Accents can differ dramatically between the states. I live in Louisiana, which is probably a unique example. People from New Orleans can sound like they're from NY, while people from Southern Louisiana (Cajun Country) have an interesting accent. Northern Louisiana, however, sounds more like a typical Southern accent.

I think the people with the strongest Southern accents are those that live in Alabama. Very strong accents and noticeable.

Texas is not really considered the South, and their accents are a lot different than the accents you'd find in Southern states.

Do you ever listen to the old Andy Taylor/Mayberry shows? That's a southern accent that's emphasized. If you listen to Andy on other shows it's not quite the same.

Some sections of Georgia have a mush-mouthed drawl that grates on my ears. I'll put Paula Deen and her FoodTV show in that catagory.

I've lived in Savannah all my life and the differences among the native Savannahians used to be amazing. It has been smoothed out a great deal. It depended on what section of town you lived in, and where your parents and grandparents came from. The area with large Irish Catholic backgrounds sounded entirely different from the Jewish (Yiddish) areas and both were completly different from the Low Country with it's Gullah influence, or the Italian Catholic group. It had nothing to do with religion, just that they tended to live in group close to their particular place of worship.

In the more rural areas of Georgia, there was not the influx of non-English speaking immigrants and the regional accents in small towns seem to vary a great deal from town to town. I have relatives from one county (which shall be nameless) that I dreaded introducing to friends. Their speech patterns were almost comical compared to what I was used to in Savannah. And I am sure they would think the same of me!!!

One thing is common. It's slower. We tend to drop the final 't's and 'd's and final 'ar', 'er', both sound like 'ur'

I agree with you OO regarding the Midnight movie accents.

Stayin' cool RnR, drinkin' my mint julep but not on the verandah...too hot. Thank the Laud fah ayuh conditionin' dahlin'.

The best Savannah accent was the one the little boy had in Bagger Vance and I'm guessing he was a local.

Charlize Theron does a good 'sweet' souther accent.

Kevin Spacey could have used a few lessons as he sounded nothing like a gay Savannah accent in Midnight.

I think that Nick Nolte had hands down the very best accent in The Prince of Tides. He nailed the Charleston accent.

Kevin Kline was attrocious in The Big Chill.

Oh, what a lot of lovely replies! Many thanks to all of you. And thanks for taking my questions seriously (they were certainly intended seriously).

So far, the most recommended choice seems to be Georgia, perhaps with sorties to Alabama or North and South Carolina.

The Southern Drawl lives and thrives in the Alabama Black Belt (named for the dark soil which once produced wonderful cotton.)

About a million years ago when I left here (Marengo County) for college way up north in Birmingham, I was kidded about about my accent.

Byrd

My, my, ambrosia, you're the bees knees, dahlin' ... that ole verandahhh is tooo hot, but my deah, the south is all about being hot!!! If your internal temp isn't 99 plus, then you've got too many cubes in that julep! Yawl take care, and don't be a stranger, ya' heah! Ciao (souther Itlay, lol).

Vorkuta, if you do a google search on Geechie or Gullah Culture, you will find the southern accent morphed as a cross between the Queens English of the wealthy plantation owners and the African dialect and slang of the plantation slaves.

Southwestern LA native here, with southeastern LA-native parents (NOT from New Orleans). My accent is subtly different from my folks'-- and theirs differed from their relatives in Lafayette and New Orleans (one whole branch with that wonderful "Nawlins-by-way-of-New Joisey" accent!), and definitely different from the relatives who stayed in places with names like Point-aux-Chênes or Thibodaux or even Houma). Our accents all are soft and warm and almost musical, and feel like home! (I do confess that after 20 years in California, it's quite muted, but my friends STILL tell me I have a strong accent....)

And the person who noted that northern Louisiana accents are less distinctive is right; but I notice they STILL managed to mangle the Nachitoches accent in "Steel Magnolias"!! Poor Olympia Dukakis....

In small towns not near tourist attractions, you will hear that soft southern accent in several variations in the following states: Tennessee, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, parts of Texas, and isolated parts of some other states.

I for one am not "put off" by any version of any southern accent, as are others who have posted. I hate to see the accents fade as the population of the U.S. grows and becomes more diverse. It's already obvious that some of the accents are being lost near the larger cities, where the city folks are moving out to the country.

And of course, the only other southern accent (which isn't really southern at all) is the heavily Cajun-influenced accent of the people of southern Louisiana. That's the one that I like best of all.

But even more than accent, you will find the people in smaller towns in the south (and true southerners wherever they live) to be more congenial, more easy-going, ready to please or help you, and just generally more friendly. Hurry on down before we lost it all to the illegal (and legal) aliens.

Accents are great fun. You will find a broad difference within states. I grew up in Charleston, S.C., and lost my "Geechie" accent when I went to college in the upper part of the state. Within five minutes of returning to Charleston, I catch myself speaking like a native again!

Here in Texas there is a famous drawl from the western panhandle that is hilarious. One dear friend, 40 years removed from Midland, still pronounces my name "Jiyum." And it's two syllables!

Jim

I'm reminded of the waitress somewhere in Norway who started speaking to us in a clear US southern accent. Assuming she was American, I asked her where she was from. Ends up she was a local girl, but spent a year as an exchange student in Augusta, Georgia.

Why is it that kid from Idaho on the first Apprentice had a southern accent? The one that was close to Kwame.

He just kept saying he was a good ole southern boy from eye-Dee-HOE.

Did I miss a geography lesson? Did they move Idaho? Did we elect Idaho into some southern colony? Am I daft?

GoT, We will be driving through I Dee Ho on the way to Or e Gun and I will see if I can understand the local language

Scarlett, will you yell "Hi dee Hi dee Hi dee I De Ho?"

Sorry. Just had to do that.

Jim

We sho nuff do.....oddly enough I find thick Texan accents to sound kind of southern to me....I'm from Bama and I think my North Carolina relatives have a thick Southern accent, more so than me...

Often an accent is just what you want it to be.

My husband, who grew up in MS found that no one understood him when he began OCS in Newport, RI. He vowed to lose it, and lose it he did. By the time I met him two years later, he had no more accent than I ( western MA) did.

His brother, same upbringing, same college, lived and worked for over a decade in Australia and even longer in London. His accent remained as southern twenty years after moving as the day he left.

He married a girl who was born and raised 50 miles from my hometown in Western MA. His children spent all their lives up to college in Australia and England. The entire family has the most unbelievable southern accent, including his Yankee wife. LOL

Jim, LOL
I am from NC originally so I think it might be more like Hey Hi Dee Ho~

We moved to Georgia in 1973 and my young ears were only used to hearing Midwestern talk (Ohio). I have a touch of an accent but when I'm among relatives it tends to vanish.

When I went into first grade a year later, my mother sent a note insisting that I not be placed in a particular teacher's class because her Southern accent was so thick even the locals had trouble understanding her at times.

I can remember as a child when a playmate told me she couldn't play that day because she was "goin' off". I had no idea that she meant she was "going off" to visit her grandmother. My mother had to explain it to me.

My husband grew up in Knoxville, Tenn., but his parents are from Chicago and he has no Southern accent at all. People who meet him for the first time ask if he's from the Midwest.

I just got back from N FL & GA. I swear our accents are "sweeter" because of all the sweet tea & biscuits with honey we live on.

If you want to hear a great southern male accent then find an audio of Lewis Grizzard reading one of his books. I have one & his accent is wonderful but his southern wit is the best. He wrote for the Atlanta paper & had a syndicated column for years before his death. His books are great to get a true feel of life in the South.