Southern accents
They’re a pleasure to hear, y’all
ALERT the contests, you-uns. The Wall Street Journal wandered into a story the other day that should get some buzz come the award season next month. The Redcoats are coming!
Well, not exactly Redcoats any more. The Brits are not just allies, but friends. That said, some of them are beginning to get on certain nerves in Hollywood. That is, more and more actors from the old world are coming to the new—to play cowboys.
Yes, cowboys. Cheerio.
The western is back in vogue in Hollywood, and the genre should have never gone out of style. Just look at the movie listings or the streaming services. “The Power of the Dog,” “Cry Macho,” “The Harder They Fall,” “1883,” and others are giving it a go this year. Well, maybe not “giving it a go,” but instead “seeing what they cain’t do.”
And casting outfits are giving some of the leads to British actors, and begging them not to sound like a character from Shakespeare. Which has given accent coaches some business lately, American actors another complaint, and The Wall Street Journal an interesting story.
Our considered editorial opinion on this topic, which is more considered than other opinions we’ve had: Let ’em have at it.
The Brits can’t be worse at faking accents than some American actors we could name. There was a movie once upon a time—we won’t mention it by name, but its initials are “Steel Magnolias”—in which the only authentic accent seemed to come from Dolly Parton.
The location of the movie was supposed to have been Louisiana, but many of the actors seemed to channel their inner Flannery O’Connor. As if a Georgia accent sounded anything like a Louisiana accent. Walk into a duck blind in Louisiana with a Joe-Ja accent and people are apt to look at you funny.
Somebody once said that nothing sounds as sweet as a clarinet played right, and nothing sounds as bad as a clarinet played wrong. The same could be said for Southern accents.
Why that Augusta, Ga., is the usual default fake accent for those trying to go all south of the Mason-Dixon is a good question. Maybe it comes from too many late nights spent watching and rewatching “Gone With the Wind.”
Bless their hearts for tryin’, though. It’s a noble goal, reaching for the right Southern accent. More ’Mericans ought to have one.
OH, LAWD, what a subject! We could debate the best Southern accent for days. It beats talking politics. For some of us, the best male Southern accent award goes to Tommy Lee Jones. The best female Southern accent goes to nearly every Southern lady we’ve ever met.
Which means that there can be all kinds of Suthin, just as there are all kinds of English. A Carolina accent, darlin’, is as different from a south Louisiana accent, baby, as they come. And in Texas you might get called honey on frequent occasion. Which suits us fine.
The Rural American Vernacular could include dozens of classifications. And some of us could name the person’s upbringings by how he or she pronounces the words “can’t” or “fire.”
But please don’t confuse Ozark Standard with Milledgeville General. If the Brits can learn that, they’ll fit in fine.