Two Accents for the Price of One

Slate’s Explainer on having more than one accent.

I used to have more than one accent. I never had a really strong Southern accent, but when I moved to New York, I found that people could detect it. I also found, at times, that I would emphasize it more, just on certain words. Perhaps this was a subconscious way for me to assert my identity. Or maybe I just noticed it more because unlike when I lived back home, where everyone sounded like that, now no one did.

It wasn’t until I got to law school that I noticed myself starting to pick up what could be determined a New York accent. I think this was because St. John’s is a fairly local school – most of the students there were from the Queens-Long Island area – whereas NYU had a wider range of people and those that I spent most of my time with weren’t from New York. But I did start to pick up the accent at that point, for which I was teased mercilessly by one of the guys in my class, who was also from the South. Still, on some words (most notably “well,” which I began a lot of sentences with), I retained my more pronouced Southern accent. I think on those few words it even did become more pronounced.

What was really weird is what happened when I would come home for a visit. It was almost like the second I stepped off the plane at the fabulous Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, I had a full blown Southern drawl unlike anything I ever had before. It was crazy. I could hear myself doing it but could do nothing to stop the horror. It would go away just as quickly as I arrived back in New York.

Only it turns out maybe it’s not so weird after all:

A Southerner who moves to New York and wants to drop the twang will often pick it up again when he visits home (or has a few drinks).

Though I would point out I never consciously tried to lose my accent.

On a somewhat related note, I always wanted to have a Midwestern accent. I guess I’ll have to move if that’s ever going to happen.