AP on Southern "accent" reduction

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Quoting Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>:

> 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.

Is that the Dixie equivalent of Locust Valley lockjaw?


--Ben Zimmer