I've been mostly off the boards for the last couple of months, getting ready for school to begin. I haven't read a little bitty bit of this thread since the last time I posted.
As for the Southernism, I was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin--not exactly Southern. I feel that if I, a Northerner, could notice how poorly they wrote the Southern stuff it must be pretty noticeable.
There was a definitive drawl where I went to college and phrases like "y'all" (I still use that one a lot) and "fixin' to" were commonplace, despite the Northerly latitude (or is that longitude?). Anywho, I was told that the accent wasn't a Southern drawl but a "river drawl." I "axed" about it, but nobody could tell me why river towns would have a different set of accents and sayings. That'll learn me to axe a stupid question.
Elisabeth
