[thechat] tricky Yankee speech (was RE: Knife-man foundinBusinessWeek)

[Ben Dyer]

On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 10:01 AM, Joel D Canfield <joel at bizba6.com> wrote:

> my buddy Mike came with us from Texas when we moved back to San Diego.
> within a year he'd almost entirely lost his Texas drawl (TexOk,
> actually; he was born in Oklahoma then moved south.)
>
> he and I made a trip back to Texas five years later, and I swear, as we
> crossed the state line, the drawl came back. he didn't even realize it.
>

I've noticed that a lot of Texans (myself included) have the ability to dial
in a Texas accent to a particular level when needed.

For example, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being no accent and 10 being
"Howdy, y'all!," I default to about a 2 or 3. (I say "y'all" but my heart
isn't always in it, "oil" has two syllables again. A Minnesotan could
identify me as a southerner, but a native Texan might wonder if I was from
Ohio.)

*However*, I can ratchet that up to an 8 when the situation calls for it
(Brad Paisley concert, NASCAR race, convincing the mechanic working on my
car that I'm not an "easy mark") and still sound convincing. Anything above
8, it sounds like I'm making fun of the Texan accent.

--Ben

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