My friend Frank (who is African American and of whom I spoke previously) was born here in Ohio just like me. There are a few words that may come out sounding Southern when he speaks, like "I," "my," etc. But for the most part he has the Midwestern accent that the white people here have. My pastor (31 years old) is about 8 years older than Frank and is a black man from Chicago, and has an Oberlin College education, so he doesn't sound real "Southern" either. Of course my pastor also went to a mostly white Catholic high school in Chicago, so he learned to change his speech early. As for Frank growing up in an area without many opportunites...that young man has learned to create his own opportunities. He lived a life similar to that of Greg Yance as a teenager, but he found his way out of that by the time he was 19 years old when he turned his life over to God. Frank is married now and has a stepdaughter...and they really make a beautiful family. My pastor, whom I've actually known since he was a freshman at Oberlin College 14 years ago, and his wife (who is also my pastor and also attended Oberlin) have 4 little boys, ages 2, 4, 5 and 9. They are also a beautiful family.
"I'd be very happy to be myself if I could remember who I am. Who am I?"
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Kelea7
13 years ago
Thank you for the response. I enjoyed reading it. I guess it's just that I'm used to people of all different colors sounding different ways. Of course there are general rules and you could probably fit most or many people into those boxes. But it's not uncommon to hear someone who is black sounding closer to what many might say a white person sounds like. That always gets sticky though. It partly depends on where you grew up, your parents, friends, what school you went to. I would say most of the young people don't technically have the Southern accent (it's more neutral, you coukdn't really tell where we are from) but if you went in more rural areas they do. But of course even some of the older people have it even in the bigger cities so it's a mixed bag. Not to mention some people slip back into the Southern accent around family without even realizing it. Well, I've gone on long enough now, haha.
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jeffster67
13 years ago
I am also a big fan of the show ER, and there were a couple of characters on the show (one was a doctor and the other was her cousin) that were of Indian (not American Indian) descent, but because both grew up in England, they had British accents. I thought they sounded kind of neat talking that way, because at least you could understand them as opposed to an Indian doctor from India with the Punjabi accent. So they might say something like, "Bloody wanker!" In addition to having British accents, those two young women were very attractive.
"I'd be very happy to be myself if I could remember who I am. Who am I?"
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