Strange Question

[Ryan Ross]

My buddy Colin and I (both of us born and raised Georgians, aswell as Rosses), hit the town kilted, every once and a while.
Our voices are so similar that our mothers cannot always tell us apart, if their backs are turned. As luck would have it, we've also cultivated the exact same Scottish accent. We pull it out, on occasion, and the ladies generally get stars in their eyes... we don't mean to be deceptive, mind you, we just do it for kicks. We even fooled a couple of girls who had spent a month in Scotland, one time. It's horrible, but it's really fun.

[davedove]

In college, a friend and I spent one morning speaking to each other in a heavy, fake English accent. It was funny, later that afternoon we found we were still using the accent without even thinking about it.

[Malcolm MacWilliam]

Because of 18th century reenacting, I'll use a Scots accent at times. I'm sure it's quite lame to real Scots, but it suffices for most Americans. I, also, am not really trying to be deceptive, but it can be fun and I usually break into my flat Pennsylvania accent after a bit. I"ve had a lot of fun with it, though. A few years ago at Brandywine, two very proper Scottish ladies probably in their 70s walked up to me and asked about the kilt above the knee. I explained in my "accent" about 18th century vs. Victorian times and later. They asked where I was from. I sometimes answer Caithness and they found me out cause I put the accent on the wrong syllable. We all had a good laugh about it. Malcolm

[Jake_S]

In college, a friend and I spent one morning speaking to each other in a heavy, fake English accent. It was funny, later that afternoon we found we were still using the accent without even thinking about it.

[fluter]

An accent from Illinois is considered 'southern'? That's interesting.

Southern Illinois can be pretty far south! Eyeball it on a map...

I've not spent much time there, but had friends who went to SIU. I did live in southern Indiana for a time, and it's very homelike to this Carolina boy. Only a few things stood out to me: Not every cafe served grits for breakfast. People said you'uns instead of y'all, or at least the country folk did.

A little farther up the Ohio River, Cincinnati used to bill itself as "the northernmost Southern city."

[beowulf67]

Southern Illinois can be pretty far south! Eyeball it on a map...

I've not spent much time there, but had friends who went to SIU. I did live in southern Indiana for a time, and it's very homelike to this Carolina boy. Only a few things stood out to me: Not every cafe served grits for breakfast. People said you'uns instead of y'all, or at least the country folk did.

A little farther up the Ohio River, Cincinnati used to bill itself as "the northernmost Southern city."

The important question is did they know how to make good sweet tea?

[Glen C]

I have been told that far southern Illinois is actully farther south than Richmond VA. I've never looked at a map to verify that, but they do grow cotton down around Cairo.

[Galician]

I do think that accents will lessen as the years pass. With mass communications and greater travel, people will be exposed to other accents more and will naturally begin to blend together into a single form. The world is losing its isolated populations.

Those accents took a long time to develop; they will take a long time to blend.

Maybe a long time, maybe not. This is happening in other languages besides English.

I speak Spanish with a Caribbean accent. Nearly thirty years ago, I was in Seville, Spain, and passed a building with a large courtyard. The voices of the elderly ladies echoing out of it could have come straight out of Havana or San Juan.

I long wondered what the effect of the improved economy in Spain would be at integrating differents parts of the country, especially with TV. Recently I met a 30-ish interpreter at the U.N. from that city. After chatting for a bit, he made the comment that I spoke like his mother.

[Jack Daw]

Southern Illinois can be pretty far south! Eyeball it on a map...

I've not spent much time there, but had friends who went to SIU. I did live in southern Indiana for a time, and it's very homelike to this Carolina boy. Only a few things stood out to me: Not every cafe served grits for breakfast. People said you'uns instead of y'all, or at least the country folk did.

A little farther up the Ohio River, Cincinnati used to bill itself as "the northernmost Southern city."

I had the worst BBQ across the Ohio River into KY from Cincinnati. I mean the worst. No offense intended.

[castledangerous]

I do think that accents will lessen as the years pass. With mass communications and greater travel, people will be exposed to other accents more and will naturally begin to blend together into a single form. The world is losing its isolated populations.

Those accents took a long time to develop; they will take a long time to blend.

Doubtful. On the PBS show about the English language, a study of a person from Detroit and a person from Phila over a period of 25 or 30 yrs showed inchoate indications of the development of two separate languages. And this was done in the late 20th century.