We’ve just gone through a string of 8 snow days over the past two weeks. The first storm was ice and sleet of about 1-2 inches. The second was a powdery snowfall that surprised everyone Monday morning and kept us hunkered down most of the week. Just when the dust cleared by Wednesday and the temperatures finally warmed up enough to allow some semblance of normalcy we got hit with another storm. When the flakes began falling Wednesday night, forecasters predicted anywhere from 2-8 inches possible, with some predictions of epic levels of snow. The blizzard predictions were largely a bust here in East Raleigh as warm air created a wet, slushy snow that started melting quickly. The end result was a week’s worth of school (and lost work productivity for the grown-ups), and a few scattered power outages in the neighborhood. I was so happy today to brave the roads and sit at my office desk again!
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February 27, 2015
What linguists say about Kevin Spacey’s bizarre Southern accent on House of Cards – Vox
Kevin Spacey’s fake Southern accent, explained by real linguists.
The last two seasons of Netflix’s House of Cards have wavered between shocking and silly, campy and sinister, good and bad. But the show has always had one big, scenery-chewing constant: Kevin Spacey’s Southern accent.
Spacey’s accent is as crucial to his character, the diabolical Frank Underwood, as venom is to a cobra. The lines Spacey delivers as the conniving congressman now president are some of the most ridiculous in television history — "I’ve always loathed the necessity of sleep. Like death, it puts even the most powerful men on their backs." But they’re only enhanced by Spacey’s slow-cooked, honey-glazed take on the South Carolina drawl.
But is Spacey’s accent accurate at all? We talked to a couple of linguists who specialize in American dialects, and found that, well, the accent is just as trustworthy as the maniacal lawmaker himself.
via What linguists say about Kevin Spacey's bizarre Southern accent on House of Cards – Vox.