TUESDAY JANUARY 29,2008 paGE A4RANT OF THE DAYAm | wrong for wanting to marry someonerich and pop out about 4 kids???{ Let the Good Times Roll! }All aboutaccentsWhy the fascination?LISA ENSMINGEROPINION WRITERAccents ... such an interesting conceptwithin the regions of the United States. Somepeople admire different accents. Some people areplainly irritated with accents. Anywhere you goin America, an accent and dialogue can changedramatically. The teasing and conversing (thathas also directly affected me) I hear from peopleabout different dialects has simply inspired meto write about my experience with sucha widely |talked about, but seldom thought about topic.I am going to use myself as an exampleon how my dialect has affected my daily life. Icome from the Midwest where the accents aresupposedly neutral? (according to the newsbroadcasters), but coming down to the South, Ido not sound so neutral to a lot of people. I ammade fun of for my use of OTs? because I am fromOhio, but I never actually noticed the way I spokeuntil I moved down here. I do not think I can go.one week without someone commenting or jokingTabout my different accent (and I know I am guiltyfor teasing my roommate for her accent too). Evenwhen I travel up north to New York City, I havebeen told I have a Southern accent, and accord-.ing to the Southerners I have a Northern accent.Sometimes it just gets confusing!When I first came to east Carolina, it tooka while to get used to the significant differencein pronunciation. When my roommate said, Iam. going to boil some water,? for the first time,I had no idea what she was saying because of herSouthern accent. I heard, I am going to bowl somewater,? and quite frankly, I was.a little confused.I go home and notice my own accent Juxta-posed with my friendsT and get blamed for a slightSouthern twang, then I come back to school andthe Southern dialect has become second natureto me. This, my friends, is the confusion I thinkabout from moving to the South. It amazes meto listen to the different types of accents, dialectand word choices, all because of where we comefrom. Even with the Southern accent, it com-pletely depends on which town one grew up in.The smaller towns have a thicker drawl, whilethe bigger cities such as Raleigh have a slightlylighter accent. It just fascinates me how locationhas such a significant impact on everyone's speechand daily life. 1 am sure I am not the only onewho is affected by these ridicules more than once -a week for the way I speak. So, talk the way youtalk, and do not feel ashamed if someone bashesMa for your silly accent! |This writer can be contacted atopinion@theeastcarolinian.comObama!Oh, Mama!Or going from red to blueJ.D. LEWISOPINION EDITORItTs hard to believe ITm actually gettingexcited about a Democrat. I mean, I voted forBob Dole in 1996, and I voted for W. twice, butthereTs just something about Barack Obama thatenergizes me.At first my interest in him was purely becauseheTs not Hillary Clinton or Rapunzel Edwards ofthe $400 haircut, but I began to take a closer lookat him once HillaryTs attack dog, Bill, came outverbally abusing Obama and any reporter whodared to question it. Any candidate, Republican orDemocrat, who can elicit that much fear from theself-anointed Messiah of the Democratic Party,certainly. deserves our attention.Frankly, I wish that the next time Bill Clintonberates a reporter for asking him a legitimatequestion about something he or his wife havesaid or done on the campaign trail, the reporterwould look him squarely in the eye and tell himwhat he can kiss ... but, I digress.Obama is the type of candidate who, likeJohn Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, can restorepride in the nation. Just listening to him talk,even if you donTt necessarily agree with him onevery single issue (and none of us are going toagree with anybody on everything), makes youfeel good, like we can be and do so much moreas individuals and as a nation.Barack Obama hasnTt played the race cardonce in this campaign, unlike Bill Clinton, whoseremarks comparing ObamaTs recent win in theSouth Carolina primary to Jesse JacksonTs win- there in the 1980s seemed to suggest that Obamaonly won because of his race. Even if Hillary "Clinton had received all of John EdwardsT votes,Obama would still have beaten her by 10 percent" still a comfortable margin " and the differ-ence between Barack Obama and Jesse Jacksonis like chicken salad and chicken ... well, youknow. That Bill Clinton feels the need to makesuch baseless accusations Just goes to show thatthe Hillary campaign had grossly underestimatedthe senator from Illinois.Barack Obama represents change. Hillary hassaid she represents change while fighting for thesame things sheTs fought for the past 25 years.If you have nothing to show after 25 years, itTstime to move on and give someone else a chance.This country desperately needs a president whowill stand up for all Americans and restore- AmericaTs place on the world stage. I'm startingto believe that Barack Obama is Just the rightman for the job.This writer can be reached at"opinion@theeastcarolinian.comLADIES ANDBF evry, n tonicurs |STATE OF THE UNION, ITHOUGHT I'D TALK ABOUTMY ACCOMPLISHMENTSAS PRESIDENT,NOR SsWWW. TNOWICKI.COMThe East Carolinian does not endorse statements made in Pirate Rants. Questionsregarding Rants can be directed to J.D. Lewis, Opinion Page Editor, at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com. Log onto theeastcarolinian.com to submit a Rant of your own.DonTt we pay enough tuition and feesfor this school to afford somethingbesides that one-ply John Waynetoilet paper in the bathrooms? ~What the hell are UGGS?Putting together a spring break isdriving me crazy! Someone help!Thank you to whoever is concernedabout my chewing tobacco. ItTsobvious that you have a crush onthis Southern Gentleman.? ITm sorry| passed my spit bottle in front ofyou. Once again, thank you for yourconcern about me and my health.If you only knew how much | wantedyou. | love. seeing you after you leavethe rec center. Everyone knows that| want to be with you, but you arethe only one who does not. When*you drive your white truck, my heartraces with love faster than yourwhite truck could go. Good luck inmaking the football team; I'll rootfor you either way. Why canTt we betogether?