Drawl-itics

[Philosoraptor]

Some folks have pointed out recently that the deeply hated Hillary Clinton has the audacity to slip in a drawl when speaking to southern or black crowds, others have accused Obama of doing the same thing, but who oh who is the king of slipping in a drawl before certain crowds?

george dubya, that's who. He's been known to git all southerny and drawly in his constant attempts to trick the stupid into believing he's a Texan, born and bred, but then it's back to his Kennebunkport accent. Republicans always overlook our mentally challenged president's faults of course.

How do you feel about politicians using Drawl-itics?

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Hell, I do the same damn thing

It's natural for anyone to slip into the local accent. Even an hour or two schmoozing with the locals can do it. The ear adapts to the sound of the received speech, and the voice follows. Sometimes this is called "mirroring".

The difference with Bush is that he has been known to turn it on and off, not depending on where he is, but on whether he's trying to impress people that he's "jes' plain folks".

--p!

[Swamp Rat]

3. Me too.

I'm a regular Hill Myna. :D

[parasim]

2. I personally have no problem with it.

If someone has lived in a place for long enough, it is certainly easy to slip back into the local accent or dialect when around people from there. No need to be born and bred there.

Case in point, I was raised Michigan's Upper Peninsula, so I grew up with a very thick U.P. accent. I've since lost it, because I haven't lived there in 30 years. However, I just spent a week in Duluth, MN (where everyone has a similar accent) and by the end of the week I sllipped right back into it and was talking like the cab driver. I wasn't trying to, just happened.

Also, having being born in Oklahoma (only lived there the first 4 years) I had a a pretty strong southern accent, but lost it shortly after moving to the north. However, I tend to talk with that accent whenever I spend time down south.

I've also been known to pick up an accents when I spend time in places that I've never even lived before. After a couple of weeks in England one time I started speaking with a slight English accent. I suppose some people would think I'm being disingenuous by doing that, but I honestly don't try to do that and really don't really care what people think about it anyway.

I don't think there is anything necessarily nefarious about slipping into any particular accent when addressing people from the area. Never understood why people get so bent out of shape over it. But that's just my humble opinion.


on edit: spelling

[LeftHander]

4. Yaaahhh...don'cha know.....you betcha.....oh yaaaaaa.....nt

[parasim]

6. oh yaaah, you got dat aboot right, eh?

... y'all... : )

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. I do a similar thing but in reverse

When I go home to visit (California) I find I'm once again speaking faster and have all but lost the drawl that I've picked up from my time in Texas. When I return to Texas in a short time it once again returns.

[Little Wing]

7. Just because Bush does it doesn't mean it's okay

Personally I think anyone who does this is a shallow phony. Or, a Politician depending upon how cynical one is.

[cloudbase]

8. It's good to have a "multilingual" president.

Too bad that English isn't one of his languages.