Southern Accent

The depiction that Southerners are poorly educated and the lesser of the United States stands as a constant stereotype in today's society. However, this is only a matter of opinion. So it is easy to say that the treatment of Southern dialect is negative, only by those who do not speak it. The Glossary of Quaint Southernisms is written to show differences in the words of Standard English verses the Southern "twang" ways of speaking(202). As a born and raised Southerner myself, I see nothing wrong with the Glossary of Quaint Southernisms. In fact, I find the site quite humorous. The fact that someone thought to put a spelling to the words that in no way belong in a dictionary, is humorous to me as a Southerner. In no way does the site "put down" the different dialects and speaking of words by the Southern people. It simply shows the phonetic transcription and spelling of the words used everyday in the places that Lippie Green describes as the land of the "hillbillies, rednecks, and Southern Belles." Also, upon taking the "Are you a rebel or a Yankee?" quiz, I found that it did not "put down" the Southern language. When answering a question, I found the information given back to be rather informative as to where the words were used and originated. Therefore, this informative site gave the "neutral" approach to the situation of right and wrong pronunciation of specific words. The site also seems credible in that it gave information as to the exact location of the use of Northern and Southern ways of speaking. Upon completion of the quiz, there was no right or wrong way of speaking if you were considered from "dixie" or you were a Yankee. It is my opinion that the Southerners will always be Southerners. The thoughts of Northerners as they "tend to think of the South as a homogenous and somewhat mysterious monolith, where English has an indescriminate "twang" or "drawl," will never be justified. As much as the Northerners call us the un-educated Hillbillies and Southern Belles, we fight back with the fact that they are no good and rude Yankees.