ZOMG! I'm not the only one! I've come across it a few times, and it never fails to make me cringe. I mean, I was born in Gainesville, and grew up in Williston...Need I say more about my Southern credentials? I've seen some so bad that I literally haven't been able to understand what the author's trying to have the characters say. Besides, some of us barely even have accents, or have ones that only come out on certain words or times (my parents are New Yorkers who grew up in South Florida, so my upbringing counters my geography most of the time, but I get a bit more of a drawl going when I'm sleepy). I think that a lot of authors (not good ones) try to use phonetic dialects as a quick replacement for actually having to research and describe locations and cultures that they aren't familiar with.
Also, I've noticed a trend towards stereotyping all males in such stories as gentlemanly nice guys, and the females as soft-spoken bells. Maybe that's how it was in the anti-bellum days or something (though I doubt very much that things were ever that black and white), but that's most definitely not how it is now.
And to me, nothing screams Yankee quite so much as using "y'all" as a singular.
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Date: 2008-03-15 12:18 am (UTC)Also, I've noticed a trend towards stereotyping all males in such stories as gentlemanly nice guys, and the females as soft-spoken bells. Maybe that's how it was in the anti-bellum days or something (though I doubt very much that things were ever that black and white), but that's most definitely not how it is now.
And to me, nothing screams Yankee quite so much as using "y'all" as a singular.
Oh, yeah, much icon love...mind if I use it?