A Very Richmond Phone Call

My grandmother Catherine (A native Richmonder) talking to "Miss Janey"- a friend and lady who worked for her family for years. The conversation was recorded in 1998. Today's Richmonders sound more like California dudes and dudettes. This way of talkin' is Gone With The Wind

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Richmond
• Virginia
• Southern
• Belle
• Accent
• Tidewater
• Gone
• With
• The
• Wind

[skinnypinky]

I don't talk like that and I was born and raised in Richmond.

[monumentfloyd]

@skinnypinky Then you obviously are very young and dont sound like a real Richmonder.

[ForeverAnalog]

I agree with you on that ! I have been all over the South from Georgia to The Carolinas and elsewhere. Nothing can rival the Virginia Tidewater accent-especially of this variety. Its not just garden variety Southern. Its so unique!

[dreotingle]

Doesn't sound to different from my family's accent, and were from the Eastern Shore or "Murralyn"

[naizret]

I'm not sure this accent is 'gone with the wind.' I think the local sound plus the exigencies of age tend to produce this effect, and I can certainly see contemporary Southern-accented speakers evolving into this kind of voice in due course. It used to be thought that radio and television would destroy regional accents, but that has not happened and, indeed, some accents have deepened -- including, and perhaps especially, black patois.

[jillkristin]

@540BOY These are elderly ladies, please don't judge them by today's standards. And keep in mind that "negro" was the preferred term of black people in the mid-20th Century.

[skinnypinky]

@va804richmond my dad is from Virginia and my mom is from Orlando, Florida.

[skinnypinky]

@va804richmond my dad is from virginia and my mom is from orlando, florida

[va804richmond]

@skinnypinky totally agree with mounument floyd. my grandma is about 80 and is from henrico and sounds just like that. i grew up in new kent and have a hybrid tidewater/richmond accent. not too many transplants in the rural areas to dilute the accent. also where are your parents from? it makes a big difference what accent you hear at home.

[AdventOctober]

@Joesesus I'm from Isle of Wight and we all got heavy southern accents and thats the SE part of the state. We are close to Carolina though.