AP on Southern "accent" reduction

[Jonathan Lighter]

A little further down the page :

  "[S]ophomore Ali Huffstetler...said she "luuuvs" the slow-paced softness of her upstate South Carolina magnolia mouth."

  "Magnolia mouth" appears on Google about 600 times as both nickname and common noun. Among the most interesting appearances is here

  http://www.remembertheaba.com/TributeMaterial/McCarthy.html,

  where its is said to have been the nickname of ABA coach James "Babe" McCarthy, who was linguistically notable for saying things like,

      "Boy, I gotta tell you, you gotta come out at 'em like a bitin' sow,"

  "My old pappy used to tell me the sun don't shine on the same dog's butt every day,"

  "Why panic at five in the mornin' because it's still dark out?" and

  "Now, let's cloud up and rain all over 'em."
JL

"Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"

Subject: Re: AP on Southern "accent" reduction
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Erica Tobolski's accent wouldn't be welcome at my house either.

dInIs

>-----
>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051123/ap_on_re_us/southern_identity_accents_1
>
>Whither the Southern Accent?
>
>By JEFFREY COLLINS and KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writers
>
>COLUMBIA, S.C. - "Y'all" isn't welcome in Erica Tobolski's class in voice and
>diction at the University of South Carolina. And forget about "fixin'," as in
>getting ready to do something, or "pin" when talking about the writing
>instrument.
>
>Tobolski's class is all about getting rid of accents, mostly Southern ones in
>the heart of the former Confederacy, and replacing them with Standard American
>Dialect, the uninflected tone of TV news anchors that oozes authority and
>refinement.
>-----
>
>
>Interesting that the first two examples of Southern "accent" are lexical. The
>article goes on to discuss the "diversity of dialects" in the South, with
>obligatory references to "Appalachian twangs" and "Elizabethan lilts".
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
Office: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755




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