I was just remembering my favorite teacher.  I too every English and Language Arts class she taught.

She told us once (it was the 80s then), our geographic and cultural colloquialisms were a beautiful part of our heritage.  She advised that we should explore them while they still existed and were distinct.  TV and other mass media were homogenizing what was once a beautiful thing.

I've since grown to love all of our varieties of expression and miss them being more distinct to locations and peoples.