Southern Sterotypes

Hello all,

Recently I was reading a post and encountered the typical Southern stereotype statements so I thought that I would take a moment to share with you all something that I told a team of folks that work for me in New York City, this is what I said to them.

Hello all,

My name is James and I have a very pronounced southern accent, because, well I am from the South. Texas to be exact, now the place that I am from is fairly close to Louisiana so what you are hearing is a combination of a Texas drawl and a Louisiana twang. There are a few things that I want you fine folks to know about me that will greatly increase our ability to work together effectively as a cohesive team.

Firstly, I am not a racist, I believe in treating everyone poorly. Now, I should not have to say that because I believe that all of us should be judged on our individual merits, actions, and words; however, as I do have this accent I am convicted of being a racist in the minds of those that watch a touch to much television despite any action that I may take or not take that would lead one to the appropriate conclusion. That said you will find me extraordinary intolerant of racism, sexism, of just about any other ism you can think of. If you attempt to buddy up with me by making disparaging comments about someone because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation, you will find that not only have you not made a friend but that you have in fact committed a career limiting move.

Secondly. If you make fun of my accent, like attempt to imitate it, I am not going to find it funny, it is not going to be a bonding experience for us. What it is going to do is land you in HR. On the other hand, I assure you that I will not make fun of the manner in which you speak.

Next, The term redneck carries a very negative connotation. If it did not it would not generally be prefaced by the word "stupid", call me one and your going to be looking for another job.

Finally, never mistake accent for intellect, if you do that to me you will be unpleasantly surprised.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Hello all,

Recently I was reading a post and encountered the typical Southern stereotype statements so I thought that I would take a moment to share with you all something that I told a team of folks that work for me in New York City, this is what I said to them.

Hello all,

My name is James and I have a very pronounced southern accent, because, well I am from the South.

Lemme see. You said this to a team of people who work for you? And you had to tell them your name? Then you told them that you have a Southern accent? If you had to tell them that, you should fire the whole lot!

BTW, welcome to D&D.

Originally posted by jbrothernew37:

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Hello all,

Recently I was reading a post and encountered the typical Southern stereotype statements so I thought that I would take a moment to share with you all something that I told a team of folks that work for me in New York City, this is what I said to them.

Hello all,

My name is James and I have a very pronounced southern accent, because, well I am from the South.

Lemme see. You said this to a team of people who work for you? And you had to tell them your name? Then you told them that you have a Southern accent? If you had to tell them that, you should fire the whole lot!

LOL! Excellent!

I do think that there are people out ther who like to mock an accent. Okay everyone no matter their class or background, high or low can sometimes be funny so that can equally be fair being general. However if people are misjudged simply because of their toungue that is patronsingly arrogant of them. It happnes to Irish folk too doesn't it? We have a whole range of accents here in Gt Britain and sometimes comedy progs will use that and they can be funny but it doesn't follow that whole attitude of a region should be negative? Many call centres for example are positive about using soft Scots accents (I'm Scots by the way which had a goodly link with the South). From what I ascertain for across the pond there seems to be a tendency for people in the North to have a steryotyped image becayuse of a slower more obvious accent below the Msaon-Dixon shall we say?

Snobbery and ignorance are often the cause and there is much about the South that is worh keeping. Just a pity a degree of it was lost around 1864 but there we are. There are some regional accents of England I find an effort but I wouldn't put them all into a nicely ticked box as that would be grossly unfair.

There you are y'all!

Was there an overall point to this? You can't control everyone with threatening their job. I'm guessing because it's the right thing to do wasn't good enough motivation? Oh, or cause it's the law?

Translation into Texarkanaese:

Hey y'all,

Ima noin' Iz come from a redneck backwater of sub par edumacation n bigoted folk dat tink coz daze of a particular color daze better dan yous blackys. And most prolly tink theys wife belong in da kitchen maken' smawiches. But since I be controlling yo paychecks, to believe Ima anything like doz folks is gonna land ya job looking. Now since Iza unlikely to actually say or do anything to make you believe Iz any different and seeing how reading idnt big in my neck of the woods, Ima prolly the only one dat didn't read any of the civil or workers rights laws passed in da last thirty years I figured on dis being the best way to point out some of the obvious stuffs... Ya no threatening yous jobs if you don't do what ya supposed ta ain't so obvious from round my parts.

