Why do the Mannings sound like they have a Different accent ??

We moved a lot when I was a kid. I picked up the local accents of Monroe, Yazoo City, Natchez, Baton Rouge, Baker and Vidalia along the way.

Then, in 9th grade, they desegregated the schools and that introduced a whole new set of accents and dialects.

Then, I became a military instructor and learned to talk like a damn Yankee.

Depending on who I talk to, I might sound like a hick from Mississippi or a bayou boy from Louisiana or one of my track team homeys or a Yankee newscaster from the Midwest.

It all depends on who you're talking to. A person's natural accent comes through only when they're totally relaxed and off-guard, like talking on the phone to a relative.

Otherwise, for public figures at least, accents and dialect are affectations.

Archie's family is from Drew, in the north part of the state, close to my mom's hometown. My dad was from the south-central part of Mississippi. Their dialects were completely different.