Loyal Scaiaholics will recall one of the ways I have succeeded as a reporter is by building lasting relationships with associates who work in public relations.
This week, I received an email from a public relations person [who is such a close friend, her email was addressed to me personally]:
Preply reports Americans like seven domestic accents better than Texas. Seven! I question these results.
A southern accent can be reassuring. You know what’s not reassuring? A New York accent.
“I’m walkin’, here!” all of us think to ourselves when we think of a New York accent. There are also hand gestures.
I would add, however, hand gestures are not necessarily a negative. Hand gestures are a hobby of mine. During my hilariously short run toward becoming a Major League Baseball umpire, I was told repeatedly to stop talking with my hands because we did not want to look more demonstrative than the manager who was arguing with us. As a cheat, I was encouraged to, during a “situation”, keep my hands in my back pockets [crossing your arms in front of you makes you look confrontational].
Further, I question Boston finishing higher than Texas. I have family in that neck of the woods, and “I’m takin’ tha T ahp to HaymAHHket” is less alluring than someone encouraging a road trip so “Y’all can get some pan frried C-ay-eff-S in Strrawn.”
Researching this issue, I learned the way I was writing how a Texan pronounces “CFS” has to do with “mouth settings.”
“Southern” feels like a catch-all for any dialect that might involve frequent discussions about biscuits.
Further, Preply divides the country into four regions. Loyal Scaiaholics will also recall how offensive I find it when my associates in SuperOregon say I grew up in the Northeast.
Until I moved to Texas, I was under the impression Ohioans had no accent. Our accent was that we don’t do anything special. But some website reports Cincinnati does, in fact, have its own accent and it ranks only 35th. That website also ranks Texas number one, however, so I don’t know how to feel about this.
An associate who is a native Texan often says my accent is I don’t pronounce the letter G.
For years, when I say something like, “I’m ready for anythin’!” he’s jumped in with, “Anythin’!” really hitting the N.
I brought up that Americans seem to like British accents more than Texas accents with a different associate. This led to her immediately talking with a British accent and a discussion on the differences among British, Cockney and Scottish accents.
More specifically, she was explaining how they all sound different, similar to the differences among accents in different parts of America. I, meanwhile, just kept repeating, “What’s all this then, guv’nor?!”
Our country may seem divided right now, and on its face, this accent situation may not help. But as we dig deeper into the numbers, we find more that unites us than divides us. Some of us may like New York accents, but we can all agree Fran Drescher is exhausting.
And this survey shows we can aspire for more than just some blanket label on dialects. The Southern accent ranks at the top of two parts of the survey, showing us we can all strive to become both annoying and sexy.
