Why do the Mannings sound like they have a Different accent ?? (1 Viewer)

[wbbigtymer]

I don't quite understand this. Jake Delhomme grew up in southwest Louisiana if i'm not mistaken. He speaks with a straight Cajun accent. Not a New Orleans accent. So he's one of ours? The Mannings speak with a normal accent/slightly southern (because of their aforementioned Mississippi roots and because the Garden District was first settled by protestant Americans mostly from the South, not Catholic Creoles or the Italians and Irish and blacks who all give to our New Orleans accent).

So if you're from another part of the state, you're one of ours? But if you're from our city, but you grow up with money and without a thick accent, you're less of a New Orleanian?

Being from Uptown (Broadmoor, not exactly Beverly Hills), i'm often times confused about a certain bias that lingers to this day.

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.

 

[CEB1010]

I think whether you have a New Orleans accent depends on whom you were around growing up, who your teachers were, and your family.

My parents are at least third-generation New Orleanians coming from all branches of the family tree (my mom grew up less than a block from the Loyola campus and my dad's from Bywater), and I sound like I'm from St. Louis. Why? I think it's because I was raised in newer area of Algiers (Aurora) and most of my friends' families were relative newcomers to the area (from all parts of the south and midwest), as were most of my teachers. If I lived on Algiers Point, ("da pernt" in local parlance) or Old Gretna, which were like most New Orleans neighborhoods, I probably would've been more of a yat.

But as noted above, Uptown's different because it wasn't settled by immigrants, but settled by Protestant businessmen from both the South and up East, folks whose families are the backbone of that insular New Orleans "old money" society. Oddly enough, it was this same set that started Mardi Gras, our most treasured cultural tradition, which is ironic considering Carnival is deeply rooted in Latin Catholic tradition.

Because accents are generally thicker and less polished the further you go down the socioeconomic scale, it would make sense that old monied Uptowners don't speak the way people do in bluer collar areas of town. If Uptowners have an accent, it's more closely identifiable with old money southern. (i.e., pronouncing the letter "R" as "ahr" as opposed to that distinctly local/Brooklyn "awh").

That of course, doesn't apply to all uptown. Generally, the further you got away from the street car line (south of Magazine) or north of, say, Claiborne, the more likely you were to have a New Orleans accent.

That all said, Peyton and Eli have a lot more twang than most of their Garden District neighbors, despite having gone to Newman (the most expensive school in town) and spent their summers playing in the pool with the other "preps" at N.O. Country Club. I'd agree with those who'd say that's likely because they're daddy was an ol' country boy, they went to school in Knoxville and Oxford, and they're in a business where accents are commonplace (esp. if you were in the SEC). Interesting that Cooper doesn't with nearly the thick accent that his little brothers have.

 

[CEB1010]

I'm not sure it's fair to say that Peyton identifies more with Tennessee. He is loyal to his college team, but both Peyton and Eli worked to get supplies to New Orleans and have supported recovery efforts for their hometown. I doubt that anyone here actually how Peyton identifies himself.

They were both born and raised in New Orleans. This thread is reminding me of that old joke, that in New Orleans, the Welcome Wagon calls on you until the third generation. The idea that someone born and raised in New Orleans isn't really from New Orleans is one that has kept the city isolated from new businesses--and this was before Katrina. Corporations did not want to locate there because their top managers could not be accepted into New Orleans society. New Orleans was isolated from new money coming into the city, and it's one of the reasons that it stayed so poor.

New Orleans needs help from everyone to recover from Katrina, including "outsiders" who were only born there to parents who were born elsewhere. Maybe it's time to let this attitude go.

BINGO! As much of a kook and misguided as she was in her anti-Mardi Gras parade crusade 17 years ago, Dorothy Mae Taylor had a point about the exclusivity of New Orleans society. If you aren't a member of Rex, Comus, Momus, Proteus or Hermes, you are "outside the circle" and have a strike or two against you if you want to do business in the city with the right connections.

 

[nawlins25]

well being that archie is not from new orleans i dont really expect him to have an new orleans accent then the two kids just went to highschool in new olreans after highschool they left when u spend a long enough time away from ur first accent u start to loose it just a tad so i wont expect none of them to have one

Excuse me, all of Archie's sons were born in New Orleans when he played with the Saints. New Orleans is their home town. But they were not raised in the ninth ward where they say "axe" for ask and "earl" for oil. They were raised uptown and went to a private school. They have a mix of Mississippi (from their parents) and general southern.

 

[BRAINFREEZE]

speaking of accents, what about the mackel brothers at wdsu? they were nola born and raised, and i cannot for the life of me place that accent they both have. giants. not ji-unts, but jints. does anyone know?

 

[hardhead233]

speaking of accents, what about the mackel brothers at wdsu? they were nola born and raised, and i cannot for the life of me place that accent they both have. giants. not ji-unts, but jints. does anyone know?

That is common in many accents in the downtown area although i'm sure there are some people in uptown neighborhoods that pronounce it like that. Mostly in the older generations 50's on and some a little younger(30's and 40's) but no as many. Many New Yorkers I have heard pronounce it like that as well or at least pretty similiar.

The way you're describing that pronunciation I'm pretty sure its the same one that i'm thinking of.

 

[hardhead233]

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.

 

[Broadmoor74]

So we want people to move here to help New Orleans rebuild. We want businesses to relocate or start here to help New Orleans rebuild. But if you do move there and start a family there, you're not accepted as a REAL New Orleanian. Or if you live Uptown (and I think we've been assuming everyone Uptown is affluent, which is far from the truth.), you're less of a New Orleanian than, say, if you grew up in Bucktown? Interesting.

