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From: Forest Brandt
Sent: July 31, 2014
Subject: Government Out of Control
I worked there in the summer of 70. Great people, but about as easy to understand as your average Scotsman.
From: Ron Turner
Sent: July 31, 2014
Subject: Government Out of Control
The accent business is pretty presumptuous. I would assume "pure" speech in this country would probably be that of historic Plymouth colony or Jamestown. If that is the case, I recall a professor of English that asserted that the purest speech (given the previous definition) was somewhere in S. Carolina as it is closest to English of the 1600's. It does seem to be a frivolous use of the taxpayers money.
Regards, Ron
From: Frank Rogers
Sent: July 31, 2014
Subject: Government Out of Control
Wha chall talkin bout, Wilia?
From: Forrest Brandt
Sent: July 31, 2014
Subject: Government Out of Control
Thank God that Lab wasn't in Maine.
From: Dick Ellis
Sent: July 31, 2014
Subject: Government Out of Control
Forrest...
I have been helping a young couple for the past year that moved to Raleigh from Maine. . . he is an Iraq vet. . . . Marine with 2-tours. And I got him a job with the local Sheriff's Department. I swear I can not understand a single word she says. . . she talks about 90-mph and I have to get him to translate for me!! They think it is the funniest thing in the world!!
Dickie Down South....mov'in slow!!!
From: Dick Ellis
Date: July 31, 2014
Subject: Governent Out of Control
Government Lab has Accent Reduction Classes....
Part of our government being totally out of control!!!!
(Ya'll) dickie
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee has decided it’s OK after all for scientists to speak with a Southern drawl, canceling its plans for a six-week course in “Southern Accent Reduction” after staff members deemed it offensive.
The negative response was swift after the laboratory’s human resources department distributed a registration notice last week for the course meant to wipe out employees’ twangy accents, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.
“Feel confident in a meeting when you need to speak with a more neutral American accent, and be remembered for what you say and not how you say it,” the class description read, the paper reported.
“In this course you will learn to recognize the pronunciation and grammar differences that make your speech sound Southern, and learn what to do so you can neutralize it through a technique called code-switching,” it said.
The six-week course was to be taught by Lisa Scott, “a nationally certified speech pathologist and accent reduction trainer.” Laboratory spokesman David Keim said managers quickly canceled the class after employees complained.
“Given the way that it came across, they decided to cancel it,” Mr. Keim told the Sentinel. “It probably wasn’t presented in the right way and made it look like [the laboratory] had some problem with having a Southern accent, which of course we don’t.
That was not the intent at all.”
“We’ve offered accent reduction training to foreign nationals for years,” he added. “But this one obviously surprised some folks.
”The laboratory, managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by UT-Battelle, has one of the region’s most diverse work populations, Mr. Keim told the paper.
Government Out of Control and Accents
July 2014
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