... oh snap! did i just limit my career choices?... no work from redneckingtum for me?

Before I address some points in the OP, let me take the time to point out that I am from Mississippi.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Hello all,

My name is James and I have a very pronounced southern accent, because, well I am from the South. Texas to be exact, now the place that I am from is fairly close to Louisiana so what you are hearing is a combination of a Texas drawl and a Louisiana twang.

Well, I'm not sure which collegiate football team you support, but if you support LSU, I'd like to take this opportunity to say, "White Shirts, Yellow Britches, Geaux to Hell You Sons a Bitches". If you support TexASS, congratulations on destroying yet another Conference.
If you do not watch college football, please disregard both messages.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Recently I was reading a post and encountered the typical Southern stereotype statements so I thought that I would take a moment to share with you all something that I told a team of folks that work for me in New York City, this is what I said to them.

Hello all,

My name is James and I have a very pronounced southern accent, because, well I am from the South. Texas to be exact, now the place that I am from is fairly close to Louisiana so what you are hearing is a combination of a Texas drawl and a Louisiana twang. There are a few things that I want you fine folks to know about me that will greatly increase our ability to work together effectively as a cohesive team.

To which you should have responded with:


Lastly, out of curiousity, are you religious?

The YouTube "postings" are coming up blank for me. Anybody else?

It came up this time I opened the thread but not last time... I'm on my mobile now tho.

Originally posted by jbrothernew37:

The YouTube "postings" are coming up blank for me. Anybody else?

Fwiw, it's "If heaven ain't a lot like Dixie" by Hank Willams Jr.

Originally posted by ensbb3:

... oh snap! did i just limit my career choices?... no work from redneckingtum for me?

Of course you could work for me.. if I managed a McDonalds (grin).

Originally posted by thedawgfan:

Lastly, out of curiousity, are you religious?

Only when I can't avoid it...

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

you have in fact committed a career limiting move.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

What it is going to do is land you in HR.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

and your going to be looking for another job.

Interesting "team".

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Of course you could work for me.. if I managed a McDonalds (grin).

Shameful, you gave such a 'good' speech on not hating on people. I figured power trip was more what that was... just checking.

** You tinked you did good, huh? haveta post that on the internet. I was under the impression maybe you were pandering to high school dropouts. My fault.

Originally posted by ensbb3:

Was there an overall point to this?

Yes.

Originally posted by Belfrager:

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

you have in fact committed a career limiting move.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

What it is going to do is land you in HR.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

and your going to be looking for another job.

Interesting "team".

Wonderful team in fact!

Comrades,

Now "ya'll" need to get your proletarian hats off "fer" a moment and realize that the ditty , apparently not so obviously to "yall', relied heavily on hyperbole. I did in fact make some statements to that effect to my Manhattan team and they about died laughing. I believe I was called a "redneck" around 20 times before I could get out of the room. Perhaps your experience gave rise to you envisioning my team as sheep cowering rest assure nothing could be farther from the truth. Now, there was a somewhat serious point to be made about the manner in which people with Southern accents are treated by many people, in reality I have experienced discrimination based solely upon the manner in which I speak (the "ignant redneck racist" stereotype is alive and well); however, you work-a-day folks need not fret. I am neither draconian nor Machiavellian in my management style. In fact, all those "damn Yankee carpetbaggers" (jk) still work for me, except for the individuals I have mentored and have gone on to lead other teams themselves (where I am certain that they discriminated horribly against people from the South (JK))

/shakes fist..damn them..the South will rise again!!! (thats sarcastic BTW)

Originally posted by ensbb3:

Iza unlikely to actually say

BTW "iza" is not something Southern people say, wrong stereotype "massa".

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Now ya'll need to get your proletarian hats off "fer" a moment and realize that the ditty , apparently not so obviously to "yall', relied heavily on hyperbole. I did in fact make some statements to that effect to my Manhattan team and they about died laughing. I believe I was called a "redneck" around 20 times before I could get out of the room. Perhaps your experience gave rise to you envisioning my team as sheep cowering rest assure nothing could be farther from the truth.

Now, that's better, just be aware of international teams...

