Although I live in the south and attend college in the south, often times when I check out a grocery store or order at a restaurant I get the comment "your accent is so cute." I often laugh off this comment and just move on about my day, but the more I receive this comment the more I realize how much some people underestimate southerners. Thinking about this made me think of some rather funny struggles that people with strong southern accents tend to have.
1. You don't think you have an accent.
Like I said earlier, I am from the south so until I went off to college and met people that are not from the south, I never really thought I had a accent. I just thought I talked like everyone else. Talk about a reality check.
2. Sometimes people don't understand the things you say.
Once you combine your southern draw with the speed that excited southern women often add to their speech, apparently it is very difficult to understand. Plus people in the south apparently pronounce things funny, too. This was also a shock for me.
3. "I didn't expect you to talk like that."
I'm not really sure what people mean by this, especially because I'm always supporting southern fashion staples, but apparently I don't look like I would have a strong southern accent... Still not sure whether to take this as an insult or a compliment.
4. People often ask you to say things so they can hear you talk.
Every. Single. Time. that I am introduced to someone who isn't from the south, the person introducing me always says "talk so they can hear your accent." Or I am introduced as the girl with a strong accent and they ask me to say something. One of my friends that is from Chicago actually texted me one time and asked me to record myself talking so she could show her friends. (I'm not kidding.)
5. People always ask the legendary question, "Where are you from?"
When asked this I often want to reply Heaven on Earth but, if I am in a different state, I say I'm from Alabama. If I am in Alabama I say Athens, but then have to remind myself that people either don't know what that is or think I'm talking about Georgia, so I say I'm from a small town near Huntsville.
6. Some people automatically think you live on a farm.
7. You don't get to use cool smartphone features because your phone can't understand anything you say.
Tried to talk to Siri once and she literally replied and said she could not understand me. I gave up.
8. You know that people often question your intelligence.
This one is very common and pretty obvious. There is such a negative connotation around southern accents, and I'm really not too sure why. Have you seen some southern ingenuity? Its pretty clever.
9. Want to learn how to speak another language properly? Forget it.
Hahaha, yeah. This is just not happening.
