Who did you think the author was before you finished the article? Did you think it was a woman, or that she was black? Or did you picture her as an upperclass white man?

To me, it's interesting how our views on people stem from how they speak or write. I'm from Wilkes County (the Texas of NC - dialectically). My father has a very deep accent but is a rather intelligent man. It seems a shame that someone would hear my father speaking but not really listen to him, because of his accent. Kind of sad, no?

Has anyone been looked down too because of the way you speak?

I agree that people don't think you are smart if you have a "southern" accent. When I was a junior in high school, I went to NC Girl's State. I was there with hundereds of other girls from around the state and I was shocked to see how some of the girls looked down on me & laughed at the way I talked. Many times they looked at me like I was stupid. These were mostly the girls from bigger cities like Chapel Hill, Raleigh, etc. I felt like they thought thery were better than me because they were from a bigger, more ritzy school than where I came from. I made a lot of new friends that week, even with some of the more "uppity" girls, and I think they realized that I wasn't a dumb, small-town girl when the week ended. Everyone in my town talked the same way that I did, and once I came to college, I had to start thinking about who I was talking to and how I was talking. If I am talking to a professor or my boss, etc., I am careful about how I pronounce my words and I try not to use any of the slang that I use when I am at home or with my friends. I have learned to do this because I hate having people think that I am ignorant if I say something that sounds too country. My dad always tells that I better to start using correct grammer whenever I am talking to anyone, because one day I am going to be a teacher and no one is going to listen to me because I talk like a hick. The sad thing is that he is right!

there is a difference between talking in an accent and just flat out not speaking english. i had a professor (who had her doctorate mind you) and she had some good things to say...she had a very thick southern accent. it was so think it caused her to not pronounce words correctly.

yes its cultural, and where you grew up has a very larg if not complete role in the way you speak. accents are beautiful and i love how you can tell where someone is from by their accent. but when it comes to being an educator...if you cant speak the english language how can you teach it to someone?

I had a story much like Jordan's. I had a very strong southern accent as a child, but as soon as I hit 6th grade and was made fun of for the way I spoke, I worked as hard as I could to cover it up. By the time I was in 7th grade you couldn't hear it at all, and that's the way it has stayed now for years. Last time I went home, however, I noticed that when I'm talking to my parents or sister I have the accent again. So I've conditioned myself to change around different groups of people, and I know I'm not the only one. It's sad that we have to change to "fit in" in society.