In the South it is more likely to be spoken as "ideal". So yes I would agree that it is regional more than anything else. I certainly wouldn't call a person dumb because of it, it's kind of like pop,soda or coke. Everything in the deep south was a coke, cokes started in the south and was the only soft drink. What I would call dumb is when folks see my name A.L. and pronounce it Al.