See Dennis, I've been telling you that we people of the south have our own languages. :-) I think that you also have to factor in the brogue that a lot of these early people had. We know that Col Fred Hambright was German and I have read some of his statements that were written like he spoke, just recently. My in-laws came to America after WWII. They never lost the brogue, but incorporated a little TX accent in their speech. It's been quite interesting. My m-n-l is German. My kids love to tease her, because there is no "V" sound in the German language. It comes out "W". Therefore, like vacuum cleaner comes out wacuum cleaner. A lot of these early people lived in clusters, so the brogues continued because that's what they heard. I once worked with a woman who sounded so English you would have thought she had just stepped off the boat. Turned out she was born and raised here but grew up in a community where the English brogue had lived on. I went to AR a few years back to take a look at my "roots." Found a delightful older lady who went with us to show us a cemetery I was interested in. Had to really concentrate to understand what she was saying. I still remember the story she told about a "bar" that she and a dau. encountered near this cemetery while picking berries. It was now located in a wildlife preserve. Another interesting query to the list members would be just how the members pronounce DOVER. I have always heard it as Doe' ver like doe the deer. Any other variations? Sharon S