Figure 11.3 Negative evaluation of the “Southern Trough” as a place to live by University of
Minnesota students
Source: Reproduced by permission of the authors from P. Gould and R. White (1974) Mental
Maps. Baltimore, MD: Penguin, p. 98
The composite map for the Alabama students looks much like a mirror
image of the Minnesota map, although the Southerners, too, tend to see
California as highly desirable (Figure 11.4).
Figure 11.4 Positive evaluation of the “Southern Trough” as a place to live by University of
Alabama students
Source: Reproduced by permission of the authors from P. Gould and R. White (1974) Mental
Maps. Baltimore, MD: Penguin, p. 101
What a person expects to hear is tied very closely to what he or she
expects to experience. As a child I never spoke face to face with anyone
with a Southern accent. Everything I knew about the South I learned by
watching Gomer Pyle, Green Acres and The Andy Griffith Show. I have a
clear memory of my fourth grade teacher telling the class we should not
watch The Beverley Hillbillies because of the “ungrammatical and
ignorant” way of speaking. And of course, everybody watched anyway.
This means that for me, a Southern accent came to symbolize a very