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

BTW "iza" is not something Southern people say, wrong stereotype "massa".

Yousa called?

Will this work?

I believe the British have a saying: "If it walks like a duck & quacks like a duck, it must be a duck."

A lot of what most southern folk call 'accent' is more like half enunciated foolishness. If you can't be bothered to pronounce the words you're trying to say, why would anyone take you seriously? Would you hire someone, regardless of race, if they spoke 'street slang' during an interview or do you prefer people who can communicate professionally? Ja cuz you be trippin' off how homies disin' yo style don't mean youz rite pimpin'.

I surely can't remove all of the southern drawl, or the part that is actually an accent, from my speech but I can clean up the slang terms and present myself like I have some sense. Not once have I been accused of being an ignorant racist redneck because of how I speak, probably because what I say gives you the opposite impression (my accent not being as drastic as a Louisiana 'twang' but speaking here can be a slurry of words too.).

It's up to the individual to present yourself as intelligent... or not. And an intelligent person should be able to use proper lexicon when needed. Why would you have to point out you're not an ignorant fool if you aren't one? Maybe try not sounding like one?

So right about the duck. We can get people in cities with a slight corruption of the language but as ensbb3 points out that doesn't mean you need to fall back on slang, etc as if that is some form of definite loyalty to a tradition. Oddly enough here in my city they have great delight in comedy porgrammes that kind of blow up the local stuff. So one can have no problem with a regional accent or whatever as long as it is not dumb downed to prove some rather useless point.

Originally posted by ensbb3:

I believe the British have a saying: "If it walks like a duck & quacks like a duck, it must be a duck."

A lot of what most southern folk call 'accent' is more like half enunciated foolishness. If you can't be bothered to pronounce the words you're trying to say, why would anyone take you seriously? Would you hire someone, regardless of race, if they spoke 'street slang' during an interview or do you prefer people who can communicate professionally? Ja cuz you be trippin' off how homies disin' yo style don't mean youz rite pimpin'.

I surely can't remove all of the southern drawl, or the part that is actually an accent, from my speech but I can clean up the slang terms and present myself like I have some sense. Not once have I been accused of being an ignorant racist redneck because of how I speak, probably because what I say gives you the opposite impression (my accent not being as drastic as a Louisiana 'twang' but speaking here can be a slurry of words too.).

Anyone that can not speak communicate in a professional manner is going to get tagged as ignorant, slang and mis-pronunciation is not what I am talking about. Despite the fact that your post is a red herring I would venture to say that the chances are great that the company you keep, irregardless of their geography, are themselves intelligent people who do not make foolish assumptions based on your accent, or at least have the sense not to share them with you. Of course, you could be in denial (grin). The thing about people that allow themselves to entertain stereotypes my friend is that it doesn't matter what words come out of your mouth they have already judged. If someone is giving you a chance to disprove the stereotype by listening to your words then they are not the type of people I am referring to.

On a higher note --> for the young Southern men out there.. it is also my experience that if you put on a Stetson and a pair of ropers and head to NYC you are almost guaranteed a good time, seems that Northern women find our accents quite charming (grin).

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Anyone that can not speak communicate in a professional manner is going to get tagged as ignorant, not what I am talking about. Despite the fact that your post is a red herring I would venture to say that the chances are great that the company you keep, irregardless of their geography, are themselves intelligent people who do not make foolish assumptions based on your accent, or at least have the sense not to share them with you.

The prefix ir- (i-r) is a negative prefix, so if you add the prefix ir to a word that's already negative like regardless, you're making a double-negative word that literally means “without without regard.”

I am a bad person.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Hello all,

Recently I was reading a post and encountered the typical Southern stereotype statements so I thought that I would take a moment to share with you all something that I told a team of folks that work for me in New York City, this is what I said to them.

Hello all,

My name is James and I have a very pronounced southern accent, because, well I am from the South. Texas to be exact, now the place that I am from is fairly close to Louisiana so what you are hearing is a combination of a Texas drawl and a Louisiana twang. There are a few things that I want you fine folks to know about me that will greatly increase our ability to work together effectively as a cohesive team.

