southern accents

[JBFRAME at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/30/2002 2:47:48 PM Pacific Standard Time:


> ...back to Dugan, who "pronounced 'out' like 'oot'", which "irritated
> 

Got a little lesson in the variations in regional southern accents when I was 
in the Army.  The "oot" for "out" pronunciation occurs mostly in Virginia & 
Kentucky.  Naturally a Louisianan would not speak that way.  I knew a Black 
guy from Kentucky who talked that way.  Canadians have a pronunciation that 
is similar but not quite the same.  It is more like the "oa" in boat or oat.  
A Canadian would probably find the Virginia pronunciation alien, although to 
other Americans it might sound the same.  And in Virginia it's not really 
"oot," either. It's more like the way an Englishman would say it, to my way 
of hearing.  I think Gary Cooper in _The Virginian_ had a pretty good accent. 
 "When you call me that, smile."

http://themave.com/Cooper/filmog3.htm

I knew two National Guardsmen from North Carolina who were taking basic 
training at Fort Polk the same time I was there.  The main thing I noticed 
about the way they talked was they would say, "Raw cheer" for, "Right here."  
This was in 1967 when things were still segregated except on post.  When we 
were about to be given weekend passes, our captain told us not to speak to 
the local police officers, not even to ask directions, because, "They don't 
like the army down here." 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20021130/688b4271/attachment.html>