This is Alabama. We speak english.

[sufrommich]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ohsvJHkbY


Jesus, the republicans aren't even trying to hide their headgear made out of sheets anymore.

[Name removed]

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[Ganja Ninja]

4. It's a dialect of authentic American frontier gibberish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5Mr5eCF2U&feature=related

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

20. Now who can argue with that? (nt)

[Name removed]

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[Fla_Democrat]

6. I only speak two languages

English, and bad English*

*Korben Dallas

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0003667/quotes

[a la izquierda]

18. love that movie.

[BrklynLiberal]

72. The Fifth Element is one of my alltime favorite movies. I watch it EVERY time it is on TV

[a la izquierda]

81. Mine too...

I've seen it about 200 times (I own it, too, so I can watch it whenever I want).

[BrklynLiberal]

85. I will own it...eventually.

[Soylent Brice]

21. multipass.

[DainBramaged]

31. Yep

[JHB]

9. Reminds me of the time I had to translate between native English-speakers...

...Tennessee vs Jamaican versions. Though that was after more than a few drinks...

My cousin's husband was in town on business and dropped by where I worked. While I was tying down some bit of business, he chatted with my co-worker, and somehow a friendly dispute arose about the fine points of bourbon vs. rum. Kinda took care of what we'd be doing after work. As the drinks mounted up my cousin-in-law's twang got thicker and slower, while Paul's island accent got thicker and faster, until they hit a point where neither one could quite make out what the other was saying, but since I was used to both I was able to translate.

The hangover is long gone, but the absurdity of translating from English to English stuck with me.
:toast:

[mzteris]

46. English to English. . .

ayuh...

Hell, get someone from say - Brooklyn and someone from any rural southern town in the same room - and they don't even have to be drunk! :rofl:

[conscious evolution]

52. One of my job duties once

was to translate between Bostonese and southern drawl.
I shoulda got hazard pay.

[Kalyke]

61. I'm from the South and my husband's from Boston.

We have no trouble talking to one another.

It's absurd to think that we Southerners speak such awful English that no one can understand us. And it's stereotypical to paint Brooklyn-born people that way, too.

I went to Brooklyn and had a ball... and every knew exactly what I was saying.

[mzteris]

67. oh lighten up... I'm a southerner born and bred and raised...

and yeah, people with extreme REGIONAL DIALECTS (no matter from whence they came) can have a wee bit of difficulty in communicating with EACH OTHER on occasion.

I mean, how many damn people know what the frick a "cooter hull" is unless you're from rural southern georgia. Heck The difference between Northern Georgia and Southern Georgia can be pronounced, you know?

[RubyDuby in GA]

68. "Heck The difference between Northern Georgia and Southern Georgia can be pronounced"

Shoot yeah! I live in Covington, which is just outside the perimeter of Atlanta and I went to college in Statesboro. Before I went to school, it was a pecan (puh-con). When I came home, it was a pee-can.

:)

[mzteris]

70. uh oh - THAT word . .

I still say "pee can" if I'm not thinking.

Then there's pee-cahn. and your puh-con

Oddly enough, it was my mama - born in Ben Hill County, GA - who despised that particular pronunciation (it's NOT a PEE! CAN!) - she used a fourth - puh`-can (emphasis on the puh) I guess if you grew up with outhouses, you knew what a "pee can" was and it didn't grow on trees! lol

[Iggo]

82. p'kahn

B-)

[mzteris]

84. Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahnnn!!!!

[mzteris]

79. btw -

my granma's name was Ruby.

:hi:

[Catherine Vincent]

75. Okay, what is it?

A "cooter hull"

[mzteris]

78. it's . . .

the trunk of the car.

Based on the "hull" (shell) of a "cooter" (turtle).

Weird one, eh?

[Catherine Vincent]

87. LOL! Thanks.

I would have never guessed it.

[Odin2005]

88. It is extremely hard for me to understand Deep South English and some British dialects.

The traditional English dialects of SE Scotland are so different from Standard English that they are often considered a separate language, called Scots.

Interestingly, many people from other parts of the country find us younger Upper-Midwesterners hard to understand because of a set of interesting sound changes here occurring on my generation, Most notable is the shift of R to a guttural pronunciation, like in French or German. We also tend to weaken our Ls at the end of syllables into Ws and drop a lot of consonants in between vowels, leaving a bit of lexical tonality. "stop" is often pronounced as "syahp" and "strong" sounds like "Shrahng"

[madokie]

17. Me from oklahoma and going off to the navy

and put with 62 other guys from all over the states. At first some of us really couldn't communicate other than much more than a grunt and a nod. That Boston accent sure was hard on an okies ears I'm telling you. I pock ma riide in the yowd, you did what, I pock ma riide in the yowd. Hey someone help me out here what is Joe saying? He said he parked his car in the front yard LOL

Hes a white sheeter though no doubt i can say that by his speaking style and body language and neither of those to lies.

