Week before last, I was in a week-long training that resulted in my certification as an EEOC investigator. The training was held in Denver, but we had "classmates" from all over the country. Evidently, I was the only one in the room with a wonderful Southern accent.

One of the exercises we participated in was interviewing a witness as a class. The trainers had us take turns asking one question or giving one piece of information. When my turn came around, my duty was to "swear in" the witness. Since no language was provided, I came up with my own lingo. I instructed the witness to raise her right hand and repeat after me, "I do declare..." I guess the way I said it was extremely cute, because after those three words came out of my mouth, the whole class giggled. It didn't dawn on me why they were laughing at first, but I soon realized it was due to my awesome accent. I then said, "I know, I know," and I continued on. Life can be hard being such a cute Southerner. :)