the life of my accent

First of all, muchas gracias to Spleeness for this blog post idea.  You can read her accent/dialect posts here and here.  It’s a really cool topic if you’re a mild linguistics nerd like us.  Ha :)

Well, I managed to take her informative topic, and make it all about me.  I can’t help it if I like to talk/write about myself in my blog.  I do what I want. 

So… here I go.

I’m not sure if you knew this (you probably did), but my accent is a mixed breed. 

I spent half my life in New York and the other half in Roanoke, Virginia. 

That red dot is Roanoke.  It’s not in Northern Virginia, and apparently, it’s not Southwest Virginia enough (according to some of my really SW Virginian friends) to be Southwest Virginia.  Wherever it is, it’s in Virginia.  Really close to the mountains.  And West Virginia.

ANYWAYS - 

When I moved to Virginia, I was a open-minded 9-year-old with quite the New York accent.  I sorta stood out (to say the least).  I was the only black girl in my 4th grade class.  I was tall.  Everyone thought I talked funny.  

I thought everyone around me talked funny too (except for my Dad).  

I actually ended up in a speech class that year.  Then my Dad switched me out of that school for 5th grade. 

ANYWAYS (Sorry – I’m need to stay on topic) - 

In 8-10th grades I used to always have these “regional slang/dialect” conversations with my friends.  Some of our favorite words to compare were:

- pin vs. pen (they should sound different)

- different pronunciations of syrup, orange, quarter, water

- cart vs. buggy (a buggy is a cute little bug – a cart is what you use for pushing groceries)

- sneakers vs. tennis shoes (yeah, I don’t really know the difference)

- soda vs. coke (seriously people, coke is a TYPE of soda)

- words/names like Teri, terrace, Mary, Erin, merry, etc. (they liked the way I said the R’s)

I also learned new words/phrases:

- scrapple (a really gross-sounding meal)

- barbeque (it’s not just a verb… it’s also a type of food)

- “nook and cranny” (I still remember when I first heard that saying. I was very confused)

- reckon (I probably would’ve learned this word just from reading lots of books, but whatever)

- yonder (why?) 

Surprisingly, I grew up (pre-Virginia) using both ya’ll and you people.  I also ate a lot of grits in New York. 

So yeah, for a while, I was that kid everyone made fun of (or enjoyed listening to) because I had the “funny” accent.  I tried my hardest to “correct” everyone’s speech (some of their pronunciations were just plain wrong), but I failed in a serious way. 

I failed in a very serious way because I was slowly picking up their accent.  By the time I graduated from high school (actually, probably by 9th grade), my New York accent wasn’t as definitive.  In my 3rd year of college, when I was a “barista” at Barnes and Noble Cafe (NOT Starbucks) someone told me I had an Arizona accent.  

And that was the end of my accent.  

I’m pretty sure folks from Arizona don’t even have accents.  

Now that I’m back in New York, I’m trying to make up for lost time.  I still don’t actually sound like I’m from New York (or anywhere), but I have my moments – usually when I’m yelling at someone or after I’ve had 2 or 3 drinks.

BO = Barack Obama (fyi)

***We do not need to watch people walk into the room. I’ve successfully wasted 15 minutes of my day. Thank you, NBC.

9:16pm – Is BO finally gonna talk now? Seriously, this clapping is ridiculous. And what are people yelling at him?

9:17pm – The crowd loves his wife too. Of course, more clapping. I’ve been thinking about the economy so much, I’ve forgotten about all of the other problems this country faces…

9:18pm – Hell yeah, we will rebuild. We’d better. And if we’re not stronger, I’m moving to Costa Rica.

9:20pm – This country is built on paradoxes/contradictions. What a shame. I like the fact that BO is laying out our irresponsibility – as a nation. DAMN THAT CLAPPING.

9:22pm – Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. If he hadn’t done anything, things could be worse. I don’t necessarily agree with everything in that economic recovery stimulus thingy, but it’s better than nothing.

9:25pm – Quick shot at John McCain. He’s chillin’ of course.

9:25pm – “Nobody messes with Joe.” Oh my gosh, BO is crazy.

9:26pm – I appreciate the recovery.gov website. I need to know where my money is being spent.

9:28pm – We can’t move too quickly; we need to think before we act. Moving quickly is what got us into Iraq.

9:30pm – Everyone likes the “holding banks accountable” idea. Hooray! Everyone jumped up. Looks like everyone is getting a workout now. No one likes a selfish CEO. BO needs to regulate those jerks.

9:32pm – BO has his eye on the prize: govern with a sense of responsibility. It’s not about helping banks, it’s about helping people.

9:34pm – I wonder how long it will take for confidence to return to the American people. Yes – let’s get rid of the old, rusted ways of doing things. We need to find innovative solutions to problems that repeat themselves over and over again.

9:36pm – Our problems will take care of themselves? Perhaps, but it can’t hurt to nudge things along a bit. Sitting back and allowing things to get worse is not an option. I won’t stand for that.

