question for people from the south

[old timey villain]

In metro Atlanta, the strength of a southern accent is a class thing, at least among young people. Kids who grew up in upper income suburban areas tend to not have as strong of an accent- that also might be a result of the "de-southernization" of a lot of wealthy suburbs like Alpharetta and East Cobb. Then the kids who grew up in the less prominent suburbs, usually farther out, have more of an accent. A lot of them are native Atlantans who moved out because it was cheaper to live there. So it's more of a regional difference born out of class differences...if that makes sense.

In the rest of Georgia, pretty much everyone has an accent, but there are also class differences. For a more refined Georgia accent, think of Jimmy Carter (non rhotic) and for a more common Georgia accent, think of Paula Deen (rhotic and more gutteral). They're both from SW Georgia.

[old timey villain]

And yes, as some of you said, there are people who "fake it till they make it"

I knew kids growing up who were part of prominent, educated, well-off families in my town. But they got it in their heads that they wanted to be a redneck, and the first thing that changed was their accent.

And then there were the kids from some "down home" type families (mostly theater kids) who decided they wanted to be more cosmopolitan, and you could tell they were actively trying to get rid of their accent. They would always slip up though.