Hi peeps! Yesterday I ended the blog pretty abruptly and I wanted to apologize for that in case any of you got whiplash from the sudden stop. I was thoroughly enjoying the perfect morning and writing away when I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to meet my friend Mary at 11 a.m. so that we could go to this cooking show at the Dallas Convention Center. So, I had to hurry up and get dressed and head out. The cooking show was terrific. I had a lot of fun and I bought some amazing chefs knives that have to be shipped to me. I can't wait to get them.
Paula Deen was the headliner for this show. I've never been much of a Paul Deen fan but I sort of became one yesterday. Here's my deal. I have low or no tolerance for people with heavy accents. Okay, if you just entered the country and have a fresh visa or foreign passport, it's ok to have an accent. If you live in a small rural area and you never leave that area, then it is also ok to have an accent. But if you have been on national TV, exposed to people without heavy accents on a normal basis and travel all over the country speaking to others who speak normally, wouldn't some of that heavy accent just sort of naturally go away? I mean, is it just me or does her accent seem to get thicker?
I know people who have lived almost their entire lives in Dallas suburbs and they speak like the just fell off a turnip truck. If someone asks where you are from and you respond "Play-noe-ah" literally adding syllables to the word, there is something wrong. Plano is not in the boonies. The six people who are actually from Plano do not have thick rural Texas accents. They speak with practically no accent at all. The other 269,770 people who live in Plano are actually all from some place else. The majority are from foreign countries. Several thousand of them are from the northeast, which is sort of a foreign country on it's own. Many others are from the midwest. But I can't tell you how often I talk to someone with a thick Texas accent and find out that they are from Carrollton, Lewisville or Farmers Branch. The thick Texas accent is not a result of listening to others around you speaking that way on a daily basis since most of the people in this part of the Metroplex seem to be from some place other than Texas.
If you sound like Gomer Pyle you are not from Carrollton. But here's my theory. Those people who have lived most of their lives in whatever North American urban area that they live in and still carry a serious accent do so by choice. It's their way of standing out, of being an individual. They are no different than a 16 year old girl dressed in goth clothing or a high school boy with a bright green mohawk. It is just a cry for attention. And that's why it bothers me. Do you want to stand out? Then do something worthy of garnering some attention!
I am sure that Paula Deen really did grow up in a place where everybody talks like she does. But she perpetuates the accent. At this point it has become part of her shtick. If some blond lady with a gigantic smile walked into a crowded room and just began talking with no accent and cooking shrimp and grits, we probably wouldn't pay much attention. But when the same blond lady with a crazy thick accent does it, she's recognizable and for some people easy to identify with. It's endearing on her.
Don't even get me started on the accents of our foreign neighbors to the south. If your family has lived in Texas for more than one generation, then you need to stop rolling your rrrrrrrrrrrrrr's when you say your name. We all get that you are Hispanic and proud of that. The fact that you name is Maria Garcia is sufficient evidence of your heritage. You do not need to extend the pronunciation of your name by thirty seconds making it Marrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrria Garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrcia to prove that you are Hispanic. I get that 37.6% of Texas' population is Hispanic so you are trying to make yourself stand out. But really, it's not necessary.
My worst pet peeve in the world is people who talk completely normally but when they come to one particular word, they feel the need to pronounce the word in a foreign language. This is Texas people. We pronounce the word crow-sant. Don't go getting all uppity and french on us and do that quwaaaaa-sancht thing that makes it sound like you have a french pastry stuck in the back of your throat. When I hear croissant pronounced that way, I get a sudden urge to perform the Heimlich maneuver on the speaker. It's okay to sound like an American even when you are using a foreign word if you are indeed IN America.
Now, with all this said, I must admit that when I go to East Texas, my accent suddenly becomes thicker. You see, living in Dallas, I make a serious effort to hide my East Texas accent. But when you are around other people with the same accent, it just creeps out! I lose all control of my accent as soon as my car crosses the Nacogdoches county line. The weirdest thing is that I don't necessarily have to go to Nacogdoches for this phenomenon to occur. If my family members from there come to visit me, it happens also. So I won't judge anybody if they suddenly start speaking in Wisconsonese when their family comes to visit. But once they go back home, talk like an American damn it!
No comments:
Post a Comment