It’s amazing. It’s one of my favorite issues of my favorite magazine. I think the Idea House issues are always favorites of mine because there are lots of things I can tear out and save for later, but this September 2010 issue was full of great things including a list of Details with Southern Style.
My favorite thing about the issue, though, was a fabulous article by the one and only Amy Bickers. I have a writing crush on Amy because she always writes things that I’ve thought before and I read her stuff and feel like she took exactly what I’ve been thinking but made it sound funny and smart!
Amy also wrote the article that I posted a few weeks ago that drummed up lots of conflicting comments.
If you haven’t picked up this issue of Southern Living, you should! And if this picture doesn’t make you just want to move right in to the house on the cover, then… I don’t know. But it makes me want to move in and sip sweet tea on the front porch. But not in September. It’s too hot in September.
Dear Hollywood: An open letter to our friends in showbiz, bless their hearts
by Amy Bickers
Southern Living, September 2010
Attention, Tinsel Town. As the fall TV season begins, we hope you aren’t tempted once again to dust off those Southern stereotypes that make us cringe. An example: the crime show that featured a cold case in Nashville and depicted the city’s police chief as a man who asked people to call him Big Daddy. Seriously? In a city with right around 600,000 people? We think it’s high time we let you in on a little secret. Contrary to what you might think, it’s really not all moonlight and magnolias down here. It’s not all cats on hot tin roofs, either.
For starters, Southern women do not go around saying things like “Why, I nev-aaaahhh!” or “I do declare!” (Okay, sometimes we do say that stuff, but we’re kidding. The same is true when we yell “Free Bird!” at, say, a Celtic Woman concert. We are in on the joke.) More than 70 years have passed since Scarlett stood on that hill and bellyached about Tara, yet you can visit your local cineplex or turn on the tube any day of the week and hear actresses doing that accent. And frankly, my dears, we do give a, er, care about how very wrong that is, especially when they’re playing truck drivers or steelworkers. But, in your defense, it’s easier to channel Scarlett than to nail the difference between a New Orleans accent, which sounds like Brooklyn on gumbo, and a West Texas accent, which is as dead level as the prairie it came from. Kudos to the HBO drama Treme for getting it right. Then again, it’s filmed in the city and casts actual New Orleanians, so the real props go to our fellow Southerners for keeping it real. (As for the accents of those Louisiana vampires in True Blood? No. Just no.)
Using actual Southerners doesn’t always help, though. Southern-born celebs are sometimes the worst offenders. We won’t name names, but we’re looking at you, Julia R. Even Reese Witherspoon, who did our beloved June Carter proud in Walk the Line and was just a pistol in her Man in the Moon debut, veered offtrack in a film we won’t name, playing a New York City fashion designer who hides her Southern past because she grew up in a trailer with a Civil War-re-enacting daddy and a mama who makes bologna cake. Who among us has ever heard of bologna cake? Does that take buttercream frosting?
Stereotypes are tempting—we get that. And if you need to telegraph “Southern,” the easy route is to trot out Bubba or Big Daddy and have him drawl like Foghorn Leghorn while driving a pickup and spitting into a dip cup. But the thing is, we love the South. We live in it, and not, for the most part, in rusted-out camper trailers or Greek Revival mansions. You’d be shocked if we told you how few of us have verandas. Are you sitting down? Some of us live in condos.
And one last thing: We have air conditioning. You know, that thing that makes it feel cooler inside than it is outside? We do have it. And that is why we do not sweat indoors. We do not glisten and fan ourselves while sitting in courthouses or hospitals or grocery stores. In fact, because of the South’s obsession with AC, our public buildings are often so cold in the summer that we have to keep a sweater handy in July. Stop showing us sweating, please. Unless it’s Texas native Matthew McConaughey and he’s “lost” his shirt yet again. We’ll give you a pass on that one.
Notes from Erin: I just love this. I’ve often heard Ms. Roberts botch the Southern accent and I’ve heard many actors think they’re doing the South Louisiana accent correctly, but they’re just not. Amy’s comparison of the New Orleanian accent to Brooklyn on gumbo is just spot on– and hilarious.
