Fun fact: when I was around 6-8, I had a THICC Southern accent, having grown up in Tennessee and Mississippi. We moved to Arizona, and I was being introduced to my new teachers, and one leaned over and went "Oh my god you sound so cute, where are you from??"
That was attention I didn't want so I worked to talk without my accent and now it only comes out when I start talking fast.
While I lived in Memphis, the local president of the company insisted my assistant marketing director go to elocution classes to get rid of her drawl. She had lived there all her life but her accent didn’t play well in corporate Chicago. He said she would be passed over for promotion. Poor girl fought so hard to lose it.
@LnzyHou I did it young, which made it easier. What made it easier still was when I was that young I couldn't pronounce r's and I worked hella hard to fix that. It took me longer to pronounce r's than it did to get rid of my accent.
@LnzyHou I think a lot of people equate the accent to stupidity, so I can relate to your friend. My mom got passed up a couple times because of that.
Humans, as a whole, are fuckin weird.
@publickovacs @LnzyHou my accent got crazy because it was a Hillbilly accent, now it's been mixed in with a redneck accent. And it's probably still pretty thick, I just don't hear it. But I have luck on my side and I'm actually stupid, so my accent fits me well. 😜