I have been following this discussion about Twain's accent with great interest and, I confess, with certain amusement. I was born (1950) and raised in the Ilasco-Hannibal area about 2 miles south of the cave hollow in Ralls County. My family still lives there, but I moved away a long time ago and go back there only to visit family, do research, or for speaking and/or music engagements. My family's roots go back to the period after the Civil War. I've lived in south central Texas for the last 18 years.

I agree with Terrell Dempsey about accents in the area and would like to add a few other observations based on my experience.  As he points out, the rural accent in the Salt River counties is very similar to that heard in Tennessee and Kentucky, where my mother's family is from. Like some people I've known in rural Kentucyy, my mother still pronounces the word, sheriff, as "shurf"; fish as "feesh"; push as "poosh" (yet, as Terrell points out, roof is "ruhf"); hour as "are"; both tower and tire as "tar," etc. A quick funny story--one of my nephews, who was about 10 years old at the time, asked me if I ever watched the "Are" Magazine show. When I hesitated (a bit confused), he quickly added, "well, THEY call it 'Hour' Magazine."

Education and living experiences in a variety of states have obviously re-shaped my "accent." I remember that when I was a kid, Missouri was "Missourah," but I changed my pronunciation when I discovered that other folks didn't pronounce it that way. In fact, I even received a lecture from one of my Spanish professors (a Cuban refugee) at Truman State University that I wasn't pronouncing the name of my home state the correct way.

Nevertheless, I haven't completely discarded the Hannibal area accent. One night after performing one of my songs at a honky tonk here in Texas, someone approached me with a grin and said, "what's with the word 'burly.'" Since the lyrics didn't contain the word, "burly," I expressed confusion and said I didn't know what he was getting at.Then I learned that he was referring to the way I pronounced the word, "barely." My wife also still needles me about saying "poosh" and "feesh." A friend of mine from Ontario was completely shocked when he learned just how far north Hannibal actually is, given how pronounced my "southern" accent is, at least to him.

Many area rural residents who have never moved away still retain a lot of the speech patterns that go back to Twain's boyhood era. So many of them came from KY, TN, and VA long before the Civil War.

Hope "y'all" find these observations at least amusing, if not useful. A big hello to Terrell and Vicki, at whose home my wife and I had a great dinner and spent a very enjoyable evening a few years ago.

Gregg Andrews