Northern ignorance

Prior to coming to the United States, the character Cletus from the Simpsons show is how I perceived southern Americans to be like. I could only base this judgement on my lack of exposure to southern Americans. Ayers argues that Northerners also base their judgement of southerners on similar experiences by saying, “One of the primary characteristics of the stereotypical southerner is ignorance, but it is a specific kind of ignorance – one disassociated from education and literacy” (210). These perceptions promote the idea that southern dialect is inferior to other English dialects.
The Glossary of Quaint Southernisms rejects this idea by saying that “southern dialect is simply a variation of grammar spoken in that particular region, the southern tier of the US states.” This statement points out that even though southern grammar may sound strange and inadequate to the North, it is equally effective as any other dialect of English.
The definition of Southern American English on Wikipedia shows that it is the largest accent group in the United States. This means that it could easily be seen as the standard that others should conform to. This shows Southern Americans do not use their numerical advantage to discriminate other dialects.
In conclusion I believe that the Glossary of Quaint Southernisms helps to quash Northern perceptions of Southern language. It shows great respect for the dialect as it gives definitions of southern expressions and shows how they are just another variation of the English language; like British English, Australian English, etc, are. This shows that it is only pure ignorance which halts Southern English from being seen in the light as it should be; just as good as any other dialect. The Wikipedia definition also makes me warm to southerners more as it shows that they do not waste their time in discriminating other dialects; they are simply happy with using their own perfect dialect.