Dr. S on his latest interview: "And then I met a group of undergraduates [at a state school] and they were just so... Virginia! The clothes, the way they talked, their mannerisms... one of them even said bah-yug*, just like you."
*Bag. Virginia natives are required by the state constitution to pronounce every vowel in every word.
Awwwwww. It's lovely he felt at home :)
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I do enjoy hearing the strong accents of rural Cold State, it reminds me of my childhood. Of course, I'd be mortified if I thought I spoke that way all the time. I've heard people in Cold State stretch out our vowels rather toooo much. (Have you ever seen Drop Dead Gorgeous? Accents are over the top there, and rather too much Fargo. Grumpy Old Men is a bit closer.)
If it's a well-known movie of the last 20 years, I haven't seen it. This inspires great mirth in my spouse.
Delete(You don't talk like that, of course. But I love regional accents. Except Longayyyyland and Noo Joisey.)
My sister took the bar exam in Roanoke (originally from Tucson, AZ and, at the time, living in DC) and came away from the test not commenting on the sure difficulty but on the "Virginia gentleman" proctoring and the heaps of seersucker suits. I'm not sure I've ever seen such things outside of the Foreign Service and UVA graduations. She described the proctor as a "Colonel Sanders type". All I said was that she had the wrong state. Humph.
ReplyDeleteI had a teacher in highschool who had gone to UVA in the era when, to go to class, ladies were required to wear skirts, nylons, and pearls, and gentlemen were required to wear a tie. And she's the same age as my mother.
DeleteI have seen any number of delightful African-American gentlemen of a certain age (in Virginia) sporting some extremely dandy suits! And hats, of course.
As for graduations, try W&M sometime; they're even worse.
Virginia! I know where that IS!
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