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From: jkelly@ms_unix1.vitro.com (Charles J. Kelly)
Subject: Re: Proper English?
Message-ID: <1994Oct9.010052.13461@vitro.com>
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References: <scol2007.15.00089C02@mercury.gc.peachnet.edu> <1994Oct4.151844.1@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov>
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 01:00:52 GMT
Lines: 23


: Nevertheless, I don't think the Southern dialect is in any danger of dying out.
: Few people are willing to spend money on a dialect coach, and unless you start
: to see parents correcting the speech of their young children ("No precious,
: Mommy is IRONING, not ARNIN") I think it will be around for a long time to
: come.


Unfortunately, I think some southern accents are dying out.  When I was
young, New Orleanians had a distinctive accent that some described as
Brooklynese with a Southern drawl.  We pronounced work something like
"woik."  On the few occasions I get back to NO it appears to be
disappearing, definitely among the young and even in my own generation.
I think younger people are responding to the feeling that anything other
than a midwestern accent nails you as uneducated and will affect your
career prospects.

Jim

--
Jim Kelly  jkelly@ms_unix1.ms.vitro.com | God doesn't play dice with the world.
                                        | It's more like Russian roulette.

