Southern Accents

Everyone knows the stereotype of the slow southern drawl. But how common is it really? In my southern hometown, far less than half of the people I knew had what would be considered a southern accent. In fact, a large percentage of my high school was born outside of the south. I never even felt conditioned to the southern accent, if I heard someone with a heavy accent it would sound strange to me.

Of course, Tech is even more of a counterexample for the accent stereotype. Hearing Asian languages or accents is far more common than hearing a southern drawl. As the south is becoming more connected globally, we are seeing a disappearance of these stereotypical properties (which in some cases may have never existed at all).



Paula Deen embodies many southern stereotype, specifically that of the accent. Yet, if I heard her talking on the streets of Atlanta, it would sound very odd to me. I think this shows that in many places, the southern accent is a thing of the past.