My Kentucky Hillbilly Accent (And Other Accents and Languages)

I am proud of my southeastern Kentucky hillbilly accent. I still have it after many years living in Lexington, Kentucky. Perhaps we all have certain strengths and weaknesses based on where we are from and our accents help illustrate that. 

Three Specific Examples of Different Accents/Word Definitions
The three paragraphs below discuss three specific examples of the effects of different accents/versions of the English language.


First, though I've encountered relatively little kidding because of my accent, that's not true for some. I remember the first day in a class at the University of Kentucky a few decades ago when the instructor asked each of us to state our name and where we were from. One girl in her hillbilly accent stated her name and the name of the small town in West Virginia where she was from. The instructor and many in the class laughed; she laughed with them. But, when I saw her a few years ago, and she spoke in what I will call "Lexington English," she stated that she had gotten so much kidding about her accent that she had taken voice lessons. Yes, language and accents can be important to many people in various ways.

For the second example, I'll illustrate how closely an accent can identify the neighborhood one grew up in. Recently I rented a car and visited family and friends in southeastern Kentucky. On the return trip, I bought gas in Pikeville. Someone at the station noticed the Colorado license plate on my rental car and that I didn't speak like someone from so far away. I told them that it was a car I'd rented in Lexington where I lived, and that I was visiting family and friends in Jenkins. The person mumbled something like, he may be from Lexington now and here visiting Jenkins, but that's a Pond Creek accent. And he was right. I still speak with the accent I acquired during the years of my childhood that I lived in the Pond Creek area of Pike County, Kentucky.


My third illustration deals with the written English language. I recall reading a book about bicycle repairs during my childhood; the book suggested putting "paraffin" on a bicycle chain to clean it. I couldn't understand why someone would put paraffin (which I considered wax) on a bicycle chain. However, on a hunch I checked the copyright page and learned that the book I was reading was published in Great Britain. I looked in a dictionary and learned that in Great Britain the word "paraffin" means kerosene.

Different Accents and Languages, Assets or Liabilities?
I consider my accent an asset and not a liability. We hillbillies have many positive traits that we can be proud of. And after all, everyone from every location has an accent of some type. As long as we can speak legibly so that we can be understood and can hear well enough to understand others, I think it is fine to have various accents.

If accents (and differences in word definitions) can create problems for English speakers from different countries (and even different places within the same country), I find it difficult to even imagine the difficulties created by language barriers for persons traveling to the United States from around the world, whose native language is not English. I am grateful for dictionaries, as well as for devices that translate from one language to another.

Folks, let's all be proud of our accents, whatever they may be. And let's all be tolerant of the accents of others, whatever they may be. And if one standard English ever prevails that we English speakers all speak, it may improve communications, but I think much will be lost, too. For now at least, as long as we can speak clearly enough to be understood (I think I can?), I think it is a blessing to have some diversity of English accents.

And I am confident that the various languages besides English around the world provide blessings to their speakers, too. I would love for everyone to understand everyone else perfectly, but I am confident that there is a purpose for the various languages, too. Maybe someday someone will create a perfect language that is easy to learn but incorporates the best features of all the languages (and accents) around the world. But I don't expect that anytime soon. For now at least, we have lots of accents and languages, for better or worse. Let's seek to make the best of it.