I watched all of the videos on the website for the first time, and I was very surprised to find that Roger, Rollum, and Parrish all have southern accents. I never would have guessed. Did this surprise anybody else?

Also, a freind and I are having an argument about "The Idea® of Growing Old." Who here thinks Matt is singing "idear," and who thinks "idea?" He does say "ahfternoon" with a British accent in the song...

Thirdly, if anyone has the live bootleg of Exorcizing Demons that's available on .mp3, is that Matt or a crowd member screaming at the end? Either way, it fits perfectly, both with the beat and the theme of the song.

Cheers.

I'm not a bit surprised that Roger and Parrish have accents. I've been to Sparta before, and I'd be shocked if they didn't have a slight Southern twang.

As for Rollum... it's a toss up. If I'm not mistaken, he's a Mid-Western boy. I don't know how long he's been in the area... maybe long enough to pick up an accent. Or he may have gotten it from his girlfriend. She sounds like a real hick.

Rollum does have an interesting accent--he's originally from Indiana & has lived in TN for more than 10 years. I hear his girlfriend was raised in the Appalachian Mountains, so yeah, I think he picked up some of her drawl. She hardly ever speaks though. I think she's a mute.

I've seen her dancing at shows... but maybe she was just doing sign language.

I hear him say "Idear" every time.
After seeing The Features a few times, I expected Matt to speak with a British accent. But he doesn't.

I'm a fan of Southern accents, but the people who come from the town I was raised in have this enormously annoying Southern twang that just shouts, "I'm stupid." That, of course, isn't the Southern I hear in any of the band members' voices. And, I pray that my accent (b/c I know I have a pretty bad one) isn't as annoying as the other accent that comes from people born and raised in Erwin, TN. I don't think it is; I've had people tell me that my accent isn't annoying...just...there.

The r sound in idea that you hear is actually just two vowel sounds that run together. He doesn't enunciate the change because of the pace of the song, and so the double schwa sound sounds like there's an r in the middle.

I just noticed today the "ahfternoon". It's the way people are taught to sing. If you go too far into that short a sound, it sounds very twangy. To avoid this, singers use the a sound in water. If you listened to trained choirs, they'll always be singing "block" instead of "black," but it's hard to notice.

goddam i wish i has hair like that

In general, I like southern accents. But what I love (almost to the point of it being a fetish) is to listen to a really educated and eloquent person who has a southern accent speak. It's an indescribable sensation.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 11:27 pm on Feb. 19, 2003)

That's very true. We never sang a short "a" sound in songs. We were told to sing as if we were English to keep us from sounding Southern. But, that was in Asheville, NC, so there weren't many accents floating around.

So, you're saying I turn you on?

I have actually never ever noticed Roger or Parrish's accents. I guess it is because I've lived here all my life and they just sound normal. To "outsiders" (those not from the south) anyone from the South has a thick accent apparently. Rollum has an interesting accent I must say. And Matt...well...he never talks except when he thanks us for coming or tries to calm down the colossal Dabbs Protest Machine.

And I hear "ahfternoon" but I don't hear "idear." I must say that I am impressed by YDDD's language knowledge...

Yes, it's true that trained vocalists are taught to sing with the "ah" sound rather than the "ay" sound; however, I'm not too sure that's the reason why Matt says "ahfternoon". To me, it seems like if he were just trying to use proper diction, he would also say words like "has" ("the time has come" in "Circus", for example) with an "ah" sound, but he doesn't.

Maybe he just likes to say "ahfternoon", or maybe he thought his English-sounding pronunciation of it would add to the charm of the song. I don't know.

(Edited by Sexy Sadie at 6:11 pm on Feb. 19, 2003)

Well, it's not really a sexual thing, I don't think. It just makes me feel all tingly inside, like experiencing negative gravity or something.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 12:46 am on Feb. 20, 2003)

i think southern accents can be cute, but they can also be damn annoying. its hard to have a cute southern accent. I've only known 3 people in my whole life who could pull it off. 2 of them from TN. small world.
i hate my accent. im from MS. its not cute. bluh.

Thanks. Come and be in my 8th grade classroom.

I'll have to finish 6th grade first. Darn this long division!

man, first and second grade were easy but social studies, long division, this stuff is gonna be tough!!

Yeah, it definitely sounds like idear- a friend and I giggle every time because it's so endearing. Of course, we giggle throughout most Features shows. Our other favorite is "Getting use, getting use to the rejection". I grew up in the South but my mom threatened us with our lives if we developed an accent. Now I'm kind of jealous of all those lovely soft accents I hear in GA & TN.

Billy Madison, right? Nice.

ye]ah43-54444444444444 (sorry, my cat decided he would type)

yeah, billy madison. i love the fucking penguin man. that shit is SO funny!

Best of all is to hear a British person try to do a Southern accent. My mom has tried this before, and it is highly entertaining, as is her rendition of any pop song -- priceless.

u caught it before I could, I have a slight obsession with Adam....

(Edited by Genius Girl at 6:50 pm on Feb. 22, 2003)

Interestingly enough, the southern dialect is the closest of any regional American dialect to the queen's English. Hell, people in the southern Appalachians use a lot of Old English in their everyday speech.

Very true. Now I remember learning about that in my History of the English Language class (which we affectionately called HELL). We watched some very interesting videos about Appalachian mountain folk. Still, though, my limey mum can't talk like they do!

Yes, I've always heard that the American southern accent is closest to a Scottish accent.

As one of the "Appalachian folk"....

Let me just say that Johnson City is not well portrayed by the redneck farm family that is on that horrid "My Life is a Sitcom" reality show on ABC Family. I always thought Johnson City to be a fairly well-developed area myself.. and those accents!! I think they are exaggerating!! It sends a chill down my spine.. and makes my nostils flare in the most unattractive manner! SO irritating!

I can't say that I've seen the show in question, however showing the hillybilly stereotype has always been a staple of Hollywood/the media. I think there is a rather large difference between the "city folk" of say Johnson City and those that actually live on the mountain and have for centuries. That's the Appalachian I speak of. Eastern Kentucky, outside of Boone, North Carolina...places like that.

Hey, that's what I thought of (because my sis attends Appy State)... definitely another world there. Which brings up the other thing I was going to add to this whole line of discussion...

As someone who once studied accents as an actor, the greatest accent I ever heard was from a girl at Appy State (my sister's tour guide before she was enrolled) that was British, but spent her high school years in North Carolina. Some words were southern pronunciation, some were British, and the distinction was never obvious beforehand... just beautiful and intriguing to listen to.

Will

I went to london a few years ago and me and my group met this teenage actress on the streets. She was in some play (huckleberry finn and tom sawyer i think) and was fascinated by our southern accents. she then recited some lines for us in her "southern accent" it was the funniest stuff i think i saw that year.

(Edited by joeywade at 5:22 pm on Feb. 24, 2003)

Having just returned from Johnson City I can say that, while I appreciate the southern drawl, it's a bit too thick there for my tastes, especially when tons of beers have been consumed by the speaker and speakee.

(Edited by mike_D at 9:56 pm on Feb. 23, 2003)

That's true. People around here have a few drinks, and their accents are increased exponentially.