Charles from Florida

Charles is a freshman born in the Phillapines and raised in Florida. In high school, he moved to Houston, Texas.

On the perception of Texans:

Charles stated that before he moved to Texas, he assumed that everyone would be farmers riding their horses to school. He admitted that he thought that Texans would also be less intelligent, poorer, and overall “country.” He stated that he realized when he came here that he was wrong in his assumption. However when he hears someone speak with a heavy accent, he still immediately associates this with lower intelligence although he tries not to judge so quickly. It seem

s that a heavy accent will always be a prop for the actor of lower class and intelligence. He did not notice that Texans were any friendlier than those from his home state. He felt that there was an almost exact parallel between the interactions of people from Texas as well as Florida in terms of the friendliness of strangers and the respect given to authority.

On what the accent says about the culture

Charles stated that what seemed to be most different between the people from Florida and those from Texas, was the dialect and the cultural traditions. He stated that in Florida, there didn’t seem to be this unique cultural tie across the state. People in Texas wear cowboy boots, listen to country music, and speak differently because it is a part of their heritage. There is not a way of being that creates such unity among the people in Florida.

Conclusion

Charles agreed that he perceived those with a Texan accent as being of lower class and intelligence, although he realizes that this often disproven. He did not feel that Texans were any friendlier than people in Florida. He very obviously agreed that Texans had a much more apparent cultural pride that they indicated through their accent.