fellow ex-pat texan here.
your upbringing, linguistically, sounds very much like that my Dear Brother and i experienced with our own mum, herself a texan from Austin. she would correct us on our speech and elocution and may be responsible for DB and i never speaking with heavy accent.
however, i easily slip into drawl, depending on who it is i am speaking with. DB, the academic, hated everything about texas and assiduously learned a manner of speech that would not betray his “southern upbringing”, that he feels would make him less accepted in his career. (dude won’t even eat grits, ffs! afraid might give him his dreaded “south in the mouth”.)
having traveled extensively, and living in different regions of the u.s., both of us lost the texan, but mine comes back easily, especially with influence of drink, or among others with heavy drawl. fish stories at the marina docks make DB cringe to hear.
funny thing is, DB chooses to neutralize his accent with a more “continental” manner after his stint with the British Museum, his pronunciations of words make me smile.
our half sister (20 years younger) born in texas, never left, has that almost incomprehensible accent that he and i both just roll our eyes at.
code switching. DB has incorporated it and refuses to switch back, unless to belittle the speaker. sister doesn’t switch at all. i seem to go with the flow of who i am with.
to the topic of Ms. Hilton,.i feel that her portrayal of the rich, blonde, “bimbo” was just that - an act. her activism in the mistreatment of the youth in these programs is admirable and important. hopefully her voice in this - whichever “voice” she uses, results in improvement and less suffering.
