Word: southernism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Inman-Ebel is careful to say there is nothing wrong with sounding Southern -- just that it may not be the most suitable sound for the business world. "You dress well to go to work, and you put your jeans on when you go home," she says, and you ought to be able to choose the way you sound as well. The problem with sounding Southern, she says, is that it suggests certain stereotypes. A lot of outsiders have formed their ideas about the South through prolonged contemplation of Hee Haw and The Dukes of Hazzard. These ideas tend...
...hear some hillbilly talking." Speech therapy costs him $45 a session, but Brooks believes it is an investment that will pay off for the rest of his life. He's been wanting to tone down his accent since high school. "J.R. Ewing or - Matlock on TV has an ideal Southern accent. It's still there, but it's not countrified...
...front of a mirror. He puts a button-size plastic ring on the tip of his tongue, draws it into his mouth, and presses it up against the ridge behind the front teeth. It is an exercise against the tongue-lolling tendency that Inman-Ebel says characterizes 70% of Southern speakers. She says many Southerners suffer not just from forward tongue carry but also from unwanted "nasal emissions" (or twang), "restricted mandibles" ("a big phrase for talking with your mouth closed") and "oral-facial muscular imbalance...
...with forward tongue carry?" says John Tinkler, who teaches history of the English language at the University of Tennessee. "It doesn't sound like Indy-goddam-ana." Tinkler is a vast, round man with silver hair, dark skin and flashing, protuberant eyes. He describes his accent as "educated rural Southern," the language college graduates in his family have spoken for generations. He wishes Inman-Ebel would attack the stereotypes and the attitudes, instead of the accent. "She's teaching people how not to talk like folks," he says. "That offends...
...conversation with a client, Inman-Ebel picks out target sounds to change: "We identify every single word that labels you as Southern, and you're going to practice them inside out and upside down till you correct them...