Now correct me if I’m wrong, but there isn’t a corner of the world you can visit and speak to someone without an accent. Everyone’s dialect comes from somewhere and it is not hard to realize that some sound more eloquent than others. However, it is a common conception that people from the southern part of the United States, with a bit of a southern drawl, are dumb rednecks that don’t know simple addition or how to read.

This irritates me to no end, and there are a few reasons why.

1. The accent with which I talk has no bearing on the actual words coming from my mouth.

Now if you had heard me read this sentence out loud then you would have noticed a hint of southern accent despite the syntax of the sentence being more sophisticated than most. This doesn’t keep the words from being sophisticated but since I said them with a southern accent it would be viewed as out of the ordinary by some.

2. I understand that this is a stereotype perpetuated by movies, television, and frankly dumb people saying dumber things and happening to be from the South.

I also understand that there are far worse stereotypes but two wrongs don’t make a right. I don’t think that anyone should be stereotyped based on things we have little to no control over.

3. Last but not least, there are some out there who would feel it’s OK to mock or ridicule someone with a southern accent for having one and assume that they are of a lesser intelligence and to say this is just bull is an understatement.

I work in a customer-facing environment that leaves me to speak with an upwards of 100 customers on a busy day like a Friday. Earlier this week I was speaking to a customer who complimented me on my glasses to which I responded, “Aww thank you!” Now reading that doesn’t seem like much of an issue, but with my southern accent, it came out way more Fried Green Tomatoes than some of the other things I say. Any normal person would have either ignored it or just smiled; however, this particular gentleman chose to say, “Well aren’t we just the lumpiest pumpkin in the patch there?” in the fakest, most ridiculous country bumpkin accent I had ever heard. I’m 100 percent positive my mouth dropped open in complete shock. He was calling me dumb right to my face right after giving me a compliment. The only dumb I was that day was dumbfounded that someone could be so asinine.

All of this to say that no matter where someone comes from, it is never OK to judge their intelligence based on their looks, accent, or anything else. Unless you’re administering an IQ test and see the results then don’t assume that you know how intelligent someone is. Just to be safe.