The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 2 of 11)

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Speaking as a person who spent accent-formation years in outside of Southern and Southern-influenced venues. I am thinking it is more than the senator being patronizing to certain audiences; there appears to be a concerted effort at accent modification to broaden her appeal beyond Park Ridge, Illinois, I can understand why that nasal, strident, suburban Chicago dialect can have an effect on people -- I got teased about it from a shop teacher when the family moved to Colorado, and I am pretty sure it influences my student-feedback ratings now that I am teaching.

Is Senator Clinton seeing an "accent coach"? I recently saw and heard her speak on TV with that Southern-affect accent people are talking about, and I am thinking she is talking that way Cook County.

p>The problem is that of actor John Ratzenberger portraying the character Cliff Claven from TV's Cheers. The accent was believable to me, but it made people who grew up in New England cringe. I am thinking a half-baked Southern accent is worse of all outcomes. It will be interesting to listen to how this attempt at accent modification evolves. br> -- Paul Milenkovic br> Madison, Wisconsin /p>

"Females, in turn, are biologically programmed to be impressed by the antics in this arena for one reason: to ensure good genes for their offspring."

Actually, females in many mammalian and avian species have a different reason for selecting "dominant" mates: they are dependent on the male for support during reproduction, and dominant males control more resources. Human females fall very much into this class.

As Lorelei Lee said in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: "Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty?"

p>Male dominance is sexually attractive in its own right, br> but life is replete with women pursuing feeble rich men. br> -- Rich Rostrom

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