Are people in Houston afraid to be themselves or something?

Question

I've come across so many people who are trying not to sound like they're from Texas (which doesn't work). NYC wannabe.

trying to impress those who are not from TX.

branjo and flo you're either delusional, trying to be fake and hide your accent (which never works), or you have just not heard yourself. Trust me, you have an accent.

Trust me you do not sound like a northerner.

What in the world would make you think that you sound like a northerner??? You have obviously never been to the north let alone California.

Answer 1

Nope me!

I am a native Texan.

Answer 2

Being from Dallas originally, I know that many Northerners have moved to Texas in the last 2 decades following the job market. Many people that live in the Houston and Dallas areas are not native Texans; there are still quite a few, but the problem has been that the Northerners have had difficulty understanding the Texas accent and because of this, they made fun of us native Texans.

For me personally, I worked for years to eliminate my Texas accent as it was detrimental to the position I held within an international corporation. It takes years to eliminate something that comes naturally, but with diligence and hard work it can be done.

From what my friends have told me, they think I may be the only person in or from Texas without any accent at all. I miss my Southern drawl. However, since moving to deep East Texas, I have noticed it slowly creeping back into my speech.

It isn't that we are NYC wannabe's, we just get very tired of people from NYC asking us to repeat things because *we talk to fast*. If you truly want to meet a real Texan, try going 3 - 4 hours outside of Houston into the interior to Texas, you'll find them.

Answer 3

We're not deliberately trying to hide an accent, but "big city" texans (i.e Houstonians and Dallasites) put sort of a twist to their accent. They are not trying to be something there not, but city folks sound alot less texan than say someone from Amarillo or Lubbock. I was suprised one when i went "up north" to visit family that I sounded texan, because i'm from Dallas and it's just our general misconception that we sound northern. I guess we are so conditioned to how we talk, that we no longer hear the texas accent, like people from new york are accustomed to new york accents, even though we can definetly hear it. What i'm basically saying is, we're not trying to modify our speech and not sound texan, because they're is a difference between urban and rural texas accents. We're not wannabees, it's just how we talk. We wouldn't call a person fromDallas a LMineral Wells wannabe. We are much too polite!

Answer 4

I use to live in Houston. But I was from New Mexico. The whole time I lived there, which was about 8 years, I met very few people that where actually borned, raised and had chosen to stay in Houston. I was told by the census, that Houston is made up of 70% outsiders verses 30% that were real "home boys". lol So maybe you are actually meeting people that are really not Houstonites. But, why would anyone want to be a "NYC" wannabe, verses, a home grown Texan? Now, that is totally loco, in my book!!!

Answer 5

There is no one Texas accent - depends on where you're from; east Texas, west Texas, redneck, African American, Latino. Also, you'll find that television changes the accents, such as in Australia the broad accent has been changing to a more BBC newscaster accent. Language is fluid, alway moving, never static.

Answer 6

I am a native Texan living in the Houston suburbs and have no accent whatsoever. Accents are more commonly found in rural areas rather than the cities.

Answer 7

Since very few people who live in the Houston area are actually from Texas at all, it could be you were just exposed to very many different accents.

Answer 8

I stay in H-Town and everybody love it cuz its so crunk down here. I doubt if anyone would want to sound like someone from New York. Sounds like u a HATA and a ***K rida. U probably don't even know what those are. ****H u wish u were in texas. It go down in H-Town ****H! Peep tha Slang, **E! P.S. Please don't come to Acres Homes with that ***T. 4-4

Answer 9

You know, after reading many of your questions, I'm beginning to worry about you and your thought patterns...poor child...