[a la izquierda]

19. HAH! when i moved to OK...

from California, I still had remnants of my Jersey accent. This made my students laugh hysterically, every time I said anything with the letter R. Nowadays, when I visit my mom, the accent comes back and my students constantly ask me to embellish it to sound like the idiots on that show Jersey Shore.

[madokie]

28. It should only be funny and not serious like this ahole would like it to be

I'm a better person for having learned to speak and understand the different accents we have here and some like my example was as foreign as if it really was a foreign language, to me at the time.
When I went to Vietnam I knew no words or very few so it was a real challenge and I and the Vietnamese who I would be trying to communicate with would get some good laughs trying to figure out what we each were saying and thats the way it should be. The navy in all their wisdom didn't bother to teach me any Vietnamese language before they dumped my ass over there. I seen through the American mission right off and I fell in love with the people and being fortunate to get to talk to a Vietnamese who immigrated here is always the highlight of my outings even to today. If I would have fell in love with one of the girls I would be married to her today providing she felt the same that is but I didn't. Love and in love are two different things.

On a serious note what he hell are we going to do about our reptilicons and our lone wolf in sheeps clothing dino? I seriously wonder about our electronic vote counting machines we use because it wasn't that long ago that okla was a dem state. Well its been a few years but when I first started voting it was. Locally no offices are held by the reptilicons that I know of and pretty much never have been. Most times a :puke: won't even enter the race around here.

[WilliamPitt]

32. My father is from Alabama.

He served in state government and Democratic politics his entire life. His English is perfect.

My grandmother lived in Alabama her whole life. She taught kindergarten for 50 years, and taught me to read when I was two. Her English was flawless.

My grandfather lived in Alabama his entire life. He was a beloved pediatrician, and his English was excellent.

I would tell you what I really think of your post and opinion, but I don't want this post to get deleted. Consider the wish to be the act.

[QC]

36. Thank you, Will.

Your grandmother was a friend of my family and truly a kind and gracious lady.

It gets so old seeing this kind of venom spewed all over this place, and I appreciate you speaking up about it.

While we're on the subject, I am from Alabama and have a Ph.D. in English, a subject that I have been teaching for twenty years. My mother and father, whose speech might not meet the stringent standards of our oh-so-cultured friends in this thread, are staunch Democrats.

Bigotry sucks.

[WilliamPitt]

38. REALLY?

Your family knew Dorothy? You have people from Decatur?

Small goddam world.

:hug:

[QC]

40. Yes, I knew Dorothy from very early childhood.

She and my mother were close friends. My mom adored her.

In fact, I remember Dorothy bragging about what a smart grandson she had.

[WilliamPitt]

41. What is your mother's name?

It's entirely possible I met her. I spent weeks every summer with my Memaw. She was, quite simply, the kindest person I've ever known.

[liberal N proud]

37. Its not just Alabama!

The whole country has a speaking problem.

The point is, people calling for single language don't realize that even english is so different due to local dialect and accent that it could be a separate language.

Wish what you want, some would say to think it is as bad as to do it. I wasn't hitting on Alabama alone. But what ever!

[dixiegrrrrl]

44. Hey, Will, I lived in Decatur for a bit.

And Anniston, Mobile, and several little towns in SW Ala.:hi:
And in many places outside of the South.

Ironic that how we speak is called "ignorant" by people who
themselves are ignorant of the variety of accents in the Southern states.

[mzteris]

49. now Will -

the English may be flawless - but what do they sound like??

I'm not cracking on yo grandma or your dad. Not all "southerners, nor all Alabamians speak like they just fell off the turnip truck. Don't take it personally.

Just like not all southerners are racists or fundamentalists nor misogynists nor southern belles, rednecks, Nascar fans, nor hunters and fishermen.

I was born and raised in Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky, summers in Charleston, SC (now there's an accent for ya!), spent some time in northern Ohio, 20+ years in North Carolina, and been in Wisconsin for about three - so I've been around a LOT of "accents". Funny how people think only "others" have accents and they have none.


Funny story: in college I was engaged to a guy from Brooklyn. My old trumpet instructor was from Long Island and (seeing as how I picked up the accents of people I'm around - still do) I sounded like I was from "New yawk" for a while ... People would ask me where I was from and I'd respond, "Georgia". The double-takes were priceless.


