I'm not going to lay out the entirety of the NC twang for you... it varies from beach to mountains and all points in between. But what used to drive me batshit crazy when I moved here were the words "pen" and "pin". Both of them are pronounced "pee-un". "Y'all got a pee-un?" Sometimes there is no way in hell to tell what that person wants... a writing implement? A pointy stabby object? WHAT? That's more of a downhome back-country way of talking, though. Here in the city you don't hear it so much. It's tempered by people from other places coming in and settling.
I admit I have a bit of an accent now, but that ain't nuthin compared t'my office mate, or somma tha girls ah work with. Living in the South around Southerners tends to soften your speech, pulls those consonants from the ends of words and rolls those vowels out a biiiit more than they really need. Helps when I'm talking to clients, too, because it puts me on even ground. They don't feel like I'm trying to be "better" than they are, because I talk like they do. Softer, sure, and less swearing, but we sound alike. BiqueerChris-- I used this accent (nay,
superpower) to get out of any liability in a traffic accident in NY. Stood on the corner screaming like a crazy woman at the cabbie who hit my car, and when the cops arrived they found a sweet lil' Southern thang half in tears in her car with her momma. You could see the policeman's heart turn to Jello. Hee.
A black man with a British accent is what stops my breath for a second. I love it and can't do anything but sit and quietly listen.
