When I was in the Air Force, stationed at Orlando, Florida in 1960, all the guys in my department were from the South. They made fun of how African Americans talked. I would always ask them, “Who taught them to speak English”?

>I wasn't making fun of him at all. I have no doubt the people he learned to speak from spoke with that accent. There are all kinds of regional accents in the U.S., although I think that is fading. We don't grow up in vacuums any more.
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>>My father's brother was in the Air Force, his wife made him get out.
>>He was the primary test pilot for Republic (in the F86 years), til his wife made him quit.
>>So, they ended up on Bonham Texas (north of Dallas) and they bought a Western Auto store.
>>They, and particularly their sons, thought it was hilarious when the farmers around town would walk in asking about 'tars'. You know, for their trucks.
>>Once they figured that out, they started asking the farmers if they wanted 'ar' in them 'tars'. Is it any wonder the Western Auto went out of business?
>>
>>I pull that story out, not because I think you're making fun of the guy behind the counter as they were the farmers, but as another example of extreme accents.
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>>>One of my favorite language mishaps was after Hurricane Katrina, when a group of us went to Houston on a relief mission. We were evacuated ourselves from Houston due to Hurricane Rita (which was mostly a non event). In the middle of the night we stopped for the bathroom and more coffee at some 7-11 in rural Arkansas. I had too much coffee in me already and decided to compromise with Coke. It was my turn to drive and I needed all the caffeination I could get, coming on the heels of several days in which we weren't exactly getting a lot of sleep. I went over by the soda dispenser, completely standard, and didn't see the kind of logoed soda cups I was used to. Have I mentioned that I was only half coherent? The young guy at the counter, who, I don't want to seem unkind, seemed like exactly the kind of guy who would be working the night shift at a 9-11, said "The what ones." His Arkansas accent was so thick he made Bill Clinton sound like a Bostonian. "I'm looking for the Coke cups," I repeated. "The what ones," he repeated. What we had here was a failure to communicate. I finally figured out he was saying "The white ones, " white Styrofoam cups. And there they were.
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>>>I seem to keep bringing up that week so maybe it has been one of the most memorable of my life.