So, you ever have that thing where you realized belatedly just how offensive something is, only it's probably too belatedly to say anything about it?

At work today we were chatting about travel, Americans abroad, etc. We were exchanging some horror stories, like my seeing a man in the Musee d'Orsay in a t-shirt with a US map and "Two-Time Consecutive World War Champions." Occasionally Annoying Coworker then told HER Musee d'Orsay story--prefaced with "no offense, Susan," so that's already a bad sign. It was all about being embarrassed to hear an American with the STRONGEST SOUTHERN ACCENT SHE'D EVER HEARD talking in the museum. Not saying anything offensive or anything, just sounding like a hillbilly in a MUSEUM in PARIS, I guess? I kinda laughed it off and said that wouldn't have bothered me, I probably would've gone over and said hi, especially if their accent had sounded Alabamian to me.

And then about five minutes after I left for lunch I thought, "Wait, that could've been my dad. Or my aunts and uncles, or two of my three brothers, anyone I went to high school with, or me before I went to college and lost most of my accent because I'm such an accent chameleon. What, are we not fit to travel the world, or if we do should we not speak above a whisper so as not to embarrass the other Americans?" I was sorely tempted to code-switch back to my native accent and treat her to a full afternoon of rural central Alabama.

Ain't no rings on those paws. Oh, wait, maybe under the fur? Sorry, Tep.

I don't really understand all that, sarameg, but I grok that it's frustrating.

I may have run out of comments to make about Project Shield. That was faster than I would have predicted.

Blargh, Kalshane.

Ain't no rings on those paws. Oh, wait, maybe under the fur? Sorry, Tep.

Yeah, it's not uncommon to get ringworm from an animal. Our own crew isn't mangy, but I do seriously pet every dog and cat I encounter (as long as it will let me). So I brought this on myself.

ZOMG, Southern people travel places! Places that aren't the South!

Pfui on her, Susan.

Ah, ringworm. Staple of my childhood.

Aaand I'm doing an emergency school run in the morning. I feel like being a good neighbor friend and the kids' education is more important than the 45 minutes I'll lose at work, especially under this contract.

Oh, I haven't mentioned today's employment adrenaline rush. When I get new email, I set up my notifications so that just the subject flashes in notification ghosty thing so I can decide whether to ignore or not. Today, "Sara's interview" flashed across! Except, it was for a different Sarah about ANOTHER Sara, but my CSWTFE's boss's mailtool accidentally picked the wrong Sara(h) alias in the address book. Which was clear reading the email, but I did have to tease the boss about it. (She'll also be applying for her own damn job as a branch mgr.)

Pfui on her, Susan.

Yeah, really. Especially since IME insofar as Europeans notice American regional accents, they just think they're interesting-sounding. I'd pretty much guarantee you that as long as the Southerner in question was a polite tourist, not a single Parisian was thinking, "Ew, why did they give that hick a passport?"

Ugh Susan, I know a lot of people who are prejudiced against Southern accents. Having called some of them out on it I can add that the explanations/justifications for the prejudice are... not helping.

Data point: from my years in NC and yes, MD, I tend to go southern drawl (indeterminate) when tired or angry. Combined both in Australia on multiple occasions, got several " I loooove your accent" from Australians and Belgians who had no idea the source.

I tend to go southern drawl (indeterminate) when tired or angry.

Me too. Tired, angry, or watching football.

Yeah, it's not uncommon to get ringworm from an animal.

Yeah, I was meaning to riff on their single-ness.