| know I'm falling for you; ITm justwondering when you're going to bewilling to catch me.Girls like you give Greenville abad rap.If youTre going to have guys over, atleast be considerate enough to BEQUIET about it! Thanks! 'Why can't! go a day without thinkingabout you? I can only hope that youcan't go a day without thinking about~ me too. | hope you're not just usingme for the things? | give you.| have no life because] work so muchand my friends are not considerateenough to wait for me to get off workso | can go outwith them. Thanks! Is10:30 p.m. really that late?Is itbad that my roommate and | areaddicted to Mondos?Curly haired guy in chemistry, whatis your name?| would like to say thank you.to thesweet guy who gave me the yellowflower last week. You made mesmile. BTW, | didnTt throw it on theground after you left.| met all my best friends smoking pot!Hooray for the article on The Avett .Brothers! They are the best!Dear Linksys guy calling OTHERpeople idiots: First off, there area lot of people who have Linksyswireless routers, so itTs probablynot your Internet being stolen.Secondly, if you were smart enoughto password-protect your wireless,you wouldnTt have other peoplestealing your Internet. ITm prettysure the wireless stealer isn't theidiot here...Our menTs basketball team mayhave beaten NC State earlier in theseason, but our menTs basketballteam still sucks!Bruce Bruce is not funny funny.The movies that Channel 31 showsare horrible!They call me Tater Salad.There is nothing wrong withMendenhall Student Center, sowhy are they reconstructing it? If itain't broke, don't fix it.What happened to the guy in thehallway of the Whichard Building?He used to help me and | misshim!My name is not Jeff!The football team still has more winsthan the menTs basketball team.| like a good corn dog.~Please spell my name right.Before you criticize someone, youshould walk a mile in their shoes.That way, when you criticize them,you're a mile away and you havetheir shoes.Why the interest in setting offfireworks in.the middle of the night??No wonder people get shot and noone notices it.R.I.P., Heath.| guess the ECU maintenancepeople have the same winter breakthat we do because they are stillpainting the stairwells!! And youwonder why ITm late to class...Could you not smoke with your bodypressed up against the building? |have to breathe that air too.Your ex-boyfriend is a douche. Wakeup! You deserve a lot better thanhim, and getting back together withhim is only gonna hurt you worsethan he already has.Hee hee, !|Tm following suit andwondering who else is posting aPirate Rant in the library!ll call you Sugar Muffin? if youwant me to. :)Global warming does NOT happenovernight...To the TRUE gentleman who offeredhis seat up to every female whostepped onto that FULL bus Friday: .You are lovely! ECU needs moreREAL men like you rather than thedirty pigs that make up the majority.You made my day.Will you be my brown-eyed girl?ITm in love with a stripper!| think | might love you, but I've been |hurt in ways you couldn't imagine.Please don'task me out on ValentineT SsDay. |Is titunfair to all heterosexual couplesthat the on-campus visitation policysays that members of the oppositesex canTt be visiting after 2 a.m.?Homosexuals can stay the night.| donTt want to tell you to your face,but one of your friends is crushing onyour Boo.? | think you should checkthe situation out.Am | wrong for wanting to marrysomeone rich and pop out about 4kids???To the guys at IHOP Saturday night:It took all of me to stop my friend fromgoing over to your table and cussingyou out because you kept sayingfat b---h.? How many times do youneed to say it until you get your point "across?The guy at Spencer's told my friendsand | we couldn't take picturesanymore ... so we turned off the flashand continued.Hey, change that tone of voice,mister.When did OE asin become coolagain?Sorry, professor, | couldn't studylast night. | was too busy setting uppasswords, log-ins, taking onlinequizzes and doing online HWTs. Itdidn't leave me much time to readthe text.