What's going on?!

Hey, for you near-Atlanta guys, This was on joke-a-day a couple years ago. I saved it because I just LOVE that Georgia accent and it's part of why I'm looking forward to going to Atlanta. I hope I am not in poor taste for posting this, because I don't mean to make fun. I really do love the accent.

HIRE YEW - Complete sentence. Remainder of greeting.
Usage: "Howdy. Hire yew."

JAWJUH - noun. A state just north of Florida. Capital is Lanner.
Usage: "Mah brother from Jawjuh bard mah pickup truck."

MUNTS - noun. A calendar division.
Usage: "Mah brother from Jawjuh bard mah pickup truck, and I ain't herd from him in munts."

RANCH - noun. A tool used for tight'nin' bolts.
Usage: "Ah thank I left mah ranch in the back of that pickup truck mah brother from Jawjuh bard a few munts ago."

ALL - noun. A petroleum-based lubricant.
Usage: "Ah sure hope mah brother from Jawjuh puts all in mah pickup truck."

FAR - noun. A conflagration.
Usage: "If mah brother from Jawjuh don't change the all in mah pickup truck, that things gonna catch far."

TAR - noun. A rubber wheel.
Usage: "Gee, ah hope that brother of mahn from Jawjuh don't git a flat tar in mah pickup truck."

Dr. Paul, this is pretty funny - but shows a lot of misconceptions (perpetuated by Hollywood) that I'd like to clear up. For one thing, there are actually quite a number of accents in Georgia, and especially in the South in general. As a linguist living in Georgia for most of my life, let me offer the following commentary:

HIRE YEW - Complete sentence. Remainder of greeting.
Usage: "Howdy. Hire yew."

This one's pretty close.

JAWJUH - noun. A state just north of Florida. Capital is Lanner.
Usage: "Mah brother from Jawjuh bard mah pickup truck."

Pretty close, but more common among older folks (especially blacks) than anyone 50 or younger. This goes for all accents that "drop the r's", so to speak (think Doc Holliday in "Tombstone").

MUNTS - noun. A calendar division.
Usage: "Mah brother from Jawjuh bard mah pickup truck, and I ain't herd from him in munts."

This one's really good. I also like "bard". But tell me how one can pronounce "herd" differently from "heard"...misspellings are not indicative of accent, but do play into stereotypes about academic competence.

RANCH - noun. A tool used for tight'nin' bolts.
Usage: "Ah thank I left mah ranch in the back of that pickup truck mah brother from Jawjuh bard a few munts ago."

I've never heard it pronounced this way. It's more likely to be pronounced "wrinch" or sometimes "wreeyinch".

ALL - noun. A petroleum-based lubricant.
Usage: "Ah sure hope mah brother from Jawjuh puts all in mah pickup truck."

This is definitely way off. The pronunciation of "oil" is fairly uniform from Texas through the South proper as "oll", kind of like the first part of the vowel in "ole" lengthened followed by a short "L" sound as in "pull".

FAR - noun. A conflagration.
Usage: "If mah brother from Jawjuh don't change the all in mah pickup truck, that things gonna catch far."

This one's pretty close for one particular accent: one pronounces the long "i" sound as "ah", and the other pronounces it with the same vowel as in "cat". Hence, the difference between the two can be shown with the word "ice" being pronounced as either "oss" or "ass". This latter group would pronounce "fire" more as "fa" (as in "fat") plus "r". I have actually found more Tennesseeans with the "ah" accent than Georgians, but that may just be my own experience.

This highlights another problem with all these that use the spelling "mah" for "my". Only when it is highly unaccented and clipped does it sound like "muh", but if it accented it follows the rule I mentioned above (two different pronounciations).

TAR - noun. A rubber wheel.
Usage: "Gee, ah hope that brother of mahn from Jawjuh don't git a flat tar in mah pickup truck."

Same as above. "Ta" (as in "tack") plus "r".

Also, Dr. Paul, if you're in Atlanta, you're not particularly likely to run across these accents (except maybe among some people at a gas station or Waffle House). This is because a strong Southern accent is not conducive to upward mobility in Atlanta. But if you want to hear a priceless accent, I'll give you my grandmother's phone number! Ok, so I wouldn't give it to you, but it is the best Southern accent ever.

Hey Jerry, maybe we should call you Prof. Higgins!

Your commentary was great. I don't have a good enough ear to distinguish some of these subtlties, but my daughter is quite good at accents, so she will probably understand your comments better than me.

It's kind of sad what you say about accents and upward mobility and also the general portrayal of Southern accents by Hollywood.

Did you happen to see the movie Big Fish? If so, how do you rate Albert Finny's or Ewan McGregor's Georgian accent?

I haven't seen Big Fish yet, but I've gotten to where I groan at the thought of anyone being trained by Hollywood dialect coaches on Southern accents. I did appreciate Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday (of course it would be an all-but-dead accent!), and there are more that are fairly good, but I can't think of any right now. That might be a commentary in itself!

'Enry 'Iggins ain't got nuhfink on me! Except, perhaps, for his expertise on British accents!

Big Fish was an interesting movie. My wife and I enjoyed it. Different, but good.

Hey! I just noticed this is my 600th post! (Commin' to get you, Cub.)

We're all still meeting here Thursday, May 18th'06, 3:00 PM New York time (do the math for your timezone) right? Do an RSVP

Bests, Rockefeller

I'll be here!

I gotta take my Mom to dialysis around that time. Not likely I can be here.

I'll try to make it, but it's looking doubtful.

Seems like I have already missed it... and considering I was at work during that time anyway, I say "oh well, better luck next time"...

If you want another meeting, might I suggest the Chat room over at the MSN Tex Murphy community?

-Cub. =o)