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

There are two or three recent posts in which I seem to be the target. I have no problem with disagreement--or being the target of your pique. With three prior posts, I have stated as clearly as I can my position. However, I make three requests: Don't misrepresent my sentiments (such as I dislike people who live Uptown or who attended Newman); don't cherry-pick my words; and read all three prior posts that I wrote before commenting on what I wrote.

 

[wbbigtymer]

I want to clarify my earlier post a little bit. First of all, none of my comments were or are directed at anyone on the forum. When referring to people who may consider an accent when judging whether someone is a true New Orleanian, I am speaking of people I've encountered growing up in the city.

I am well aware of the dynamics that are related to the issue of why the various accents are found more in the areas surrounding the city than in the city itself. Sure, they may have originated in the city, but this does not change the fact that it is becoming increasingly absurd to use accent as a gauge of one's local identity (again, I'm not saying anyone here has done that). I tend to think that some of the most "New Orleans" people aren't even necessarily from the area--Chris Rose and Drew Brees are a couple famous ones that come to mind. You can probably throw Tom Piazza in there. They're people who are New Orleans in spirit, because they've adopted the city and love it. I'd say they are able to appreciate the city just as well as any native. It would be silly and ignorant to hold their accents and origins against them. They're much more genuine than someone who can trace their roots in the city seven generations back, yet lacks any appreciation or understanding of the city's uniqueness and character, or worse--they don't even know the city!

I would put many things before accent and family origins in my personal gauge of what makes one a New Orleanian, but I think most TRUE New Orleanians would never dispute this. If you have family ties to the city, I think that is something to be proud of, and I think you are lucky to have grown up with people who have hopefully taught you to appreciate your city, but you probably also realize that one of the things that makes New Orleans unique is the fact that New Orleans has always enjoyed an ever-changing cultural makeup, and if we ever froze in time, we'd actually lose uniqueness.

 

[hardhead233]

I want to clarify my earlier post a little bit. First of all, none of my comments were or are directed at anyone on the forum. When referring to people who may consider an accent when judging whether someone is a true New Orleanian, I am speaking of people I've encountered growing up in the city.

I am well aware of the dynamics that are related to the issue of why the various accents are found more in the areas surrounding the city than in the city itself. Sure, they may have originated in the city, but this does not change the fact that it is becoming increasingly absurd to use accent as a gauge of one's local identity (again, I'm not saying anyone here has done that). I tend to think that some of the most "New Orleans" people aren't even necessarily from the area--Chris Rose and Drew Brees are a couple famous ones that come to mind. You can probably throw Tom Piazza in there. They're people who are New Orleans in spirit, because they've adopted the city and love it. I'd say they are able to appreciate the city just as well as any native. It would be silly and ignorant to hold their accents and origins against them. They're much more genuine than someone who can trace their roots in the city seven generations back, yet lacks any appreciation or understanding of the city's uniqueness and character, or worse--they don't even know the city!

I would put many things before accent and family origins in my personal gauge of what makes one a New Orleanian, but I think most TRUE New Orleanians would never dispute this. If you have family ties to the city, I think that is something to be proud of, and I think you are lucky to have grown up with people who have hopefully taught you to appreciate your city, but you probably also realize that one of the things that makes New Orleans unique is the fact that New Orleans has always enjoyed an ever-changing cultural makeup, and if we ever froze in time, we'd actually lose uniqueness.

I agree with you 100%. I love when I hear about people from other places coming here to live, and embrace the city because lord knows we need all the good people we can get and hopefully we don't run them off and they stay a long time...

 

[ijsouth]

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.

Very true...that is how the term "neutral ground" came about...the older, "Creole" section - the French Quarter and areas downriver were on one side of Canal, the newer "American" section was on the other, and the "neutral" area met in the middle of Canal.

My dad, who was from Uptown, said that my grandfather, who had his engineering office downtown, never went into the Quarter, except to go to lunch at Galatoire's.

My dad didn't have much of an accent, but part of that might have been due to the fact that he left New Orleans right after college, and didn't return for many years, when his office relocated to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. What's funny is that my mom's Canadian; we ended up in her hometown for Katrina (had to leave the kids there for a while, while I went to work in B.R.)...it had been years since I had been up there...some of my relatives said "you don't have much of an accent, eh?"...I guess they were expecting a twang or something; in the meantime, they all sound like Bob and Doug MacKenzie.

 

[charleygator]

OK here's my take on accents growing up in Louisiana. I was born and lived in Lafayette until I was thirteen. My two best friends and I were wasps and I never realized any accents on any of us before I left. My family moved away and I lost contact with my two friends, then college and moving around the country. About ten years ago I was in Lafayette overnight and I decided to try to contact my two childhood friends. Lo and behold I talked to them on the phone, but they had developed a pretty acute cajun accent. I couldn't believe it. I even mentioned to them that if my family hadn't moved I may have developed one also. Now I'm out in Southern California and not too long ago I was talking to someone and they asked "Are you from Southern Georgia?" I guess whatever environment you are in develops how you speak. Go Saints Go, charleygator

 

[Broadmoor74]

Since this thread has turned into an exploration into the complexities of New Orleans' accents, here's a short, cool read on it.....

http://www.answers.com/topic/yat-new-orleans

 

[NO_born_texan]

I was born and raised in NO East and moved out of the city (to Houston) when I was 13. I don't have and never had a lick of accent, although I can interpret pretty good. I even went to Lafayette for college for 6 years and I don't have the accent. Now, I can do a pretty darn good voice impression and pull it out of the air as if I have been speaking it all my life.
The biggest influence in a person's accent is their parents and extended family.
Peyton and Eli had a Mom and Dad who watched over them growing up and were heavily involved in their lives. That's why their accent is traced back to a Mississippi one.

Archie was the greatest ever when I was growing up leading the Saints to the first ever break-even season. Can't blame a guy for that!