So Where Did Obama Get His Southern Accent?

[Jill]

Not that I want to call him a phony, but where did Obama cultivate his southern accent and why does he display it so much thicker when he speaks to southern audiences

I think it's kinda like Madonna's fake British accent...

 

[Laura]

Hilary Clinton also aquired quite a southern accent while campaining in the south~LOL It made me do a Scooby Doo "huuurrrrunh"? when I heard it the first time

Madonna's new accent..oh my goodness, that's just odd

 

[Jill]

Laura --

Now that Madonna and her British husband are divorcing, I wonder if she will loose the accent? I hope so because that would be a riot

Jill

 

[Leeana]

Thats funny

But, if i am in Kentucky more then a day around my family....i start catching that twang and cant really help it

 

[littlesteppers]

Gotto hand it to the man..he ADJUSTS totally to his surroundings..kinda like a cameleon..

 

[AppyLover2]

Maybe he spent most of his time in south-side of Chicago. LOL Seriously though my ex used to pick up accents real easily too. I laughed like crazy at him after he spent 3 or 4 weeks in Georgia.

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

He is pretty good (silly smirk on his face and all) with telling people what they think they want to hear, even in the tones they want to hear it in.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

If I am in Kentucky more then a day around my family....i start catching that twang and cant really help it

Absolutely! It takes me all of twenty minutes in West Virginia to be going "Ya'll come in for supper now!"

It's hysterical...I have to watch every word so people don't think I'm making fun of them!

Can I help it if this Yankee picks up accents like a sponge??

Leia

 

[tagalong]

Many years ago, I spent a month in Newfoundland - mainly in small outports.... and came home soundin' as if I be born on The Rock and not From Away, b'ys... my lilt was some good!!

 

[Jill]

For the record, I do not think Obama's honestly aquired the accent. I think he's a slick and manipulative man who is doing what he can to charm the masses.

 

[REO]

My father was from MI and 2 aunts from WI, so I sometimes sound a little like that because I was raised around that accent, especially if I watch FARGO it really comes back! LOL

I lived in Ireland for nearly 2 years and I tried not to talk like them. I thought I didn't, but when I went home to CA, everyone made fun of me!

IMO, you have to be around an accent on a daily basis to pick it up NATURALLY.

Or do they have Rosetta Stone for "Southern"?

LMAO at South side of Chicago

 

[McBunz]

Where did Palin get her condescending folksier than folks hockey mom thing.... It is all politics...trying to convince everyone that she is for

the little people. Neither party is any better at the games they are playing.. If so many of you were not so "Not Obama" you would be insulted

by her lowering of herself to appeal. Biden at least does not talk down to anyone..

 

[AppyLover2]

I'm not so sure we're "Not Obama" as much as we're "For McCain". There IS a difference.

Biden's OK with me. He'll make a decent President.

 

[Jill]

Oh, no... Biden doesn't talk down. He just makes things up to sound more down home likable. Like how he visited with the homeless people under a bridge that wasn't and how he loved to have breakfast a few times a month with folks at the town diner that had actually closed 20 years prior.

 

[littlesteppers]

Did he say after voting..Ya'll come back now..ya hear!

 

[Jill]

I'm not so sure we're "Not Obama" as much as we're "For McCain". There IS a difference.
Biden's OK with me. He'll make a decent President.

Exactly!!! Although the more I've learned and the more I think, it's BOTH that I'm sincerely for McCain / Palin and sincerely adverse to Obama.

 

[Margo_C-T]

I started college, leaving high school a year early,at the University of Hawai'i (long story; my mother and an aunt 'engineered it-aunt and hubby were military, newly-stationed there when I got the 'offer' to be among a group in my high school who had enough credits and the grades to 'skip' our senior year-wasn't MY idea!). It was a great experience, though--and the best part was the dorm! There, then, we lived in 'units'-12 double rooms w/ a large 'shared' bathroom, and a common area or 'lounge' in each 'unit'. Those gals were ALL the NICEST, KINDEST, most WELCOMING bunch a person could hope for...and they were of a multitude of nationalities (Hawai'i is a 'crossroads' of the Pacific--there were Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese,Korean, Filipino, Samoan,Portuguese, and more)---and many were 'mixes' of the above...and they all treated me as their sister! Each was proud of EVERY part of their heritage--my roommate was half Japanese, 1/4 Hawaiian, 1/8 Irish, 1/8 English--and proud of every 'part'! I loved them all, and their total acceptance made being that far from home MUCH more pleasant for a 17 year old who'd never been much of ANYWHERE!

I was born in West Texas, but moved to Carlsbad, NM, as a baby, and have lived in NM most all my life. Yet, my dormmates in Hawai'i ALL thought I was from the Deep South; they thought my accent was Southern(when in fact, it is only SLIGHTLY 'southern'--more like 'Southwestern', and to me, I have never sounded ANYTHING like a 'real' southerner! Now, along NM's eastern border, they have that 'Texas twang/drawl', but even THAT isn't a 'Southern' accent, IMO...!

As for Obama--don't know about the accent, but I have noticed that he 'whistles' when he says many words ending in 's', and have wondered to myself if he has false teeth.

REO--I LOVE to hear an Irish (or Scottish, for that matter!) brogue; can't imagine why anyone would 'make fun' of anyone sounding as if they had one!

Margo

 

[garyo]

Give me a break indeed, Jill.

 

[Jill]

Give me a break indeed, Jill.

Darn it, Gary. I was hoping you might know how Obama suddenly garnered a southern drawl

 

[susanne]

Margo, I also whistle and lisp slightly on the letter "s" and certain words -- I have a hard time saying my own name at times. I have all of my own teeth (except my wisdom teeth, which explains a lot). I never had this problem until I got braces as an adult in my late 20s. Braces are long gone, but the whistle and lisp remain. My tongue just doesn't quite fit in my mouth, lol!

As for accents in general, I have been told I have a bit of a midwest accent, although I've never even visited. It comes from my mother, who was born and raised in Iowa, and her family, around whom I spent many, many hours.

My MIL is from Oklahoma, and I only need to talk with her on the phone for a few minutes before I start to echo her accent. It is entirely subconscious -- nothing manipulative or deceptive about it.