From: Patricia Houtchens [phoutchens@aperity.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2013 11:08 AM
To: MEINERS, TERRY A
Subject: Listener Email from www.whas.com
I guess you’re celebrating another example of the homogenization of local dialects: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/27/kimmies-harpin-boontling-a-dying-american-dialect/?hpt=hp_t3
After you finally get everyone to stop calling the city where they were born, Louavull, then you can go to Narlens and tell those folks how stupid they sound because they don’t pronounce/enunciate their city’s name like you do. I find it so hypocritical that you never cease to tell your audience that we all should celebrate our differences – homosexuals/heterosexuals, democrats/republicans, U of L/U of K, whatever, but you have no tolerance for those of us who perpetuate their Southern dialect because it’s not how YOU say it. One of the reasons I love taking road trips is that it gives me the opportunity to listen to the local dialects – I LOVE that Southerners don’t sound like Canooks nor New Englanders nor Mid Westerners… Maybe you should relocate to California or wherever – somewhere everyone sounds like you do – alike, bland, boring. As for me, I’m PROUD that our local pronunciation of our city makes us distinctly “Louavillians.”
From: MEINERS, TERRY A
Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2013 10:23 PM
To: Patricia Houtchens
Cc: MEINERS, TERRY A
Subject: RE: Listener Email from www.whas.com
You’re not paying attention. I only laugh at professional broadcasters who come on the air and give the Southern “Lou-uh-vull” pronunciation. Did you hear any professional broadcasters in New Orleans come on the air and say “Nawlins?” No, you didn’t. They’re professional speakers, not colorful locals.
I find it hypocritical for people who enunciate their words for a living somehow wanting to “respect the locals” by dumbing down their skills to patronize the locals and say “Lou-uh-vul.” Yet they don’t seem to respect the locals enough to say “Shah-vlee.” Somehow they use their elocution skills to say SHY-vlee. See the diff?
By the way, you trumped your own logic in your last sentence. If it’s “Lou-uh-vull” to you, how can you recite the same letters differently when you say “LouaVILLians?” Shouldn’t you call us LouaVULLuns?
The nickname is The Ville, not The Vull.
That horrible tornado slammed into…where? Henryville.
Poser broadcasters aside, 100% of the population seems to know how to pronounce Taylorsville Road, Shelbyville Road, Simpsonville, Clarksville, Jeffersonville, Evansville, and a litany of other villes.
I like calling out my colleagues on their phoniness. Don’t vilify me.
A Southern accent is charming but professionally limiting to most people in the speaking arts. Would Jennifer Lawrence receive the same film roles if she talks like Turtle Man?
Most of America is condescending toward those with a Southern accent, and guys like Larry The Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy exploit that mockery to make a living. In the end, they are monetizing the rest of America’s bias.
That’s vile.