For as long as I can remember, whenever I was visiting elsewhere, an inevitable question was, "Why don't you have a southern accent?" And I would explain that people in New Orleans do not have a southern accent, despite what Hollywood would have you believe. People in some parts of town have different and distinct accents, but you'd be hard pressed to find an area within the city limits sporting a southern twang. Until now, if you count our house as an area. My baby has a southern twang. It makes me smile to hear him say, "Hhaaiii!," and Baaiii!," accompanied by a thrust of the hand.
Other things today that made me smile, to the point that I had to leave the room to giggle, since they weren't things he should have been doing (this is where it comes in handy to have another parent to carry out the guidance):
- his climbing on the step stool and standing up to reach things on the kitchen counter
- his wildly pursuing the rabbit around the kitchen and then pulling the rabbit's ears: he's gotten a lot more bold around the rabbit, so we had to cut the interaction short
- his attempts to open the rabbit cage, once we'd put the rabbit back in
- his "sweeping" the kitchen floor with his new favorite toy: the broom (no, it's not a toy broom)
Hmmmmmm... a co-worker has a nephew who started playing golf with adult size golf clubs at 2 years old. Maybe the broom thing is along the same lines? Of course, my dad put in my hands a kid size baseball bat at just over 1 years old. Swinging things may be good for kids?
Posted by: ez at November 30, 2006 03:50 PMI always get the "why don't you have a southern accent" question, especially since I spent my first 15 years in TN. I made a conserted effort to speak with no accent (like Tom Brokaw) b/c I didn't want to sound like I was from East TN. Now I have to point out to people that NOLA has no one accent and that I say southern things like "Fixn to" and "y'all".
I try not not to bring up East TN too much anymore, I'm a NOLA girl now, "What high school did you go to?"
I love the New Orleans accent, which is its own thing entirely--definitely not what I'd think of as a Southern accent. It's smoother, rounder--you can almost still hear Europe in the way some New Orleanians speak. I could listen to Byrne's family talk all day, and, come to think of it, I often do (is that another distinctively New Orleanian trait--the gift of the gab?).
Posted by: Arin at November 30, 2006 04:49 PMI have a hard time keeping giggles in as well. :)
Posted by: FFG at December 4, 2006 09:16 AMheyyyy - my cousin's son started sweeping at around 2, as well. i'd say encourage it, because even now at family gatherings when the host says to the whole gang "i need some help in the kitchen," little timmy often volunteers before anyone else. that five year old beats all of us "responsible" adult members of the family.
Posted by: kari at December 6, 2006 11:41 PM