SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (798482)7/31/2014 1:12:58 PM
From: Brumar891 Recommendation

Recommended By
FJB

  Read Replies (1) of 1579896
 
Oak Ridge National Lab Cancels “Southern Accent Reduction Training” – ie. Re-education Camps To Get Southern Workers To Sound Like Northeast Liberals…

Posted on July 30, 2014 by sundance

[ Makes me wonder about some things. Shep is a hillbilly from Appalachia - a coal miner's son. Bentway is a cracker raised in Mississippi. Koan is an Okie. Have they done their own private hick accent reduction program? Is their liberalism their escape from their roots and a way to keep their liberal overlords from despising them? ]

I would like to see the liberal team who came up with this concept try to give a class in: “Lose Your Urban Dialect” for inner city black people. Do you think that would go over ? Yeah, me neither. TENNESSEE – It’s OK to talk Southern and work at a national lab — after all.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has cancelled plans for a “Southern Accent Reduction” class because of objections from lab staff members, some of whom said they were offended by the training opportunity.

ORNL’s human resources department early last week distributed a registration notice for the six-week course to be taught by Lisa Scott, “a nationally certified speech pathologist and accent reduction trainer.”

Here was the pitch to get employees to sign up for the speech rehab program: “Feel confident in a meeting when you need to speak with a more neutral American accent, and be remembered for what you say and not how you say it.”

The notice said the class would cover “some of the most common pronunciation and grammatical differences between Southern dialects and standard American English.”

It added: “In this course you will learn to recognize the pronunciation and grammar differences that make your speech sound Southern, and learn what to do so you can neutralize it through a technique called code-switching.”

Carolyn Ward of ORNL’s Learning and Development Services said the lab simply offered the class in response to an employee request. “We try to provide whatever requests we have,” she said.

ORNL spokesman David Keim said managers quickly cancelled the class after staff members complained.

“Given the way that it came across, they decided to cancel it,” Keim said. “It probably wasn’t presented in the right way and made it look like ORNL had some problem with having a Southern accent, which of course we don’t. That was not the intent at all.”

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has one of the region’s most diverse work populations, with employees from all parts of the United States and many different countries of origin, as well as visiting scientists from around the globe.

“We’ve offered accent reduction training to foreign nationals for years,” Keim said. “But this one obviously surprised some folks.”
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News