[LOOKAYANNER]

Eastern Kentucky people who move north of the Ohio River and within 2 weeks are talking like they have lived in the north all their lives, and come back to the mountains on visits showing off their newly fabricated accents and making fun of the locals. Now, they think they've mastered it and fit right in with their new northern neighbors, but it's only an allusion on their part. Native Buckeyes tell me that they can pick out a mountain boy within the time it takes them to make two spoken sentences, regardless of the number of years they've lived in Ohio.
Same thing for people who spend a couple of years in the military (but not all of them). You'd think they had lived in Michigan or New York their entire life when they speak. Sometimes I make fun of them and tell them they're trying to be someone that they're not, and when they do that it makes them look like they are ashamed of their culture and heritage. Most of them say they change their accent so people where they live can understand them. I don't buy that. Jimmy Carter form Georgia was president of the USA and he didn't change the way he talked. Neither did Texan George Bush or Bill Clinton of Arkansas.
I do believe in using proper grammar. But one's native accent is something to be proud of imo.