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| bostinno.com |
I grew up surrounded by the unique and very distinct
Boston accent. It sounds like this, and please, don’t try this at home; I am a
professional: “Pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd.” (Bonus Bostonian dialect lesson:
The term “wicked” means “very, very,” as in “That scientist from Hahvahd is
wicked smaht.”) R’s on the end of my words and syllables didn't exist, since
that was the way everyone around me spoke.
So when my accent and I moved to North Carolina
State University, I sounded just a wee bit different from the locals. “Where
y’all from?” was the initial response. (Bonus southern dialect lesson: “y’all”
is one person; “all y’all” is a group of people.) Once someone knew I was from the Boston area, the very next thing out of someone's mouth would be: "Hah! So do y'all paaaaahhk your caaaahh in Haaaahhvaaaahhd yaaaahhd?"
After being totally immersed
in Southern culture for almost a year, my R’s reappeared occasionally. I even developed
a slight drawl. Like when I got a flat – I had to change the “tar” instead of
the “tie-ah.”
When I came back to Boston, friends would say “Sean,
wheah you been? You sound wicked Southern.” Back at school, friends would drawl,
“I reckon you been back in Boston. Y’all sound funny.” Back and forth I went
between accents and dialects without consciously realizing I was adapting and
changing based on what I heard from those people around me. Although I liked sounding, and therefore being, different from people, I was insecure enough that I didn't want to be that different.
The more we are around someone or a particular group,
the more likely we are to be influenced by them, consciously or not. We start
to act like them, pick up certain habits, and repeat what they say. Kids mimic
their parents. Employees act like the boss to advance. We try to fit into the crowd.
… which becomes a problem when the influence of those
people causes us to drift away from God. As Paul warns, “Bad company corrupts
good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). As my Southern friends might say, “Ornery
people’ll make yuh ornery, and that’ll git y’all in a whole mess of trouble.”
