Date:  Fri, 22 Apr 1994 23:56:20 -0700

From:  Rudy Troike <RTROIKE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ARIZVMS.BITNET>

Subject: Negative Southern Image again



A note from my colleague Dick Demers in Linguistics: too good not to

share. --Rudy Troike (rtroike[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ccit.arizona.edu)





From:  UACCIT::DEMERS    22-APR-1994 10:57

To:   RTROIKE

CC:

Subj:  more drawl bashing



One of the commercials on 60 minutes last weekend was from the Polaner

Jam company. Several elegantly dressed people are sitting around what

looks like a dinner table. Several of the people ask for the Polaner

jam to be passed using almost Received P English. Suddenly you hear

a Gomer Pyle type voice saying "Would someone pass the jelly."

One lady almost faints at the use of the word "jelly" in describing

Polaner. The point is that the creators of the commercial felt

the need to underscore the person's lack of social awareness and

good breeding by giving him a southern accent. Somedays it all

seems hopeless. Dick