When some people are nervous or have what's described as social anxiety they get a little eye twitch or blush or say really stupid things. Me, when I'm a little nervous I talk like a Yankee.
I don't have the strongest Southern accent to begin with, but if I'm in a group of people I don't know very well and am maybe a little shy of I get this weird upper-midwestern cum northeastern accent. It sounds ugly even to me. My inner voice says STOP, but my outer voice keeps talking like a Yankee.
Anyway, I was in a group of Americans last night, some of whom I find a bit intimidating. We were all talking politics and my Yankee voice was peeping out. As the evening progressed, someone - one of those people I find a little intimidating - started putting on a faux Southern accent whenever she wanted to imply that she was saying something stupid. I called her on it. I said I resented it, that it was an unfair characterisation, and that stunts like that don't help the cause of progressive politics in the South.
She kept it up. And to make it worse the non-Southerners complimented me on my "not bad considering you're from Tennessee" accent. My blood boiled.
She kept it up. "Go on, keep doin' it Sugar," I said. "I know what car you drive and I'm gonna slash your tars while you're asleep."
The gentleman from Georgia, sitting to my right, added "Hell, we'll do it while she's still in the car."
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Nervous tick
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7 comments:
Hi Vol,
You know that old saw "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"? Well, I truly believe that this applies in the social scenario you described.
See, you are obviously a very intelligent person. This lady who was making fun of your Southern accent is, to my mind anyway, very obviously insecure with herself in your presence. Further, she must not be very intelligent herself, because part of how I define "intelligence" involves one's degree of overall intellectual "well-roundedness," some of which involves possessing at least a basic set of social skills. :)
Have a great day,
Tim
Vol - my blood boils for you.
Tim - agree with your insistence on civility. Henceforth I will stop insulting my husband's West Virginia roots. We Oklahomans are far too eager to find somebody besides Arkies to dump on.
On the "Southerners are stupid" theme - recall how Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina used that prejudice to his advantage at the Watergate hearings. He'd start a question with, "Now, Ah'm jest an old country lawyah..." The witness, falling for the Andy of Mayberry routine, inevitably relaxed and then sat there experiencing his own evisceration. Still makes me smile.
Uglyhomans aren't so bad, either, Meg... and, quite frankly, I'm tired of you people telling me that my accent sounds funny.
I feel the burn.
Next time you see her, pull out your keys give her car a good going over. It's petty, illegal, bad form, and I've never actually done it myself, but I can't help but believe it would be profoundly satisfying.
Girl, we gotta talk. I have this southern voice that only comes out when I eat greens.
I suspect I know this person of whom you speak. Let's gang up on the bitch.
Yes, Nicole - resistance is futile. Welcome to the collective. Y'all's designation will be fahve of nahn.
It is interesting to see how Nervous ticks work. I don't have any of those
Nervous ticks, but I know some people who do! It is kind of funny to see them like that, but it is not reason enough to make fun around them
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