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Enough with the hill-billy talk

Letter from Paul Brown

Dialect – September 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Enough with the dialect…

Dear Editor,

I wish you would quit encouraging what you must feel is the humorous “hick dialect” writing style of letter-writer Clay Warren (and why is he afraid to use his real name). As a descendant of true hillbillies, I find the style offensive and a reminder of disrespectful urban people’s attempts to make fun of and alienate rural residents and their culture.

This guy probably lives on some 35-acre ranchette and thinks of himself as a rural “character.” If he must espouse his right wing, anti-intellectual views why not have the guts to speak in plain English and quit denigrating the very people he aspires to be.

The other upsetting product of this style is that it seems to seeping into the style of other people writing to your publication.

Sincerely, Paul Brown Wetmore