9:38pm – Energy, health care and education. The big three.

9:39pm – Maybe I’m not patriotic or whatever, but why does America have to lead in everything? What happened to collaboration? China is head of us with this; Germany is ahead of us with that… let’s work with them – not against them. China still needs to straighten up with their human rights violations, but we can work with them on that topic too.

9:41pm – More efficient cars and trucks in America? Hahaha… Jeremy Clarkson is probably cracking up right now.  Some countries make cars better than we do. We should be kicking ourselves for half-assing our job on a product we invented.

9:45pm – America is, by far, the most unhealthy country in this freaking world. Not only are we unhealthy, we have a shitty health care system. What the hell?

9:46pm – Hooray for my education! Will BO forgive my student loans? I still owe him about $65k. Whoever isn’t clapping about the promise for American children is a huge jerk. What kind of person doesn’t want the best education possible for American children? They should be stoned.

9:48pm – Okay, my favorite comment of the night: “Being a high school drop out is not only quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country.” F yeah, BO.

9:51pm – I’m so glad my parents took care of me when I was growing up. I had a father who always checked my homework (he was a fan of my math homework… until 11th grade – then he didn’t understand what I was doing anymore). My stepmom just made sure my homework was done. They were always hounding me about my schoolwork. It really sucked at the time, but after 6 years of undergrad + grad school, I’m thankful for the nagging. I probably wouldn’t be where I am now without it.

9:55pm – HOORAY! I have a check in the mail! I’m gonna need that money to pay for my student loans. Damn.

9:56pm – The budget includes the actual cost of the wars… Finally.

9:58pm – I don’t support the wars we’re fighting, but I damn well support those men and women who are over there fighting it.

10:00pm – “Living our values doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us safer. It makes us stronger.” Amen, BO.

10:02pm – The seats in that room are mad cramped. I feel bad for those people in the balcony seats.

10:06pm – That girl is completely blinged out (sorry – I’m starting to lose focus).

10:08pm – …and he’s done. He ended on a very strong note. I was just about to comment about how sermon-y he was starting to sound.Very Obama-y.

***I’m listening to the commentary now.

10:11pm – the first part of the speech was definitely a “report card”. It has only been a month, and BO has been nonstopping with action.

10:13pm – The economy will get worse before it gets better. Fo’ sho’.

***Okay, okay, who are we kidding. I can’t keep listening to this. I’ll read the paper tomorrow.

Oh Hillary…

First of all, I am not a political person at all.

***Side note: Although I went to a school of public policy, I was the probably one of the few students who didn’t get some kind of sick enjoyment from American politics. I was okay with that.

I vote. I’m not a huge fan of labeling myself, so I don’t consider myself a Democrat or a Republican. I don’t vote for a specific party. I vote for the individual who will best run this country and do what I want them to do.

Second, I still haven’t decided who I will vote for to be the next President. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have to make that decision until November 4, 2008.

———

So yeah, I finally watched Hillary’s speech last night. On the whole, it was good. I felt inspired to vote for Barack. I felt more proud to be an American. I felt like my vote for the democratic party would be THE vote needed to get Barack into the White House on January 20, 2009… What a feeling.

But I just want to point out a few parts that stood out in my mind:

1. 12:09 minutes – Hillary goes into a blurb about “What if a Democrat had been President for the past 40 years…”

We made tremendous progress during the 90s under a Democratic President, with a flourishing economy, and our leadership for peace and security respected around the world. Just think how much more progress we could have made over the past 40 years if we had a Democratic president. Think about the lost opportunities of these past seven years – on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court. Imagine how far we could’ve come, how much we could’ve achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House.

First she mentions the past 40 years, then she goes into the past seven. I’m not really sure what one time period has to do with the other (there have been 3 Democratic Presidents in the past 40 years), but whatever. I’ll refer to the past 7 years… I don’t want to be a downer, but I’m not really sure the nation would’ve come incredibly far with a Democratic President and a Republican Congress (from the 104th-109th Congress; except for 107th, which was mixed). I definitely haven’t seen much action in the past 7 years on matters other than national security and defense.

I just want a government that will make some kind of positive change in American society.

2. 20:15 minutes – Hillary talks about her woman-ness. I kinda liked this part:

You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly remarkable.

Hell yeah, it’s pretty remarkable. Hillary has said and done some really crazy stuff, but she definitely has paved the way for women in politics. I guess I can be proud of that.

3. 21:24 minutes – Good advice from Mrs. Clinton:

Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you’re knocked down, get right back up. And never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on.

Spoken just like a good mom. I think I’ll take her advice. Again, Hillary is kinda crazy, but I admire her persistence.

4. 24:40 minutes -

Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward.

I couldn’t agree more. If Democrats really want to take the White House away from Republicans, Hillary and Barack supporters really need to unite and take some serious action.