Know what? I just flipped through this a few days ago and thought it was NOT one of their better issues. So funny! I hadn’t read Amy’s article, though, and I have to say that I. loved. it. It was perfect and SO true! (I may not have liked it because I was flipping through hurriedly trying to 1. find the Willow House advertisement and 2. read it while a certain 10-month-old boy was sitting with me.) I’ll try again! 🙂
I’m not southern, but I loved that article. Some of the WORST accents are on True Blood… But also some of the worst storylines and acting happens there, too. haha
Oh, silly me. She mentions TB haha. I hate when I miss sentences.
I love this article. I need to go pick up a copy today! 🙂
I would like to add another thing.. People in Arkansas wear shoes. We do. It’s a fact. I’ve noticed people lately assuming half of us walk around barefoot and the other half wear shower shoes. Not true.
LOVED this issue too…the house on the cover is my idea of perfection!
Erin,
I loved this issue too! I normally flip through the magazine when I first get it, then read it gradually over the month. This issue I read cover to cover on Tuesday night! It was just perfect and made me proud to be a southern lady! I read the letter to Hollywood aloud to my husband and we both thought it was right on!
This article is great. My family moved to Tennessee in 1996 from Boston, MA. Our family still lives up there and certain members frequently, although jokingly, ask if we have street lights and if we wear shoes. SERIOUSLY.
“We do not glisten and fan ourselves while sitting in courthouses or hospitals or grocery stores.”
I LOVE THIS. WHY IS EVERYONE ALWAYS SWEATING OR FANNING THEMSELVES IN SOUTHERN MOVIES?????
I spent my entire freshman year of college in Boston protesting that no really, I’m from the South. “But you don’t sound it!” over and over and over again. And then I explained that if the only determination they had for “sounding Southern” was a drippy fake Georgia accent, then no, I am not Southern. That is but one accent among hundreds in the South, and in my mind the only one you ever hear on tv and in film. Sigh…
I cracked up at the last paragraph as all I was thinking while reading the beginning of this was “what about all those John Grisholm film adaptations where everyone is sitting around sweating their bums off inside?”
We had penpals from a school in Pennsylvania when I was in 4th grade… every single one of those Yankees asked us if we rode horses to school!
Ha! I was reading this the other night, and lo and behold, Sweet Home Alabma AND a Time to Kill were on! I laughed so hard- Reese kills me in SHA with her accent, but Matthew in his lawyer duds looks pretty darn good sweating up a storm and drinking tequila. But yeah, AC exists even in Mississippi!
Maybe I will check this issue out. I have been depressed ever since they stopped publishing Southern Accents. I looooved that magazine.
This cracks me up because I read half of that article out loud to my husband because we make those same comments ALL THE TIME, especially when we watch True Blood. I’m from Magnolia, AR (where the author of the Sookie Stackhouse books lives and was on True Blood this season) and, I’ve spent my fair share of time in Northern Louisiana and people DO NOT speak like that EVER. I tweeted about the article right after I read it too! I live in NY now, and it would be nice if people from other parts of the country could get a clue that just because I’m Southern doesn’t mean I’m dumb, a hillbilly, or have relatives that live in trailers (although I’m sure there are some that do…but I would probably never admit it).
I look forward to Southern Living every month, and I think it’s just been getting better and better lately!
This made me laugh! The True Blood accents kill me! Why do people have to sound like that to be “southern”? I am from coastal North Carolina and everyone I meet says my accent only gets thick after a few drinks, other than that and a few “y’all”s and “I am fixin’ to…”s I sound pretty “normal”. Ha!
I am new to your blog and just had to comment! I loved reading this article. I have family in Canada and I live in Texas since I was born and they asked me when I was younger if I rode a horse to school and if we had to use an out house… AN OUT HOUSE REALLY? Im 25 please tell me in the last 25 years who has used an out house? And for some reason my aunt assumed we went to school in on room school houses and fanned our self’s all day long drinking iced lemonade and telling our maids what to do… They seemed let down when I told them we were just like the rest of America! The Shocker!