| was under the impression thatwe canTt have Limewire here oncampus, yet every time ! get on myiTunes, all | see are other peopleTsLimewire accounts.Who are those kids that sit in theback of Todd every day?So who else is in Philosophy andcan't stay awake? ©Square cake tastes funny. That's~ ~ why | stick to circle cake.How to becomeStudent BodyPresidentIn these easy stepsYAZID FINNOPINION WRITERMaybe it is just me, but why are so manypeople on this campus talking about somethingthat is ten months down the line? Half the peopleyou like will not be in the election, so with this inmind, table the thought of voting until it comes,and for now look toward your own campus.You know, where things actually have a higherprobability of affecting you. By this I refer tothe spring student body elections at our veryown school.With a prestigious title, a handful of benefitsand a personal assistant if you are lucky enough, Icould not imagine anyone who would not want tocampaign the spot. Where to begin?? some maywonder, and the answer is more straightforwardthan you'd probably expect.When you first decide you want to run, makesure to tell everyone that you know. Think aboutit: the more people that know, the more votesyou will get! Why hide your ambitions as if theywere a state secret? Put your hat into the ringand have some real fun.' Now that everyone knows your intentions,continue to spread the word. As soon as youhave the green light from the elections commit-tee, spread it like wildfire. I am not talking oneor two kids out in front of Dowdy " I mean anentire fleet of your closest friends. Rain, sleet orhail really tests their friendship. If they are notpassing out fliers with your name on it, they arewasting your time.If you learned anything from high schoolelections, it should have been that everyoneloves candy ... that and attractive-looking people.Heaven forbid the two should ever be combined,because then no one else could fathom a chancein the election. Hot people and delicious eats andtreats? I could not resist giving them my vote!If all else fails, stick to the age-old truths ofpolitics. If you have no reputation to stand on,you lose nothing by slinging as much mud asyou find possible. Everyone enjoys a good smearcampaign as much as the next guy, so why notbe the player to start one? It is never any fun toplay by the rules, so set the bar high as you start~ to break them.I can guarantee this coming spring elec-tion will be a lot of fun and everyone readingthis can get in on the action. Who cares if youhave a snowballTs chance in hell? DonTt knowabout you, but I like those odds. Will I see youon the trail?This writer can be reached atopinion@theeastcarolinian.comSarah CampbellEditor in ChiefMust love dogsEverything else is negotiableLARA OLIVEROPINION WRITERSo, whatTs your deal breaker?You know- that one thing that pinpoints aperson's personality for you? That trait that youJust can't ignore in a person, whether itTs goodor bad? For some people itTs their religion, forothers itTs musical tastes, and for many, sports.For me, itTs your feelings about dogs. 7It may seem a bit shallow, but I just canTtstand a person who dislikes dogs. Now, donTtget me wrong, I love other types of animals. ITveowned a hamster, three parakeets, two finches, arabbit, and, for a very brief period, a turtle. Butthroughout all that time ITve always had a dog Icould turn to, that little ball of fluffy joy that wasalways happy to see me no matter how long I wasgone, that never woke me up in the middle of thenight by knocking itTs cage onto the ground, and,best of all, couldnTt give me salmonella.Now I know that a lot of people are whatyou call cat people.? People who maintain thatdogs are dumber than cats, less refined and moreicky.? ITd venture to say that these so-called catpeople? are just lazy dog people.? Sure a dog mayrequire a lot of energy, get messy at times andeat more than cats, but I think thatTs part of thefun. The fact that you have another creature sodependent on you and so devoted to you is reallysweet to me. ItTs like having a kid without thatannoying teenager part. If you think about it, acat isnTt any smarter than a dog. If they were, theywouldn't be happy with keeping their excrementin a box so close to their food.But, you know, I donTt dislike cats. In fact, |wanted one most of my life. Unfortunately, mymom had a really bad allergy, so I could neverreally hope for a kitty of my own. And really, I-am more wary of people who dislike dogs andcats than just dogs.ThereTs just something that I canTt seem totrust about a person who dislikes dogs. MaybeitTs the prissy way they back away from a drool-ing dogTs smile or the disdain in their voice overbeing in charge of another creature other than~themselves. Or maybe itTs the fact that studieshave shown that owning a dog can make youlive longer, and these people are just bitter thatwe dog lovers are going to live longer than they. -Whatever reason it is, it just rubs me the wrongway. Gives me the heebie-jeebies,? if you will.So you may call me crazy, but bring on your "Satan-worshiping, Ricky Martin-loving, NewEngland Patriots fan-crazies. If they like dogs.. well, theyTre fine by me.This writer can be reached atopinion@theeastcarolinian.comKimberly Bellamy 7 J.D. LewisNews Editor Opinion EditorRonnie Woodward Jared JacksonSports Editor Asst. Sports EditorElise PhillipsFeatures EditorArianne SwanekHead Copy EditorLizz WellsPhoto EditorRobyn McLawhornAsst.Photo EditorMatthew ParkerMultimedia Web EditorStephanie SmithProduction Manager252.328.9238NewsroomPax | 252.328.9143Advertising 252.328.9245Serving ECU since 1925, the East Carolinian prints9,000 copies every Tuesday and Thursday during theregular academic year and 5,000 on Wednesdaysduring the summer. Our View? is the opinion ofthe editorial board and is written by editorial boardmembers. The East Carolinian welcomes letters to theeditor which are limited to 250 words (which may beedited for decency or brevity). We reserve the right toedit or reject letters and all letters must be signed andinclude a telephone number. 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