I think it's hard to fake an accent; we just need to be true to what we really are. I always hated the actresses in Steel Magnolias trying to fake a Southern accent. I think they can fool outsiders, but it kinda grates the nerves when you can recognize the real thing.

Having moved around a lot, I know that one's accent changes with geography. It's a matter of changing in order to be understood. But when we go back home, the old accent comes out. I remember seeing a TV reporter who sounded so proper and bland on screen, but then when she turned to greet her Mississippi neighbors, the accent bubbled over.

Since my MS has affected my vocal chords, my speech has had to become slow and labored. That coupled with a childhood Texas drawl really makes me sound like something I'm not. I've found that foreigners (Chinese and Mexican restaurant workers and university students from all over the world) have no trouble whatsoever understanding me. American teenagers working in fast food places almost never understand me. Unfortunately, that has as much to do with attitude as "ear."

SINSULL, you got it right on the PalTalk folks! It really is a pleasure to listen in. One of the funniest songs I heard was when jacko put on a redneck accent for a song. (It sounded normal to me.) I had never thought about how you would "put on" a redneck accent.

When my son was in high school he referred to the librarian as "that lady with the foreign accent." She was from New Jersey!