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

wbbigtymer said
I can absolutely relate to this. I lived in New Orleans right up to college (N.O. East, to be exact) and I don't have a very discernible accent. I HAVE had people in northern Virginia/Maryland/Pennsylvania claim they can tell I'm from N.O. or tell I have some kind of accent, and I've even had people at LSU claim they can tell I'm from N.O., but I can't really tell, and I know for a fact I don't have a yat accent.

Where's my point? People who grew up around the city, but not necessarily in it, are more likely to have a "New Orleans" accent. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, but it boils down to the fact that a lot of these accents are simply disappearing. Since I'm a 1st generation New Orleanian (like Peyton and Eli), I think my accent is likely to be influenced by my parents and friends. Well, most of my fiends have my "accent" and growing up, I didn't encounter that many "yat" accents. In my experience, most of the people with heavy accents lived outside of Orleans parish. St. Bernard, St. Tammany, and Jefferson parishes seem to be the actual home to these accents. Post-Katrina, I think this trend has greatly accelerated, and I'm afraid you really have to look to the older folks to find that many left in the city.

Now, with all of that said, I think I'd be very likely to sort of "pick up" or "put on" portions of the accent if you put me in the middle of a conversation with people that have it and give me a few beers. Like I said, I'm sure I have a little bit of one, but no more than the average New Orleans native, which isn't much. And that doesn't make me any less New Orleans. The real New Orleanians know this; the posers are the ones who claim otherwise.

The reason you find that accent in many of the areas surrounding New Orleans(St Bernard, Jefferson) is because many of those families(white) are originally from New Orleans and migrated out in the 60,70's and 80's to places like Jefferson and St Bernard. but make no mistake those accents originated in the city of New Orleans. the reason why that accent is not really prevalent in the younger generation(yours and mine) of New Orleans is because that working class(which is were it comes from) is not really there anymore in the city, most of it left in the 60's, 70's and 80's. I had a very unique case as my mother's family is from N.O. and my father's family is from St Bernard, I grew up in the city(with my mothers family) until I was about 13 and then we moved to St Bernard.

Whoever said that somebody is less New Orleans because they don't have an accent is not true because there are many different accents in New orleans(Don't Know if people in this thread are saying that) However there is and always has been a certain animosity/indifference between people from Uptown people and Downtown people. It goes back to the days of when New Orleans was taken over by the U.S. Of course that's one thing that has always made New Orleans unique(the many different neighborhoods, diversity of the people) but on the other hand that attitude hasn't always served the city well. It's a double edged sword so to speak.

This same exact clan attitude IMO is also in St Bernard you can tell who's from the old original families and the ones who are fairly new the the Parish(usually from downtown New Orleans) I can't really explain it but its there to a certain degree.

I can understand where the guy is coming from when he's says he doesn't consider Peyton AS true a New Orleanian(nothing to do with accent) but because his family doesn't have the same deep roots/strong ties. I say this because I have many friends who are from downtown who view the situation exactly like this. Now that doesn't mean they were rooting for the Bears but from what I understand they sometimes feel some people think they HAVE to or are obligated to. Not saying I agree or disagree but that attitude is very real and has been for a long time.