The California Way of Speaking and Being
During the 80’s, my parents took my two older siblings and me on regular visits Back East to see our big extended family. On one of those trips, my cousin told me I have a California accent. From that moment, I saw California and all it represents as part of my identity.
I grew up in San Bernardino, so I’m sure my cousin meant to say I have a Southern California accent. Like many of my fellow Inland Empire natives, I talk a little slowly. I draw out vowel sounds and I don’t pronounce consonants sharply. (I’m not writing a “sent(ə)ns”, I’m writing a “s(ə)ns”.) Unlike the “Californians” on SNL, and Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, my declarative sentences do not sound like a question. (I didn’t grow up in the San Fernando Valley.)
I’d like to think my California accent telegraphs that I’m non-judgmental, easy going, an open book with nothing to hide. I seek out philosophical conversation and my accent often puts people at ease so I can talk about the meaning of life with even a new acquaintance.
The other day, I asked my surf buddy, what he thinks of Californians. He came up as a tough guy on the East Coast. He said, compared to people Back East, people here are fake. He said he misses the straight up honesty you find in New Jersey and Philadelphia. He finds Californians are more apt to be passive aggressive and unreliable. He said, “If someone has a problem with me there, they’ll tell me about it. Here, you just don’t know.”
Back East, they have a reputation for Yankee practicality and frankness to live up to. There’s a reflexive edge, born of hard winters, tight spaces and the weight and comfort of parochial traditions.
Out West, none of us is really a local, so we are free to invent ourselves and our future. (Nearly all of the real California locals were killed or died of European diseases 150–200 years ago.) Our identities are more fluid and so I imagine it can be frustrating to nail us down.
In an effort to better know myself, I took a surprisingly insightful and useful online survey. My Clifton StrengthsFinder rates me high on Communication, Input, Woo, Ideation and Positivity. To my mind, these are the traits that define the California character — that spirit of inventiveness and openness that produced the likes of Apple, Disney, MGM and Uber.
Don Clifton’s online survey takes about 20 minutes and gives insights and awareness into your strengths, ideas for action to build on those strengths, and examples of others who succeeded with similar strengths.
What Clifton calls “Woo” strikes me as a particularly Californian trait. “People who are especially talented in the Woo theme love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over.” Clifton offers a caveat for those strong in Woo — “Find the right words to explain that networking is part of your style. If you don’t claim this theme, others might mistake it for insincerity and wonder why you are being so friendly.”
Californians are stereotypically fake, shallow, and self-obsessed. The popular image of a Californian is a social climber who will ask what you do, how much you make and what kind of car you drive in the first 5 minutes of meeting you.
Certainly there are many thousands who fit that description in California. I strive to be the person I hope my California accent suggests — a friendly, optimistic, magnanimous, open person who seeks out truth, depth and a real connection with every interaction.
We would do well to follow the example of one of our most influential native sons. Walt Disney moved to California from Chicago when he was a 22 year old animator and entrepreneur — making him as much of a local as any of us. Uncle Walt said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
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Take the Clifton StrengthsFinder to gain useful insights and get some great ideas about how to build on your strengths.
Watch Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke in her alter ego, Callie from the Valley on the Jimmy Kimmel show in 2015.
Check out The Californians on the SNL 40th Anniversary Special.
Read this 2013 Forbes Magazine article by Patrick Hanlon illuminating how California business culture supports innovation.