Btw… your son is adorable and you look stunningly beautiful 🙂
I have this magazine, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. I haven’t even taken the advertisement cover off of it yet to see the cover yet, and I love it! I want to live there, too!
I definitely have a strong southern accent, I am told. People ask where I am from, thinking I must not be from North Carolina. Maybe I got my accent from my mom, who is from South Carolina? My accent definitely gets stronger after a couple of drinks! ha
AHHH!! The essays at the end of the magazine are my FAVORITES. When flipping through this issue, I thought they had died along with the stapled cover. (Can’t help it, I still miss it. It was part of my childhood.) Fortunately, it ended up being one of my favorite essays. As my Mama likes to say, “We don’t CARE how they do it in New York!” Or Hollywood, for that matter.
Thanks, Erin! Amy’s awesome, and this is one of my favorite Southern Journals that she’s written! (You’re the best!)
This is awesome! Being born and raised in Atlanta with half my family in NY/NJ I got those stereotypes all the time. Most people in Atlanta don’t even have accents because it’s such a mix of so many different types of people. I’m moving to Charleston in less than a year and I’m sure family will assume we embody even more stereotypes once we live there. At least someone is sticking up for us non-hillbilly, shoe wearing Southerners 🙂
Cute! And anytime MM wants to lose his shirt, I’m there for him.
This was a great issue. Loved the photo of the table setting. I’m obsessed with acquiring more china, silver, you name it! And the Amy Bickers article at the end was fantastic, too.
I loved this article! In fact, I’m sitting at my desk with a space heater on in August because they keep the A/C so cold. I didn’t grow up in the south, but I live in TX now and I very rarely hear an accent at all in the big cities. I like it down here. I actually grew up in the great plains, Kansas to be exact, and trust me – we get stereo-typed pretty poorly as well. Actually, I guess I should say we get lucky if we are even mentioned on the coasts at all. I grew up in “fly-over” country full of simple-minded, country bumpkins if you ask Hollywood. Even people down here assume I lived on a farm, which I didn’t. Sure, there are a lot of them in Kansas, but I did grow up in a city with shopping and restuarants and theatre and culture. We were only a city of about 300,000 (it has grown now), but I enjoyed it. I do think life is simpler and quieter up there, and I miss that some days. However, simple doesn’t mean unintelligent or close-minded, which I think Hollywood portrays a lot! Thanks for the article 🙂 I’ll get off my soap box now…
I loved this issue too!!! I read it cover to cover two nights ago and got so many great ideas. Amy’s articles are the best.
This is hilarious! And my husband and I get mad all the time when they depict Texans as wearing cowboy hats. Now there may be some that do, but here in Houston, there is rarely a cowboy hat to be found, especially not in the office!
i think you will enjoy this!
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_atlas.php
This was a fun read.
Oh Hollywood with their crazy stereotyping. If it makes you feel better Hollywood even stereotypes all Los Angelinos as filthy rich, drop-dead attractive, totally ghetto, or some combination of the three. Um normal people live in LA too!
I’ve lived in Southern California my whole life and while I’ve traveled a lot in the US to the West, East Coast and Midwest I have really never spent any time in the South (except for Atlanta and Miami, which don’t really count). One of the things I’ve loved about blogging is how many bloggers are Southern gals. I’ve learned so much about how different and interesting people’s lives are across this great Country. It’s really cool — like traveling to new places from my own home.
I read the Southern style guide — I don’t have most of those elements in my home — guess it show how not-Southern I am, lol. But I really like looking at Southern Style and that porched home is to die for!
i hardly comment here, but i do read. i am from NJ, and believe me- we feel the same about our stereotypes as you have listed here about yours. we do not all have big hair, fake tans, fake nails, wear windsuits & gold chains. we do not smell; we may be loud, we may be tough, but we do not start fights every where we go. My father’s side of our family is 100% italian- i have never been to a family function that has resembled anything like an episode of the Sopranos. Thank you HBO, MTV, Bravo & Oxygen for showing the rest of the US how you think i live. I will say, i do love a good episode of RHoNJ any day of the week though…
This makes me think of when I was visiting my parents in Chicago a few years back and one of their female friends said “Oh Jenny, you have a Pottery Barn {in Richmond, VA}? I just pictured you living in the midst of a bunch of fields!” Ummm, seriously? Why yes, we just hop on one of our cows and ride twenty plus miles to the Piggly Wiggly! HA!
