7 Southern US Accents You WON'T Understand

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⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:34 - Accent #1
2:45 - Accent #2
4:19 - Accent #3
6:45 - Accent #4
10:18 - Accent #5
12:56 - Accent #6
18:01 - Bonus Accent

📜 SOURCES & ATTRIBUTIONS:

🎬 Video Clips:

[angelaj]

I live in Scotland, and understand them as clear as day. Much easier than many areas in England.

[jasonoverstreet]

I'm a southerner and I understood everyone perfectly.

[joleenperez]

Thanks for not degrading southern accents

[madambutterfly]

Lord have mercy! To hear all my fellow southerners speaking our language. Blessin hearts, huggin necks. We fixin to light a fire and tell some stories. Blessings to all my kin and communities. Y’all come back to see us now. Tell ya mama’nem we said hello

[john-paulbitler]

As an East Tennessean, I couldn’t recognize the Tennessee accent until Dolly came on. Northeast Tennessee and Memphis have vastly different dialects

[kerim.peardon]

Southern accents don't stop at state lines--instead, they are typically geographical. The Cumberland Plateau (where I am from) is the western border of Eastern TN and it has its own accent. It descends into Alabama and I sound more like the people in northern Alabama (including the people featured in your video) than I do people 50 miles east or west of the Plateau in TN.

But, if you go back a few generations, you'll hear people on the Plateau sound like the Appalachian people out of the Foxfire books. My grandmother would say "warsh" instead of "wash" and "far" and "tar" instead of "fire" and "tire." A combination of education and influence from outsiders has changed the accent. My mother did not pronounce words that way, despite growing up in the same place where my grandmother grew up. And I don't pronounce words the same as my mother, despite growing up in the same county--for instance, she says "yella" instead of "yellow."

[cmcclarin]

Southern accents are soothing to me. I've lived in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. I have family in South Carolina and Virginia. The accent I love the most is the Georgia upper crust drawl. You know you're talking to someone in this group when they keep turning the conversation back to you. Excessively polite and an obvious spirit of generosity. It's love and sugar syrup combined. It always warms my heart.

[Freebirdz]

I love living among southern accents. The melodic sounds are soothing to the wandering soul.

[pjs]

As a Georgia Boy, I have a difficult time understanding Northern people, especially New England states. I watched a show about carpentry and heard the dude talking about HOD wood. I looked all over the internet trying to find, Hod wood. I finally found out he was talking about HARD wood.

[thesilversurfer]

I love southern accents. Love how they Yes Ma’am you even when mad. So nice to hear such smoother soothing tones.

[patraic]

In my Army Officer Basic Course we had an allied officer from Indonesia. He had spent the prior year learning English in Texas. You haven't heard a mixed up accent like an Indonesian speaking English with a Texas Twang.

[GiovannaDecker]

Keep the southern accents alive please ❤!! Love all of them.

[tammyrogers]

As a Southern woman born and raised I love our accents.

[GrowLLLTigeRRR]

Back in the 80's I took a seat beside an attractive young woman on a flight from Cordova to Juneau, Alaska. After striking up a conversation she told me that she was a linguist and that she could tell me where I grew up. I asked her to go ahead and tell me. She told me the exact county in southwestern Virginia where my family has lived for six generations and where I was raised. I'll never forget that. It blew me away.

[KerryH-skgj]

as a transplanted "southerner", accents can change almost from town to town. Love the south!

[vaejoviscarolinanus]

I was born and raised in Charleston SC and my dad spoke with a gulla drall. I love it here and I can’t imagine ever being anywhere else.

[encrypter]

I'm a New Yorker. When I was in the Navy, there was a red headed guy who, when he spoke, I was absolutely positive he was from the deepest part of the deep South. At the time, I was guessing Mississippi. I, therefore, was shocked to find out he was a farmer from southern New Jersey, I'm still not over it!!! And that was 55 years ago.

[bgl]

I'm a Japanese immigrant. The South is my favorite part of the US because of the food, music, and amazing Southerners also Elvis Presley is my idol.

[RexTheRavenous]

Fun fact about Louisiana: the cajun accent is mainly only found in South Louisiana. The further up north you go, the more the accent sounds like a typical Southern Belle (Source: I was born and raised in south LA and moved up north for college and was faced with a lot more cultureshock than I was expecting lmao)

[sandramadaris]

Southern girl here. Mom from south Mississippi, dad from East Tennessee. Born in Georgia, college in Tennessee, married in Alabama. Relatives all over the Southeast. At least 11 generations here--from England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Sweden. These are my people!😊💖🇺🇸