Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Accents

Paula Deen, southern cook extraordinaire. She reminds me of so many southern ladies with her big hair, big make up and flashy jewelry... and she sounds like I do! Paula is from Albany Georgia (pronounced All - Benny). We pronounce words like sugar, pecan and ya'll the same.

Ignore the recipe.... it sounds gross! Ya'll enjoy!


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Paula Deen! She is so sweet and funny. You sound like that? That is the coolest accent ever! Men who talk like that make my knees wobble.

Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

Oh man. She is hilarious. And I found that recipe strangely appealing the way she did it!

You sound like that?? That is not how I imagined your voice - isn't it funny how we get 'voices' in our heads, which are based on completely untested assumptions?

I'd better stop here - any more talk about the voices in my head and they'll be sending round the straightjacket.

(Maybe we should all post a little snippet of our voices?)

Anonymous said...

Not ALL southerners say PEE-can or Al-BEN-y . And,we don't ALL say Y'ALL every three syllables . Paula Deen is a CARICATURE of a southerner .

Cell Block said...

Hey anonymous....in the south we pronounce anonymous as "dumb-ass". Strange I know...but what is one to do. I don't recall Melinda ever making the comment that all southerners talk like that. In fact there are several variations of the southern dialect or maybe you've never left your little "po-dunk" town to realize this. So kindly remove the proverbial corn-cob and relax. It'll all be alright.

Have a nice day and maybe one day you can move away...please.

M said...

Oh man, that cheese. Y'all don't really eat that stuff do you? Mind you I know a lady who puts Marshmallow Fluff on her toast so I'll believe anything.

Yes, please send a sound bite of your voice. I would if I knew how. I'm sure my computer would say no.

I say al-benny (we have an Albany in WA). Eastern Staters say ALL-benny.

Melinda said...

Hi Anonymouse (not a typo)!

I'm not sure if you read my post very carefully... but I did say that Paula Deen talks the way I talk. I didn't say that she talks the way ALL southerners talk. But I happen to say PEE-can, Al-BEN-y, etc. My accent is very similar to hers.... not exact... but really similar.

Note I didn't post a video of anyone speaking Geechee or Gullah dialects because I DON'T sound like that (how I wish John Travolta had known that before he did that horrid accent in The General's Daughter).

I don't find her to be a caricature, but rather a character. Again, I don't think you read clearly, but I said she fit the stereotype. Google it if you're not sure what it means.

Paula reminds my of my mother-in-law's best friend and my uncle's mother. Both lovely, sweet, southern ladies. She also reminds me of several of the ladies who frequented the beauty shop my grandmother went to when I was a little girl.

Untwist those knickers love, and find something important to worry about, okay?

A professor of mine, who happened to be from Wisconsin, loved the word ya'll. She felt it did a beautiful job of clarifying the plural tense of the word you. She says it so frequently because she is addressing a crowd. As in more than one. Plural. You all. Ya'll.

Melinda said...

I'm not into anonymous. If you have a comment to make, own it.

Cell Block said...

Awwww....an anonymous person is all mad because of me. Well shucks, I feel lower than a grasshoppers ankle.

I think someone needs a hug....come on....its alright to admit your insecurities. A couple of Dr. Phil episodes and some boiled peanuts and you'll be right as rain.

Now give me a big smile and get to bed early, you've got a busy day tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

I am not sure what's amusing me nore - the post, the clip or the comments. Either way, Melinda, you rock. (and Rob cracks me up).

Stomper Girl said...

I enjoyed that so much! Now I know how you sound. I think I'm going to go round talking in a faux Southern accent all day now, like I did after I read Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Lucky y'all cain't hea-yah me.

But what is Velveeta cheese?

Anonymous said...

You are a funny man, Rob! You made me really laugh.

I watched this this morning around breakfast time. The recipe did not sit well with me at that time of day - all that cheese and chocolate.

One day we're buying a tivo so we can watch Ellen AND Dr Phil in the evening while the grown ups watch CSI, NCIS and other shows with acronyms.

Mary said...

Well that stirred up a little hornet's nest didn't it!!??

I loved that you did this. Loved it! Can we talk on the phone one day so I can hear your accent for real ?!

x

Michelly said...

Somehow I knew that when I went to bed last night that this entry would generate responses but one would have to be an idiot to think that Melinda was lumping all southerners together. Considering this is her blog I related this to her personally and to her sphere of influence. Coming from the Florida Panhandle(also known as Lower Alabama) I know people who sound exactly like Paula Deen and they don't have cooking shows. I thought that Mr./Ms. Anonymous comment was classic passive-aggressive. I do believe that there are people out there who skulk about reading blogs and make comments but do not have the nerve to leave their name. I'd be willing to bet that at some point something they have written has ended up on passiveaggressivenotes.com!

Anonymous said...

I'm a born and bred Southerner of MANY generations in The Wiregrass Area and NOBODY says Y'ALL that many times in one sentence . Whether you like it or not the woman DOES lay it on thick and she puts up a REAL good show . She has a cult following to prove it . But that is what it is a show . Southerners in normal eeryday conversation do not sound like Paula Deen.

Emma-Kate Castricum said...

OMG Melinda,

I've never heard of Paula Deen before but watched the clip and thought she was DIVINE! That accent is gorgeous, it makes my Aussie way of talking so flat and boring. I would love to hear you speak.

As for Southern ladies liking big hair and make up, they must be my kind of ladies. I've never owned a hair staightener an always go to my salon and tell them I want hair like an American beauty queen. The bigger and fuller the better!

Em

As for anonymous..if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all! an oldy but true.

Melinda said...

Dear Anonymous,

I didn't say that Paula Deen sounds like all southerners. I said that she sounds like me! Is she hamming it up a bit? Surely! The drawl is a bit broad in places, but she does pronounce pecan, ya'll and sugar exactly the way I do. I never compared her voice to anyone's but mine! So, I'm unsure of what your issue is with this post.

I don't know which part of the wiregrass area you were born and bred, but I imagine your area has a unique dialect in which some words might sound different than those in other regions of Georgia.

My grandmother grew up in LaGrange, Georgia and pronounced several words very differently than the way I pronounce them: Po-lice for example.

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