You know as well as I do that the "stereotype" attached to "Southerners" is strongly supported by the vast numbers of "southerns" who fit that stereotype to a "T" (or should I say "tea"? :) ) I made my kids speak clearly as I didn't want them to have a hick accent. There was study in the 60's that showed people tend to equate southern accents with "stupid". Which is stupid, but the fact remains that people who hear a deep southern drawl, usually assume the person speaking isn't very smart. Sometimes, that can be to the southerners advantage.

My beautiful daughter can turn her Southern accent on and off at will. It's amazing what a beautiful woman with a "charming" southern accent can get people to do!

[Mopar151]

74. Watch American Loggers

The reality show about the Pelliteir family from Millinocket, Maine. There are several Yankee/French Canadian accents the producers subtitle. My wife is of French Canadian ancestry, born in Dorchester - there are times I think Canuck is it's own language. "Throw me, down the stairs, the hammer, you."
I used to work with an old gentleman who had gone to elementary school in French, with the nuns on the West Side of Manchester. "Dem engineer, dey should lay da godddammit print out, side by each, and see da dimension, dey agree." Then we worked with a Swiss engineer whose first language was European French. What a train wreck......

[HereSince1628]

3. That is so, so funny considering the linguistic origins of the several vernaculars

spoken there.

[proudohioan]

22. Too true!

I always found it funny, the difference in accents between Cleveland and Akron..... and they are only about 35 miles apart!

[salguine]

5. "Just don't ask us to spell anything."

[Name removed]

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[BlueJazz]

8. LOL! pretty funny.

[muffin1]

10. That is hilarious!

Omg...thanks, I needed that.:yourock:

[southern_belle]

hahahaha

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[southern_belle]

11. hahahaha

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[my2sense]

12. bwahahaha - did you get that by infiltrating a tea bagger party?

:rofl:

[Altoid_Cyclist]

16. In times such as this, sometimes we all need a good laugh.

That did it for me.


:rofl:


A lot of people in this part of PA (mostly the ones whining about feriners not talking good english) sound as though they dropped out of school around grade 5 or 6. Yinz done know what I mean if yinz lived in western PA. They's all done heard the announcers on the NASCAR say that Junior just done blowed up his engine too much I think.

[old mark]

13. Hey, some of my family members are from Alabama and THEY speak English...

Of course they have been assimilated Yankees for a generation now...
They even wear shoes, especially in the snow.

Funny, though-they are all tobacco chewing truck drivers...even the men!

m

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. I was slurring the Republican Gubernatorial Candidate

not all Alabamians, besides it makes as much sense as his 'we speak english' pitch.

[old mark]

25. Many of my Alabamian transplanted relatives really are tobacco chewing truckdrivers-

we visited their home a few summers ago, left after they started talking about the "dirty jews", and related cultural artifacts...
I am related to them by marriage, but I don't like them and the feeling is reciprocated.

mark

[zbdent]

14. England would have something to say about what we call English ...

but I doubt many people would understand what England actually said ...

[QC]

24. Even been to Newcastle? n/t

[zbdent]

26. no.

[HipChick]

27. I can understand a Geordie...

but when I was in Alabama, I could barely understand anyone...and they could barely understand me..I used to have to write things down on post-it notes...and I speak the Queens English..

[QC]

29. You're English?

I didn't know that, since your profile is kept so carefully hidden.

[mzteris]

51. +1.

Though don't some linguistic studies show that Southern English is more closely related to British English than the rest of the American accents?

Can't remember where I read that.

[conscious evolution]

58. 18th Century English

mixed in with what the Lowlands Scots spoke.Throw in some of the African dialects for spice.

Learned that in a college literature class many years ago.Southern english is a mish mash of the locales original immigrants dialects.

[olegramps]

23. I have relatives in Georgia that I can't understand and I lived in the South.

[Name removed]

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[WilliamPitt]

33. My father is from Alabama.

He served in state government and Democratic politics his entire life. His English is perfect.

My grandmother lived in Alabama her whole life. She taught kindergarten for 50 years, and taught me to read when I was two. Her English was flawless.

My grandfather lived in Alabama his entire life. He was a beloved pediatrician, and his English was excellent.

I would tell you what I really think of your post and opinion, but I don't want this post to get deleted. Consider the wish to be the act.

[Ichingcarpenter]

34. Did you watch the video,,,,, a rethuglican gubernatorial candidate

Ad to the State of Alabama.

[WilliamPitt]

35. Have you read the rest of your thread?

The comments are great.