I LOVED this issue of Southern Living! I was born and raised in Tennessee and have been in Phoenix for a little over a year. I miss the South and all the traditions so much and look forward to my copy of Southern living every month.
I haven’t purchased Southern Living for some time now but was immediately drawn to the cover when I was searching for a good magazine read for our recent trip to MI. I was most certainly not disappointed! I loved so many things in it (especially that article!) and would SO like to call that cover house my home. Wouldn’t you?
The strange thing is that both Julia Roberts and Reese Witherspoon were born and raised in the south.
I also cannot stand shows set in Louisiana. They never get the accent right.
I cannot believe there are people so ignorant that they actually believe some of the stereotypes mentioned in previous comments. Riding horses to school in 2010? Really? “Outhouses” ? Really? Just proves how uneducated many northerners are in 2010 !…….On another note, the writer/producer Linda Bloodworth Thompson who created “Designing Women” grew up in southern Missouri, just north of the Arkansas line and gave a pretty realistic depiction of smart, spunky, southern women.
The WORST accent is Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer. UGH! Its like nails on a chalkboard to me. The fake accents remind me of the episode of Friends when Joey was trying to have a Southern accent but kept sounding Jamaican! A Louisiana accent is hard to replicate, you just have to know it, I dont think it can be imitated.
Ugh. I’m from New Hampshire and people think that we all talk like Senator Ted Kennedy or any of the other Kennedy’s for that matter. People also think that because I live in NH, I must live in the woods without electricity or something! Actually, I live in one the most populated areas, we have all of the stores and shops that other parts of the country have (exception, Trader Joes) and we don’t all live “near Canada”. I guess we all have stereotypes based on the media and television.
That’s why I like blogs so much, I can to discover other places and things from women my age.
I just read my SL while on vacation in Charleston… I am from a small town in South Carolina- Hartsville! I do have a STRONG southern accent…… but I am proud of it! However, I always wonder why the national news ( when in ths south) find people with no teeth and can’t complete a sentence. REALLY! I mean I am sure there are others out there you could have picked!
I do have a problem with these southern bumperstickers…. they are just wrong in so many ways!
Oh my gosh. I think the line about a New Orleans accent sounding like Brooklyn on gumbo is right on. I am from the West Coast and currently live in the Midwest. There is a New Orleans native that is our neighbor and this line perfectly describes his accent 🙂 Love it.
p.s. So many of the comments on here just perfectly confirm how many stereotypes there are — not just about the South, but about every other part of the country too. When I moved to the Midwest for school, everyone kept asking me if there were hills or if all I saw was farmland.
spot on! all of it.
funny, i always wondered why new orleanians sounded like new yorkers. strange how that works out.
So funny. I called my Mom right after I read my issue and told her I thought it was their best one ever! I laughed so hard at that article, it was so cute!
Loved this issue–I am from NE FL/South GA and do have a strong southern accent. My husband is from New Hampshire and used to have a strong one too. I joke that I neutralized his! 🙂
I lived in Vidalia, GA, and those of us from GA get so angry when people mispronounce the city’s name in conjunction with its prized possession, the onion–especially on cooking shows where the hosts are supposed to know what they are talking about.
As for TV/movies, I can detect a fake dialect (the proper word for regional differences in the American English accent) a mile away. A really good one–KaDee Strickland on “Private Practice.” Hers is so good I had to look up her bio. Come to find out, she’s from Blackshear, GA, just outside of Waycross.
I love this article! It’s so accurate….particularly on the Bubba and Big Daddy front, those characters bother me to no end!
oh eac!!! you know how to keep a girl coming back for more!!! I too, thoroughly enojoyed this issue of SL and it reassured me once again why I live in the South!!!!
Thank you so, so much for sharing this! I laughed so hard – thankfully I have great insight into the wonderous creature known as the Southern lady since my mother-in-law is a bonified member of that elite group. This article is spot on!