Why do Texans talk like Hillbillies?

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Question Everything

Yeah but have you hear New Yorkers talk? or even people from Bahston? Go Pahk da Cah?

Jenae, TV (tempter of the vile)

Dude, that's not cool. I've been in Texas ALL my life and yeah we do say y'all. And what? Someone somewhere just came up with a new contraction, that's all. No one I know talks like a hillbilly, rides a horse, wears a cowbot hat and spurs or any of that. Yarg, stupid stereotypes.... deep breath....ignore the rude ignorant person...

digital genius

not all texans speak that way. depends on what part of texas you are in.
but if you have a problem with people being friendly and genuinly curious about how ya'll are doing....
all i can say is, glad you were only visiting and went back home.

texas is the friendly state. one of the most friendly states we have.

dallas

that is ignorant. you don't know all Texans.

Bammer

Texans do not talk like hillbillies.... Texans talk like Texans,,Hillbillies are from the hills/mountains...Hillbilly is a term referring to people who dwell in remote, rural, mountainous areas.(In particular the term refers to residents of Appalachia and later the Ozarks in the United States. Also called ridge runners) What you are talking about is redneck or southern slang there is a difference .

todd

Im not sure, but I will tell you this. After living near NYC my whole life, I would much rather hear a couther drawl then some whiny annoying Long Island woman. Brookly, Long Island ect have by far the most annyoing accents on earth. Especially Italian and Jewish women. Every day on my train I have to listen to them talk at the top of their lungs in their nasel voices about their coworkers.. makes you want to rip your own ears off.

EL Big Ed

Ok yo mamma

sweet smile

A Texan doesn't sound like a hillbillies, those are two different accents. Truthfully, we do say ya'll- it is just a contraction and makes a lot of sense like a lot of contractions do that I am sure you use. I don't hear Howdy unless it is in a teasing way.

Texans and all the south are wonderful people with their own ways of expressing themselves. I am a Texan and I really prefer the drawl because to me it sounds so friendly and down to earth. In fact, to my ears, Southern speak and Texan (some people, especially from Texas do consider Texan a totally unique area)
Have a colorful way of speaking and we are funny to with our way of expressing ourselves, it certainly sounds different to us than the chopped off,brisk way the other states (especially northern) speak

The truth is, if you grew up here, you would like this speech, you tend to probably favor the area you grew up in and I guess, all areas have their strength and weaknesses as far as speech goes.

*******

Stop stereotyping Texans.
One thing you were right about is most Texans do say ya'll, but we're not all "hillbilly"
There are things people from other states say WEIRD to us too! New Yorkers have HORRIBLE accents!
Thanks!
Straight outta TEXAS YA'LL!

lkraie

I ain't wid ya.
Actually seriously.
Isn't Jon Bon Jovi from Texas? Why do they talk like that? It's not culture. It's their identity. They can truly understand each other better this way. It helps to set the tone for everything they say. Don't you have something you add on to your sentences each time? A simple "Ok" that is redundant, a simple "Seriously" to set the tone. Seriously.

Roger

ahhh, they just putting one on for the tourists...!!! lol

retiredslashescaped1

Then, don't go to Texas.

Everyone has an accent. You probably sound stupid to Texans. In fact, I'd bet on it.

Y'all makes sense. We don't have in English the vosotros of Spanish, which is second person plural. So, if we say, you, there is no clue if we are talking about you alone or all the people you are with. So, actually, y'all is superior to 'you' and guess who is meant.

Each part of the US has its own accent, and each accent sounds strange to the rest of the country. So, on national TV, the news people have to go to voice school, and learn to sound like me.

Seriously. The Midwestern accent is LESS offensive to the entire nation than any other accent, and I am from the Midwest. So, the TV announcers sound like me.

My wife and I moved to Texas after retirement. We do also joke about the accent. I started calling her, "The Waf" which is how wife sounds in Texas.

The other day we were visting Winston-Salem, NC on a visit back from Mexico. I heard a young woman in Sam's Club who sounded just like the girls in Arkansas sounded back in the early 50's. It was a beautiful sound after all these years. Those women are probably just as ornery as any other woman in the country, but they sound so sweet!

By the way, I do say Howdy. When I was ten, we moved to Arkansas, and that's what people said. Fifty years later, that's what I say. I kept working at it until I found out how to translate it to Spanish: it's que onda! (What wave, I guess, but it has the same meaning as Howdy.)

awommack

we dont talk hillillies

littleflower_57

Hillbillies are in Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.

Texans speak with a southern drawl, y'all!

pepper

I love Texas, but there are all types of accents here. We do say y'all and it flows easily, but I don't say , Howdy, just because Big Tex at the fair says it to be a fun part of the atmosphere. Howdy is considered a local colloquial for friendliness and that is all...Some people say, "i seen him or that movie yesterday, etc." but most just say> I have already seen that movie or I saw him yesterday. It is habits and not talking like hillbillies, some use more slang than others in some parts of Texas or whatever they may have picked up from family and friends. There is no need to make fun of any type speech especially in Texas or the USA for that matter. We are a melting pot made up of people from other countries and all walks of life. There is a lot of what is call Tex-Mex here also, with so many Mexican Americans or green card holding workers. What would we do without them? Where are you from and what do you sound like to anyone? What about yourself, what are you proud of besides possibly your speech pattern? Think before you speak or write, no need to try to insult. or are you so inconsiderate not to care or not to realize? Please just don't do it and not to say I haven't been guilty of it at times, but I don't really want to hurt anyone. Seriously.

texaggiechick101

we do hear ourselves, we just don't care, 'cause we all know we sound the same, or at least most of us do, not everybody talks like that, just depends where u are, and who your around and when your around 'em, mine comes out THICK when I am tired or mad, but i also have one naturally and we dont all have a heavy accent I've got friends who ain't hardley got one at all, and I don't say howdy, thats what my daddy says, oh and by the way, i am a redneck not a hillbilly, i don't live in them mountains, too cold

just me here

Where you visiting a trailer park
on the out skirts of Orange, Texas?
Those are hillbillies, sir..
If I were you, I would listen to myself talk
then
throw the first stone!!

stan l

Because they are.

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