:sarcasm:

I'll put up a link to Boston mayor Tom Menino trying to speak. He talks like he has a haddock in his mouth.

But the South is easy to poke fun at, especially around here.

Sorry if I sounded harsh above, but I have a zero-tolerance policy for South-bashing around here, because people who do it are directly insulting me and my family.

Stupid is not solely a Southern commodity, despite all stereotypes to the contrary.

[QC]

39. This thread has gotten precisely the responses it was designed to elicit.

It's an old game around here, Will.

[petronius]

47. I'm not sure I'd put the blame on the OP - from the body of the post it

seems the intent was to highlight 'bagger bigotry rather than stereotyped Alabaman inarticulacy (although putting the subject line in quotes would have helped).

However, it does seem that there is an automatic state and/or region bashing that crops up around here whenever an unlikable idea/person is associated with certain places. Kind of sad, really, because James' opinion on English-only laws and his use of it as a campaign issue could be worth discussing...

[QC]

53. Some subjects cannot be discussed intelligently here.

Anything related to the South is one of those.

[Name removed]

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[cherokeeprogressive]

60. Well put Will.

Boy am I glad there is no bigotry at DU.

[Name removed]

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[QC]

43. .

[Name removed]

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[Shell Beau]

48. The hardest dialect to understand for me is the cajun one, but I LOVE it!!

[mzteris]

56. budreaux and tijon "jokes" . .

I grew up in GA hearing the phrase "buddy row" - Meaning good friend. It wasn't until years later and I was around a bunch of New Orleans people (in Mobile) that I figured out that "buddy row" probably came from Budreaux. . .

speaking of very odd dialects - ever heard "Gichee" or gullah? I worked "on Broad" in Charleston, SC and occasionally an islander would pop in - sometimes I had to go get a "translator".

[Shell Beau]

57. No, I've never heard those. I am sure I'd be fascinated though.

I love accents.

[conscious evolution]

63. I grew up around gullah

When I lived in California I would start speaking it when ever I was around African Americans.
They looked at me like I was speaking Klingon.That or they thought I was mocking Ebonics.

Gullah also messes with Carribeean patois speakers.They recognize it as a patois but one they have never heard.What really fucks with their head is hearing a white guy speak it.

[Shell Beau]

50. I probably sound like everyone in Alabama. While you may not be

able to understand me, I can assure you I speak proper English.


ETA: I do say "y'all" and that may not be proper. Big deal.

[mzteris]

54. yonder, yall, and ain't . . .

three words that seem to dog me. (Though I do just use ain't humourously now. . . )

When I moved to northern Ohio, and worked with a company based out of Pitssburgh - I started saying "Yall guys"... they all thought it was a 'hoot'.


:hi: yall...

[Shell Beau]

55. Why say you all when all you have to say is y'all??

:P

I do crack up when someone says all y'all!

[sufrommich]

62. I really didn't post this to argue whether or not southeners

speak english, of course they do. I think a lot of people posting on this thread did not bother to watch the linked video.

[Shell Beau]

65. I guess we southerners get a bit defensive since we get

lambasted on DU so much.

[bridgit]

59. They speak rockets too, we maintain a couple IC agreements in Alabama...

And aside from a regional adjustment or two in terms of pacing, delivery time-lines and such; the folks we deal with are real nice people

[mitchum]

64. Cracker patois

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[treestar]

73. I just don't get why they care

So it can be given in 12 languages? That's great. So what? He can take his in English. It has nothing to do with him.

I passed my driver's exam years ago (in English) and do not GAF if someone takes it in Korean today. As long as the DMV is satisfied a person can drive, so what?

[yellowcanine]

76. Personally I would rather make sure the drivers really know the rules rather than

take the test so many times that they memorize the right answers even if they don't actually understand it. Anyway it is the road test that is really important and as long as they can read the relevant road signs and handle a vehicle safely who really gives a crap?

[RT Atlanta]

77. Roll tide roll...

and "no," the test in English only doesnt make sense to me.

[whistler162]

80. Perhaps they need to go over to Lousiiana and

explain that to some Cajun's!

[Shell Beau]

86. A teacher of mine in high school had the thickest cajun accent.

We loved it, but it was so hard to understand him. We always poked fun at him, but we really loved it, and it helped me understand the cajun dialect much more. I still have a time with it.

[Iggo]

83. Thanks, Timmy boy.

I didn't realize people weren't allowed to take their driver's license test in English, but were forced to take it in a language they didn't understand.

I'm TOTALLY against that!

[keroro gunsou]

89. if you can call it that

i've been to alabama 4 times in my life... honestly, i need a translator sometimes.