say what? a southern lilt?
"oh wow, you speak with a slight southern lilt..."
someone said that to me yesterday. i can't tell you how many times i've heard these words spoken to me. each time, it never fails to surprise me. i tell myself it doesn't really bother me...but i guess it kind of does.
i was born, raised, and now live in a state south of the mason-dixon line but definitely not considered the "deep south". sometimes we're lumped together with mid-atlantic states, and other times considered a southeast state.
the first time anyone told me i had any sort of southern accent was the summer of '90, when i spent a few weeks in connecticut and then visited my sister in boston. my sister's friends were like "aww, your little sister has such a cute accent--but it's really subtle". the same thing played out when i spent the summer of 1991 in connecticut. when i went to college in massachusetts, my friends there told me the same thing, and some of them used to tease me good-naturedly about it. i think i dropped most of that accent over four years in the northeast. but i've apparently regained it over time, having lived away from new england after college.
i'm self-conscious. i mean, i know it's not like i have awful twangy texan speech, or the kind of accent you hear in atlanta. no. i don't sound like i'm from memphis or louisiana cajun country. nothing like that. i'm told it's more "subtle" and "soft"...a "lilt". nonetheless, it makes me a wee bit self-conscious...
especially b/c i'm of asian descent. everyone saw my photo. finally people here know what i look like. let's be honest, you readers probably agree: that accent doesn't really go with my looks, does it? definitely let me know if you think otherwise. really. people just don't expect an asian-american woman to have a soft southern lilt in her voice.
a couple of past boyfriends (both new yorkers) told me that my subtle hint of a southern accent was "cute", and it intrigued them almost as much as my ambidexterity. how do you like that?
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finally, here's something that drove home the point that i've got that soft lilt in my voice:
last year out in seattle, i was at the uvillage barnes & noble getting chai upstairs and talking to the guy behind the counter about something as mundane as the traffic.
mr. starbucks: "you're not originally from around here are you?".
ME: "uh, actually, no i'm not. i'm visiting from the east coast. why?"
mr. starbucks: "you have an accent"
ME: "accent?"
mr. starbucks: "yeah, a slight southern accent...like the way you just said I-5" (for those not in the know, this is Interstate Five)
ME: speechless & blushing slightly
(i was a bit floored)
well....more thoughts from me as they happen....
