The Unseen Here and Now . . .
Stuart
Revercomb
Stuart
Revercomb is a marketing consultant and joyously married father of four
children. He seems to remember someone once telling him he ought to be
a writer. "The Unseen Here and Now" -- Thursdays.
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June 14, 2001
Appreciate the Accent
I'm "old as dirt".
At least that what my old friend Jeff used to tell me. Jeff is from Amherst Virginia which is located just north of Lynchburg which is a city that seems to think that it is really part of the State of North Carolina.
This strange allegiance may be due to the fact that Route 29 runs directly from the N.C. border straight through Danville and into Lynchburg. Whatever the case all the people in this area speak as though they are from North Carolina. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, its just a different thing - not quite southern, not quite like one of those almost old English dialects that they speak in certain small towns on the coast, "Carolinian" is simply "Carolinian". And if you "ain gut it by da time yor twawny wun", you just, "ain gut it".
Remember "Foghorn Leghorn"? I was never sure where he got his name, but the accent was never in any doubt - that's Carolinian, pure and true.
Having turned 40 last week, I can hear old Jeff now,... "Rever (long pause) comb - yor ova fordie now boyyyy...", (he pronounces boy perfectly if not a little drawn out), "so yor not unly ol' as dirt, yor as ol' as whur dirt comes froom."
Now the mistake you might be making here, is that you may have begun to assume that anyone speaking in such a tongue, or with what clearly is a lack of control of the same, must be one shade less than a full box of Crayolas. It's a mistake they love for you to make. Because it's that much easier to roll you home to the bank in whatever endeavor they might be pursuing. Dumb like a fox doesn't begin to cover it.
Remember all those guys in the white shirts, black ties, thick glasses and crew cuts that worked on the Gemini Space Program in the sixties? Texas would like you to think they came from right there in Houston. But the truth of the matter is that every last one of them came from North Carolina - except for a couple who came down from Amherst.
Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were from New Jersey and Ohio respectively - none of the boys from Carolina were crazy enough to get on top of that thing.
"You gu-on an git ya a ride dar Buzz.... prawb-ly make ya fumous or somthin'... wheel figar out yaw traw-jec-torys....you boys jus holt awn faw da riiiide..."
That most famous of North Carolinians, Mr. Leghorn, was once quoted as saying, "I say, dat boy der is about as shawp as a bag uh wet mice..."
In reality this was actually a direct quote from the Flight Director in reference to Armstrong as he boarded Apollo 11. Lucky for Neil, those Carolinians were sharp enough to get him safely up, out to the moon and back down again. No thanks to Texas mind you.
The interesting thing about accents is that you don't notice them if they're just like your own. You can go on yammering for months, and until you bump into someone from a different sphere, never realize just how silly you sound. As Virginians this is especially interesting because we're kind of caught in the middle.
Drift down to Georgia and you're liable to hear :"Dang boy, you from the North or something ain't ya?"
Cross into Pennsylvania and parts north and it's :"Hey, whats wit da funny woids, you goiys from da South arn't yas".
It can be frustrating.
But part of the beauty of the spoken word is certainly its variety - the color, texture and intonations that make up the fabric of human language should be appreciated for what they bring to the "soup". Otherwise it would be a pretty bland broth.
And folks with those rich Carolinian accents and others that are off the beaten path? They're the meat and potatoes to be savored all the more.
In the words of Mr. Leghorn, "I say boyyy it takes all kiiinds - I say it takes all kiiinds uh critters to make dis big ol' wurld go ‘round.... Dune you fawget it now, hear?"