RE: A Split Spelling Personality Brought On By Americanization
Oh, agony! I live in E. Tennessee, the Southern Appalachian region of the U.S., where a variety of archaic influences still flavor (flavour?) our speech and culture, or at least it still does for the older members of the populace. In my younger years, my then-heavy Tennessee accent (which is NOT a Southern accent, y'all and btw) was an embarrassment for me and I set out to homogenize (homogenise? Damn it! No, dammit! ~sigh) my speech. I succeeded and then realized (I'm not doing it this time) that I had just rid myself of a very important part of my heritage and culture. Now I'm just a blend of it all, so if you read me eventually you may find bits of this and bites of that as I no longer worry about consistently speaking or spelling "proper" American English. I view language now as a work of art, a painting if you will, where one may use Poppy Red in one area and Rose Red in another in order to create the feel and texture needed to express themselves.
Here is a rather interesting article from the West Virginia Archives and History regarding the Southern Appalachian, or Southern Mountain, dialects.
http://www.wvculture.org/history/journal_wvh/wvh30-2.html
Great post, by the way!
Peace
What an entertaining reply @areynolds! You definitely sound like you have the same affliction as me :-) The Appalachian region; isn't that where Max Cady from Cape Fear came from? If so that is one of my favourite (favorite?) US accents. I shall definitely check out your stuff :-)
Cg
Why, yes! Cape Fear is about 8 hours East from me, on t'other side of the Smoky Mountains. The accent is pretty much the same, although some terms differ, and Di Niro did a fair to middlin' job with it. It's a hard accent to mimic accurately, I think, in part due to the fact that it's more than just an accent, it's an entire dictionary of words and phrases combined with the accent that gives it authenticity. Even if the drawl is not there, we can still tell you ain't from 'round here just by the words used. lol.
Thank you so much for your reply, @cryptogee, but I must go now and fetch me a wrap cause I reckon it's going to be a might airish tonight, what with Fall comin' on an whatnot. :)
Peace
Awesome, "a might airish" what a great expression! I'm just imagining sitting down with you on a cliched porch, sippin shine, and shootin the breeze :-)
That's interesting that you say that Di Niro did a fair to middling job, I've always wondered about how good it is; as I love to mimic and recite those lines over and over :-)
Thanks for the link earlier and y'all come back now y'hear!
Cg