#southernproblems

[halliekodom]

Feels like someone turned the blow dryer on outside here in Texas. #southernproblems #flamingoart #flamingo #tropical #tropicalart #bird #summerfashion #summertime #pursefob #purseaccessory #hallie12odom #hallieodom #summerpurseaccessory #summerwear #birdart https://www.instagram.com/p/ByLOxM0AKKU/?igshid=19fxz4rg7cluw

[browngirlspov-blog]

When your brother tell you they ran out of sweet potato pie before you got a slice #happymemorialday #family #pie #cookout #southernproblems (at Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx-pm2TgWQS/?igshid=svf7pzgdj3z4

[cap5003]

The south be like....I can’t go to work or school tomorrow! #snowinthesouth #southernproblems (at Knoxville, Tennessee) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrK4CRdA4Nf/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=q9zzk22inqb3

[justplainjimothy]

Winter clothes, shorts and flip flops. #SouthernProblems #NOLALife. (at Algiers, New Orleans) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq2mg_vFftxSLqkEzCpxObRxljk3kNfXbRZedU0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1f956sddl9mpg

[saywharadio]

Omg that's so true 😅😅 #Repost from @texashumor - "Omg y'all there's other Texans here" 👀👀👀 #Texas #TexansTraveling #funny #instacool #SouthernBelle #BlessTheirHearts #Travel #Life #SouthernProblems #Southern #SayWHA #SayWHARadio

[sunnykittykat]

This makes me entirely too happy. 🤣 #southernproblems #blesstheirhearts

[gendereconomicdevelopment-blog]

Changing dialects in response to changing surroundings

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s ability and execution of changing accents depending on her audience in Madame President struck a chord with me. Sirleaf described how she would often use sing-song Liberian English when addressing her country’s people, but would switch to full English when addressing foreigners, typically representatives of countries (i.e. U.S. Congress). As someone from the southern United States, I relate to Sirleaf’s swapping of accents. Many northerners and corporations associate the “southern drawl” with a lack of education, sophistication, and self-discipline. Even negative terms are applied to people with a strong southern accent: rednecks, trailer-park trash, hick, etc. Yet to rural populations with strong southern accents, an outsider lacking such an accent will often be called a Yankee or a libtard and will be asked why they think they are so high and mighty. I have witnessed such reactions in my hometown (a rural, southern town) to outsiders as well as the reactions of outsiders to my hometown. 

Yet having grown up in such a place only to move away towards more urban areas, I learned to drop my southern accent in most situations, particularly during interactions with strangers whose opinions of me mattered (employers, teachers, government officials, etc.). Since I am a minority in terms of gender and sexuality, I know I must alter my physicality where I can to parallel societal desires. I began to pick up an accent not particularly from anywhere, and have been asked if I am Dutch, Northern, Californian, or from another English-speaking country. Every time the questioner refuses to believe I grew up in the rural South and have not lived anywhere but the South, and on occasion I have been complimented as intelligent simply for my accent lacking that “southern drawl”. However, I know when I visit my hometown, I must return to my original accent if I wish to fit in and not be criticized. To describe my family’s phonics, my grandmother refers to canines as “dawgs” and people as “all y’all”. My mother pronounces the nearest large city as “Burmy-ham”. Were I to use the grammar approved and dictated by most of society, “Bur-ming-am” would sound foreign to my family, and I would be told I was sounding like “them city folk”. Thus I have learned to drop my accent around everyone I wish to view me in a positive light, and pick it up when I return home. I have used it so little I must actually put effort into conforming with my hometown while visiting. 

[bkinthecountry]

When you wake up with your dog on your head and walk out to ICE - TGIF. Also I’m in the Best mood ever go figure #blessed #nashvilleicestorm #southernproblems