, and that drives me crazy.

Mah mah, muh deah Mizz Buttahcup! What do ya'll mean about phony Suthern accents?
;)
Col. Kal

Steve..I am unaware that MLK was president. Yes, I was only referring to the White House.

Reagan is my hero,but I am not sure he will be remembered as one of the GREAT leaders.

I'm sure you know Reagan's letter in the early 1990s when he knew about his disease and wrote to tell people he would have to retire from public life. A classy expression from a classy guy, regardless of how one viewed him as Prez.

Good observation PCH. His handling of the Iran-Contra will be his legacy as a leader. I think he was a great president and a class act. He gave this country a proud feeling.

What's with Madonna's accent? Anyone notice that once she started having kinds and cleaned up her act she started talking with some quasi-English accent? Isn't she from Detroit?

(Back to the topic.....)

I also find "fake" southern accents very annoying.

I always think about James van der Beek (the guy from Dawson's Creek) in the football movie "Varsity Blues".

That was so annoying to listen to! It definately does not sound authentic!

Buttercup,

If you find "fake" Southern accents annoying, you can probably only imagine how annoying they are to those of us who are from the South.

Some that come to mind are:

Olympia Dukakis in "Steel Magnolias,"
Nick Nolte in "Prince of Tides,"
Julianne More in "Hannibal," et al...

My all-time favorite terrible pseudo-Southern accent belongs to Lou Ann Poovey - Gomer Pyle's girlfriend. (Don't even get me started on his "Gawww-leee!") :)

Fake accents rot. I know you think fake southern accents are trash, but when you live in New England and hear phony actors trying to mimic the Kennedys... oy vey!

Diana,

I agree with all the actors you mentioned, but I was actually thinking about real people who fake it.

I was amazed at how many girls I went to high school with developed a Southern accent when they went to college. I think they thought it sounded cute.

Having grown up in the South, I must have some kind of accent leftover. But I sound like a Yankee to me!
Personally, I find the Southern accent lovely, soft, soothing, and if we have to choose one of the two, charming or annoying, I vote CHARMING.
There are people that say really ugly things in a perfect way, does that make them nicer? I prefer those who say nice things in any accent to the ugly ones ((F))

I would like to know if Vivian Leigh's accent in Gone With the Wind bothered anyone or did it sound close enough to Southern ears? When I first saw it, I was still up nawth, and it sounded tinny to me, but haven't seen it recently so don't have any recent measure of it.

Actually, I thought she did a pretty good job with it (Vivian Leigh).

She had the spoiled Daddy's girl Southern belle down so well, I can't ever even imagine anyone else playing that part.

I also thought pretty much everyone (but especially Jessica Tandy) did very well in "Fried Green Tomatoes."