I have a friend from Tennesee who constantly uses "Ideal" when "Idea" should be used... She is an MD, a physician! She is very well educated and no dummy, therefore, I aways assumed it was part of a regional dialect.
Nonetheless, it is terribly annoying to anyone who values the proper use of the English language. Candace does sound stupid, the Southern drawl doesn't help! Then I wondered - people often associate a Southern accent with ignorance, even though logic and experience tells us that there are many well educated Southerners. So why the stigma? Perhaps, it is the regional misuse and mispronunciations that linger in our subconscious giving the overall impression that Southerners are not that bright.
Like Fashindiva, I lived in Atlanta and constantly shuddered at the bad pronunciation and rampant malapropisms. Their speech is really dreadful, they should not be surprised people think them dumb - and if they don't like the stigma, instead of saying "that's how we talk," they should work to change things!