Huckleberries Online

Hall: Don’t Be Put Off By Accents

Posted by DFO

Aug. 30, 2010 1:19 p.m. • 10 comments

We socially twitchy human beings tend to judge other people not only by the color of their skins but by the weird accents of their voices. For instance, I know a man who speaks upper crust English in the same accent as former English Prime Minister Tony Blair. But that’s misleading. My friend is a man of ordinary interests no smarter than most of us. But when you hear him speak, the accent tends to make a person think the speaker has some giant brain. We don’t often experience that accent around here. But when we hear it on television, it is often some brainy British politician, philosopher or scientist. So we tend to equate that accent with smart people, whether they are or not. On the other hand, President Lyndon Johnson and President George W. Bush - two men with down-home Texas accents - sound like uneducated hicks to my bigoted ear/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

DFO: My father-in-law was a sharp man who taught math and science in high school. However, he had an accent that made him sound as though he came from the streets of Brooklyn. Which he did — and an orphanage, to boot.

Question: Do you form opinions of others as a result of their accents?

10 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

moscow_minidoka on August 30 at 1:30 p.m.
For me it’s less about accent and more about vocabulary and syntax. An educated British fellow like Tony Blair had the verbal firepower to back up his accent, but many Brits sound like absolute morons. They have the same social-status delineation of accents as we do here - I think it probably exists in every language.

I’ve heard many educated southerners speak, and they didn’t sound like hillbillies - they sounded like smart people with a lovely, gentle accent. Sarah Palin sounds like an idiot not because of her weird Alaska by way of Minnesota accent, but because she butchers the English language.

I try not to form opinions based on accent alone. If I have a weak spot, it’s probably the anti-southern accent prejudice that I inherited from my family. Well, and the fact that so many people in some parts of Idaho seem to have a fake southern accent that is an affectation they picked up from TV shows and country music so they can signal that they’re “down home.”
kamm on August 30 at 1:38 p.m.
Usually my opinions are wrong; I’m trying to change that.
But ‘Yes’ to that question, on occasion, anyway.
toadman on August 30 at 1:49 p.m.
Regional American accents are becoming a thing of the past…for the most part, and for those who have met me in person, you’d never know listening to me talk that I grew up in rural Texas.

Also, as M_M said, accent belies intelligence. Context, content and vocabulary, does.

I include ‘context,’ which I think is very important in this case, for the following reason: A person may modify their speech pattern in order to be better understood by the person with which they are conversing. For example, if I talk to you, you may not realize I grew up in rural Texas, but meet me in the Feed Store in Boyd, TX, and you would. Why? Because I modify my speech pattern when clarity of communication is needed. The British do this all the time. Our own Marmitetoasty does this. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with her on the phone more than once, and she can modify her colloquial accent to something more palatable and understandable to American ears, when needed. It seems to me, the ability to recognize this, and the ability to even slightly modify ones speech patterns in order to be better understood, also indicates a certain level of intelligence, or at the least, education. For in truth, the term “intelligence” itself, is subjective.
nic on August 30 at 5:09 p.m.
I have this habit when it comes to accents…. if I spend enough time around someone with an accent, I will naturally (and involuntarily) start to emulate their accent. Southern, British, Aussie, Bavarian… doesn’t really matter what. And I can’t help it - even if I try to stop.

Several years ago, I was working at an Old Navy in the Boise area. Three customers came through my line - one after the other - all with Southern drawls. By the time the fourth person stepped up to my register (also with an accent) I matched hers perfectly.

After that, I couldn’t shake it. It was enough that one of my coworkers asked me where I was from. I told her, “Seattle.” She said, “No, really - where are you from?” And with a deep drawl, I repeated, “Seattle.” She still didn’t believe me.
nic on August 30 at 5:10 p.m.
MM and toad are spot on: what is said is far truer a test of intelligence than how it is spoken.
ejs on August 30 at 7:24 p.m.
Accents are great I love them
stacyp on August 30 at 7:39 p.m.
I’m a sucker for an accent. Someone who speaks a different dialect or language - must have a story or two.
Mr_Bloggy on August 30 at 7:41 p.m.
I speak with a profound drunkinese accent if you were to meet me in a bar anywhere-

yesh, she’shh aroun hir shumplaysh - I know she ish. Hiccup! Heyshh, whashh yoush name gin?
moscow_minidoka on August 31 at 8:09 a.m.
@RLM: Kindly refrain from using racist epithets, if you could.
Stickman on August 31 at 1:53 p.m.
Being where I am and what I do, I meet people all summer long who have many different accents. I had a couple the other day from Turkey, though they spoke perfect English. I meet people from all over the world and love all the different accents and languages.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.