Jackie Hand's Post

Jackie Hand
English 1101
Dr. Hughes
Blog 1
I believe that the part of the world one live in plays a HUGE role to one’s grammar, accent, etc. Both of my parents are from Pennsylvania, my mother from Pittsburgh and my father from Scranton. My father has his doctorate to teach Kinesiology, and he took a lot of grammar classes. He has always corrected me for as long as I can remember. I think that is why I have so many pet peeves when it comes to talking.
When I was younger, my family moved around a LOT, from Louisiana to Georgia to Pennsylvania to New Jersey and several other places. So I was never really in one place long enough to develop any certain accent. When I was in fifth grade, we moved to Cedartown, which by the way is a tiny hick town. Everyone there has the stereotypical southern accent, and since I went to school with those people for eight years, I picked it up. I think its funny how my parents are so obviously from the north, but when people talk to me, they think I’ve lived in the south my whole life. I really like having a southern accent though. It is a great conversation starter!
My brothers and sister, however, have not picked up the “southern drawl.” I’m not really sure why. Another strange thing about my way of speaking is that whenever I have been up north for a little while, I start to lose my accent. I guess because I’m usually around both accents every day. When I’m away, people from home will call me and often say, “Jackie? Is that you? You sound so…northern!” It’s funny because a lot of people from Cedartown say I sound like a “Yankee” but people from up north say I’m a little southern bell. I think a lot of people don’t realize how different sayings and slangs are within our own country. That is one thing that has always been so fascinating to me. My friends from up north always make me say things like “heeey yaaa’ll” and quotes from movies like Sweet Home Alabama. And boys up north always want to meet me because everyone loves southern girls!
Honestly I would not change a thing about the way I talk. I have the cute drawl, but I also have excellent grammar. Also, I always try to broaden my vocabulary because I don’t want to be put into that stereotype of a “dumb southerner.” I am glad that things worked out how they did for me, because I think my accent says a lot about my personality. I just would not be Jackie without it.