I just learned that according to a recent survey of 3,000 job applicants, about half of Tennesseans alter, adapt or try to drop their Southern accents when applying for a job. Southern accents actually placed 4th altogether among people wanting to hide their accents behind “Western New England” (think Boston, John F. Kennedy and a fear of the letter “r” at least as strong as Southerner’s displeasure with pronouncing the “g” at the end of any word ending in –ing), the South Midland accent and New Jersey accent.