Southern Reputations

Sipping sweet tea while rocking on your front porch is the image I generally tend to think of as “the South”. Of course, slow talking Southern belles and good ole farm boys are also part of that picture. However, I know that this image is not something you see everyday when you drive down the street. Yes, we do have our rednecks and farms are pretty common, but does this mean we are uneducated? Northerners and others not from around these parts seem to think so, and the number one reason would probably be due to our accent.
The Southern accent is different depending on where one was raised. I feel like my accent is not as heavy as some, but after taking the “Are you a Rebel or a Yankee” I discovered I might be wrong. According to the quiz I am about 94% Dixie, and it also said that General Lee was practically my Grandfather. Either way I am willing to accept how I sound, and I am not ashamed in any way. Most Southerners would say the same thing. I have yet to meet someone who dislikes the way they talk so much that they try to get rid of it. If anything, I would say that people are more likely to put on a southern accent. As southerners we feel as if the accent makes us who we are. Rosina Lippi-Green states in the article Hillbillies, Rednecks, and Southern Belles that, “The North and the South have conspired to create each other’s identity as well as their own (205).” People in the south know that we are viewed negatively by many because of our accents, but we have accepted it and moved forward. We have given this serotype to ourselves.
The website, “Ron Collins’ Southern Dialect Converter”, was poorly done. I personally blame things like this for the bad reputation that Southerners receive. After reading through the information on this website I concluded that it was made as more of a joke than as informative. Yes, some of the sayings we use were true as were some of the facts, but it was more or less the way they were presented. I do not believe Ron Collins is necessarily using the "strategy of condescension", but it does seem at some point as if he is poking fun. He also talks about the South in a way where it would be considered a monolith. This website depicts us as one giant group of people that hate anything and everything Northern, which is not always the case. I believe this website would be more useful as a joke than somewhere to get reliable information.
My Southern accent is something that I am proud I can say I have. It is not only a part of who I am, but it is also my heritage. This is why I believe no one should be looked down upon because of the way they sound. You should get to know someone before you judge them on what they look like or the way they speak.