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| McGregor lawyer Bobby Segall |
As southerners we do talk kind of funny. We can't help it it's just what we are.
Appearances are not always deceiving and the first glance at some of us tells the observer how we might sound before we get a chance to confirm it. Mr. Segall, one of Malcolm McGregor's lawyers, is the quintessential portrait of I bet I know how you'll sound before you utter a word. He has a countenance of part Mark Twain and part Wyatt Earp that proffers a clue of what you might expect before the first distinct syllable slips off of his silver devil southern tongue.
And today he did not disappoint.
Segall has one of those 'old south' voice inflections that's thicker than kudzu vines.
Southern dialects differ to a certain degree--there's the run of the mill southern, redneck, country slang and the more proper old south diction that alludes, not always accurately, to a hint of proper breeding in the speaker's background. Politicians frequently revert to the old south diction when they are addressing a room of their own, or when they are getting ready to pull a fast one and want to disarm their prey by appearing a lot more gentile and gentlemanly than they really are.
It works more often than not because there is an indisputable put you at ease (or to sleep) quality to any oratory delivered in the old south diction and style.
You'll know it when you hear it--any word that ends in 'er' or has 'er' in it automatically comes out as 'ah.' There are no 'burglars' in the south, we have 'burgl-ahs' running around down 'he-ah.' Even Twitter gets the southern treatment from some of us, right Mr. Segall?
Kyle Whitmire, tweeting from the Alabama bingo trial (linked on the top R sidebar) caught a question today from the colorful Bobby Segall, as he was asking questions of potential jurors that's our favorite tweet of the many chirped today. Al.com built an entire story on their tweets. There were some goodies among them, but none of them came anywhere close to this one from Mr. Whitmire:
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Picture definitely matches the tweet!
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty funny and totally believable. Kyle has a razor sharp wit with himself.
Anyone who has ever seen Segall in action can attest to his penchant for flamboyance and showmanship. He's never a dull moment.
ReplyDeleteDid any of them answer in kind?
ReplyDeleteI bet they did.
Segall is loving his role in all of this bingo brouhaha. This case is custom made for his courtroom persona.
I would give anything to be a fly on the wall passing between the courtroom and the meeting rooms...can you imagine what you'd hear?
ReplyDeleteThat old south colloquialism is also referred to as the sharp knife in the velvet tongue.
ReplyDeleteI've seen it in action and it's not pretty.
That picture doesn't do Bobby justice. His 'stache is at least twice that big!
ReplyDeleteHe is quite a character!