AARP Hearing Center
“G’day!” chirped a cheery Aussie voice as I walked into the Sandpalms Roadhouse in Northern Australia.
Like many of Australia’s roadhouses, the ramshackle little restaurant/gas station/boardinghouse had warped wooden floors and the ghost smell of deep-fried meat pies.
“Howdy! How y’all dern?” I quipped back, the sound of Oklahoma's dusty terrain rolling off my tongue like the infamous wind sweepin’ down the plain.
“I love your accent! Where are you from?” the young hostess asked, grinning in glee at a country drawl I had spent most of my life trying to cover up. “Ahm from Oklahoma. You know where that is? It sits right there on top of Texas,” I said, adding a little more hot sauce to my natural accent.
In Australia’s wild and rowdy Northern Territory, my Okie accent was swirling stronger than moonshine. It felt like the dialect in this remote outback and my Southern twang were kissing cousins.
At 51, I had fought most of my life to beat that red dirt sound out of my speech. I forced my tongue into contortions that didn’t quite fit because I felt that having a deep drawl came with judgmental assumptions of simpleminded ignorance.
On this trip, however, I not only embraced the long vowels and country-speak that embarrassed me back home but amplified it, much to the delight of the Australians who thrilled me with their own thick dialects. These interactions made me curious about the history behind my sound.
Listen up, y’all
While researching the topic, I found that Southern U.S. accents have a strong association with agriculture, so those with thick country accents tend to live in rural areas. Throughout history and across most countries, rural accents were deemed “uneducated” and “unsophisticated” by urban dwellers.
You Might Also Like
AARP Members Only Access
Enjoy special content just for AARP members, including full-length films and books, AARP Smart Guides, celebrity Q&As, quizzes, tutorials and classesThe Practicalities and Perks of Traveling With a Pup
How Daisy the dog became a widow’s wanderlust companion
Keeping Afloat by Going Under
A scuba diver learns to breathe through the depths of life's challenges