Southerners have never been all that fond of the letter "i". It's just too pointy and ornery. 

 

So deep is this prejudice that when spoken by a southerner, the word "I" will have two distinct syllables neither of which, when spelled phonetically, will actually contain the letter "i". 

 

Northerners have always insisted that the only correct way to refer to oneself in the subject of a sentence is with the word "I".

 

This pisses southerners off, and would probably have caused a second civil war had it not been for the fact that southerners could avoid pronouncing the "i" in "I". Most of the time they could work around it completely by re-arranging sentences to accommodate the much preferable "me" instead. 

 

In case you were wondering, when spoken aloud by a southerner, the word "me" also has two syllables. 

 

There are no southern mono-syllables, except perhaps with the word "terrace". 

 

Mississippi, whose name was overrun with refugee "i"s after the civil war, is particularly touchy about the letter "i". 

 

An unfortunate, and unwise, northerner visiting Mississippi by mistake, once remarked that if you listened close there seems to be a subtle "i" sound somewhere in the southern pronunciation of the word "me". 

 

Upon hearing this, the "m" turned bright red. The "h" said nothing (it never does). And "y" looked somewhat guilty and stared at her feet until a whole shit-load of "e"s cleared their throats.

 

The northerner was later found dead; shot three times in the back with a double barrel shotgun. The corner ruled it a suicide, and everyone agrees that this is the only logical explanation for the death.