Firstly, I am not a racist, I believe in treating everyone poorly. Now, I should not have to say that because I believe that all of us should be judged on our individual merits, actions, and words; however, as I do have this accent I am convicted of being a racist in the minds of those that watch a touch to much television despite any action that I may take or not take that would lead one to the appropriate conclusion. That said you will find me extraordinary intolerant of racism, sexism, of just about any other ism you can think of. If you attempt to buddy up with me by making disparaging comments about someone because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation, you will find that not only have you not made a friend but that you have in fact committed a career limiting move.

Secondly. If you make fun of my accent, like attempt to imitate it, I am not going to find it funny, it is not going to be a bonding experience for us. What it is going to do is land you in HR. On the other hand, I assure you that I will not make fun of the manner in which you speak.

Next, The term redneck carries a very negative connotation. If it did not it would not generally be prefaced by the word "stupid", call me one and your going to be looking for another job.

Finally, never mistake accent for intellect, if you do that to me you will be unpleasantly surprised.

are for real or you made it up. All the same it quite awesome like a line from a movie

The prefix ir- (i-r) is a negative prefix, so if you add the prefix ir to a word that's already negative like regardless, you're making a double-negative word that literally means “without without regard.”

I am a bad person.[/quote]

Thank you. That is one of my pet peeves. I've noticed that, that word is most often used when people are trying to "sound" more intelligent than they "think" they really are.

Originally posted by jamestflowers:

Anyone that can not speak communicate in a professional manner is going to get tagged as ignorant, slang and mis-pronunciation is not what I am talking about. Despite the fact that your post is a red herring I would venture to say that the chances are great that the company you keep, irregardless of their geography, are themselves intelligent people who do not make foolish assumptions based on your accent, or at least have the sense not to share them with you. Of course, you could be in denial (grin). The thing about people that allow themselves to entertain stereotypes my friend is that it doesn't matter what words come out of your mouth they have already judged. If someone is giving you a chance to disprove the stereotype by listening to your words then they are not the type of people I am referring to.

On a higher note --> for the young Southern men out there.. it is also my experience that if you put on a Stetson and a pair of ropers and head to NYC you are almost guaranteed a good time, seems that Northern women find our accents quite charming (grin).

More and more ignorance oozes from each post you make. (grin)

I'd argue dispite the fact you created this thread you have no idea what it's about. Red herring? The topic is "stereotypes" my posts fall in topic fine. This topic was clearly made to fancy your ego opposed to debating anything serious. You've given more reference to your 'team' and 'mentoring' than any explanation of what you are actually talking about and what gives people this perception of you (tho I'm quickly figuring that out on my own). Also, you seem to think working in NYC is a badge noting intelligence and class. To all of that I'd add, even among primates one is the leader and no one is impressed. Posturing on a public forum is, imo, ignorant.

Your view of simply taking the opposite position as me will prove self defeating. If you can't say anything to change someone's view that you are a dumb redneck, it's you who's kidding yourself (quack!).

Unirregardlessedificationally I'm laughing my arse off at the thought of a redneck Texan strolling the streets of New York, boots, chaps, spurs & hat more impressed with himself than anyone he meets is.
*there's a good stereotype for ya.

Originally posted by ensbb3:

Unirregardlessedificationally

Yer kidding me right?

So without regard too no regard to regardless of regard you want to with edification edify what? :

a joke of course.

And so it would seem that you are.

I felt sorry for the South at what happened in 1864 but there again I felt sorry for the English getting done in at Bannockburn when they thought they were invincible.

Felt? I didn't realize just how old you are.

World could of been very different. (that doesn't necessarily mean better)

Remarkable or so I am often told......

Originally posted by ensbb3:

Felt? I didn't realize just how old you are.

Old but not done...from a recent Rj photo.

Originally posted by jbrothernew37:

Originally posted by ensbb3:

Felt? I didn't realize just how old you are.

Old but not done...from a recent Rj photo.

oh dear! Whats he up to

Her shoe strap broke in the park so one has to help and work towards the foot eventually once she's cumfy. Told me to take my time and is why she is happy looking

Smart woman, eh?

Yep. One of an impressive line Jaybro. Consistency, consistency. Today the daughter of a friend commented that I was a smart, intelligent and handsome man and I didn't even need to take her for a meal. I won't mention the park incident she might get jealous.....?