March 05, 2007

Hillary and her Cajun Frien's

Much has been made over the last 24 or so hours about Hillary's "fake" Southern accent in Selma. Now, personally, I think Hillary showing up there is the height of pandering for votes, she had/has no connection to Selma though she can certainly go for votes anywhere she likes... but that accent!!!!

Well, our good friends over at A Second Hand Conjecture has a great post up on imitating Southern Accents, and New Orleans accents especially. It is a good read and the occasion reminded me of an old joke that I learned from a real Cajun many, many years ago which I left on their site as a comment, but which I enjoyed writing again so much I thought I'd leave it here also.

Boudreaux be sitting at de bar one day and in walk Hillary Clinton down ta Louisianna to get her sef' some votes.

Boudreaux say "Hey, Hillary, how many doh's you see in dis place?"

Hillary say "De're be two do'hs Boudreaux, de fron' do'h and the back do' why you ax?"

Boudreaux he say "You wrong Hillary, de're be tree doh's here. Bet you $20.00"

Hillary, she slap down $20.00 on de bar and say "You on Boudreaux."

Boudreaux, he say "Aw-righ," 'n Boudreaux he slap down $20.00 too.

Boudreaux, he say. "De're be de fron' do'h and de back do'h"

Hillary say "Yeah!" and Boudreaux, he say "and dis"... reachin' down picking up de spittoon and say "Dis be d' Cuspidoh." Boudreaux he pocket de $40.00 and walk away.

In walk Thibodeaux 'n Hillary say "Hey, Thibodeaux, how many do'h be in dis place?"

Thibodeaux, he say "Two do'h, de Fron' do'h and de back do'h." 'N Hillary say "Betcha $40.00 dey be tree do'h in dis place," and she slap $40.00 on de bar.

Well, ole Thibodeaux he grin big, cause he gonna make $40.00 and he slap $40.00 on de bar too.

Thibodeaux say "Show me."

Hillary she say "Dere be de fron' do'h and de back do'h right?"

Thibodeaux say "Yeah!"

Hillary she say "And de're be dis..." she reach down, pick up de spittoon and slam in on de bar nex to da $80.00 and say "dis be a .... uhhh, dis be a.... uhhhh... well, I be damn. Dis here spittoon done coss me $60.00 today."

UPDATE # 1: Classical Values has a good post on this also.
UPDATE # 2: Commenter Mavis Beacon says Hillary was acting and I've asked him for a link. If so, I will update you further, but at least I still think the joke is funny! ;-)
UPDATE # 3: Well, Mavis is correct as you can see from this liberal website. But, I found it myself before Mavis could respond. Ignore the trash talk from the website, and watch the video putting the whole thing in context. But Talkingpoints memo is as guilty of trashmouthing as anyone, however, there is a point to be made that Hillary was "quoting" and not "faking" it. Having said that, I still feel she was pandering and I'll tell you why. Hillary could have used the words, and the cadence without mimicking the accent, using the movements and hand gestures and the whole schtick. It would have been just as effective, so, the charge stands, but with a possible dodge for Hillary. One word of advice to Hillary, don't try to do "Southern," even if you are quoting, you botch it when you do.

Posted by gmroper at March 5, 2007 02:55 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Damn GM, If Bubba had been there, it would really be funny...

You're not Justin Wilson, but you ain't bad Sha..

Posted by TexasFred at March 5, 2007 03:26 PM

I'd rather someone make fun of my Southern accent than pretend they can speak it. I learned a long time ago when going hunting and fishing in the hills of Tennessee that within the state itself were different accents and dialects. You might adjust your own just a little but to pretend you spoke like them was an insult, especially if you weren't from the South at all.

If you were obvious in your changed accent, smiles vanished and store clerks became icy cold. They could be the nicest people in the world but do something insulting and you wondered if you walked onto the set of Deliverance. Many of my Northern college friends never quite understood this and, apparently, Hillary doesn't either.

Posted by DADvocate at March 5, 2007 05:46 PM

Adjusting just a little - that is the key, Dadvocate. I slide partway into whatever accent is present without thinking much about it. To affect an accent would be insulting, but I think there is a bit of an insulting edge if you become even more rigid in your own.

GM, we have a similar series of Jacques & Pierre jokes in northern New England based on the similar (though not identical) Quebecois-English dialect.

Posted by Assistant Village Idiot at March 5, 2007 06:01 PM

Two posts on the topic and neither mentions the fact that Hillary was quoting somebody in that section. She wasn't pretending to BE southern. She was "acting." Now while that's lame in a different way, it's got nothing to do with pretending you're somebody you're not. Either you know this and you're being pretty dishonest with your readers, or you don't, and you should update your posts. I hope it's the latter.

Posted by Mavis Beacon at March 6, 2007 10:36 AM

Thanks for the correction, GM. As to the charge that she made an ass of herself, you'll get no argument from me there!

Posted by Mavis Beacon at March 6, 2007 06:07 PM

Wait one cotton pickin' minute. Hillary did use a fake Southern accent besides the quote, and the link that I provided for the audio includes some of that.

Furthermore, O'Bama slipped into some southern ebonic drawl, which is hard to understand from someone born in Hawaii and educated at Harvard.

How stupid do they think that we are?

Posted by Woody at March 7, 2007 08:40 AM





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