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

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."