How come many ethnicities have the "NYC" accent, despite the history of NYC segregation? (New York: movies, construction)
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Yeah, he was quite the character, lol. Not a New Yorker, but the movies informed a lot of what he "got" from NY speech in the 1930’s of course.
I subscribe to the opinions on earlier NYC accents that claimed it was the mix of German/Italian/Irish/Jewish mix that created the inflection. New Orleans has a similar sounding accent including the black community that also has the same dominant European groups contributing to its accent.
Hahahaha..........Would have loved to know your dad.............Love it .
Yeah! He was quite the character.
I kind if subscribe to opinions on earlier threads about the NYC accent that claims the mix of German/Jewish/Italian/Irish created it. New Orleans has a similar mix and the black community also shared the accent with their European counterparts.
Hahahaha..........Would have loved to know your dad.............Love it .
Yeah! He was quite the character.
I kind if subscribe to opinions on earlier threads about the NYC accent that claims the mix of German/Jewish/Italian/Irish created it. New Orleans has a similar mix and the black community also shared the accent with their European counterparts. You can hear it in old Satchmo interviews.
I grew up in Sunset Park, but I think it applies to all millennials who were born in the 90's regardless of neighborhood. I've really never met a young person who's around my age that actually speaks with that accent and have only noticed it from older white folks.
You're wrong. As a millennial born in the 90s. Virtually everyone I know know in my age group has a NYC accent. Just not an Italian stereotypical one obviously. But definitely an accent.
I noticed many people from NYC, whether they be Black, Asian, or White tend to have that "NYC" accent. I know there are many different accents in NYC, but if you hear someone from the area speak you can instantly identify that they are from NYC. My question is, how come people have a similar accent despite the city's history of having segregation?
Where i'm from in Chicago, all races have different accents due to the city's history of deep segregation between the races(even to this day). But I noticed in NYC that people, no matter their race, all tend to have a shared sort of accent that is noticeable despite there being ethnic segregation in its history. So I am wondering how that came to be.
There is no true NYC accent. What you perceive to be an NYC accent was romanticized by TV and movies. Most people here don't sound like the Honeymooners. You gotta go to the more insular neighborhoods of NYC or the suburbs to hear that in 2023.
A better example for you would be Boston, go check out some YouTube videos with Boston accents
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
I find the new york accent to be more of an older italian thing than a whole new york type thing. people who are late 20's like me who i grew up with also never spoke with this stereotypical new york accent. i heard about this new york accent thing growing up and actually looked up youtube videos of it when i was in high school and it really messed me up cause nobody at school talks like that, but apparently it's a new york accent. it really confused the hell out of me.
when i visited california the thing that gave me away as someone from the north east at a restaurant was how i said water. apparently people on the west coast say "waa-ter" whereas we say "war-ter". I don't know if that's true for all, but all my friends do it and we've never noticed.
edit: am asian.
Water, coffee and dog - those are my tells and I grew up in New Jersey! I moved away from NJ over thirty years ago and when I meet people for the first time they always assume I'm from NY. On the other hand, a brother of mine moved to the south shortly after college and he has a deep southern accent (he's in his sixties.)
One time I was chatting with a woman from Idaho who moved to NY recently. She said, "I never knew that Bugs Bunny had a Brooklyn accent". That was a surprise because to me the NY accent was all the same; Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, Queens.... Manhattanites come from everywhere so there is no accent there.
Actually Bugs Bunny's accent is a blend of Brooklyn and Bronx: According to Mel Blanc, the character's original voice actor, Bugs Bunny has a Flatbush accent, an equal blend of the Bronx and Brooklyn dialects. https://walkoffame.com/bugs-bunny/#:...lyn%20dialects.
And there is a Manhattan accent, at least a Lower East Side one. As an outsider who grew up in Essex County, NJ I can tell.
There is no true NYC accent. What you perceive to be an NYC accent was romanticized by TV and movies. Most people here don't sound like the Honeymooners. You gotta go to the more insular neighborhoods of NYC or the suburbs to hear that in 2023.
A better example for you would be Boston, go check out some YouTube videos with Boston accents
We were in Boston over the summer, and we stayed at a hotel in the fashionable Fenway district. I only heard one guy with a classic Boston "Southie" accent, and he was a worker on the T that I had to ask for directions. I think all the fashionable people have generic East Coast college accents.
As for NYC accents, Eric Adams has a very strong NY accent.
A lady I worked with in NJ who came from the Bronx still pronounced "Lisa" as "Leeser" even after raising a family in Morris County NJ. The NY accent is out there if you listen for it.
Actually Bugs Bunny's accent is a blend of Brooklyn and Bronx: According to Mel Blanc, the character's original voice actor, Bugs Bunny has a Flatbush accent, an equal blend of the Bronx and Brooklyn dialects. https://walkoffame.com/bugs-bunny/#:...lyn%20dialects.
And there is a Manhattan accent, at least a Lower East Side one. As an outsider who grew up in Essex County, NJ I can tell.
Dang...............You nailed it.
If some of you are fortunate enough to know some old timers from the
" Greatest Generation / born between 1900-1925 " you will notice their distinct
accent. It carried over into many black and whites and cartoons. The 30's and 40's
especially. I would say it started merging with the mafia lingo but still held some
originality. Just watch a few mob movies and you will notice the mix. Better yet,
try comparing early 30's Chicago mobster flicks with the likes of the Goodfellas film
and you will notice the morphing.
It was passed down to me as a child and drove some of my bosses
with the Transatlantic accent ( American /British ) crazy as a working adult.
Their first impression of my accent , I believe, puzzled them until I surprised
them with my skills and work ethics.
But then I’ve heard that people from Staten Island have a very different accent from those in other boroughs in NYC. Is this the “original” accent that people keep talking about?
No, but Staten Islander's retained much of an accent that's been watered down.
The best depiction of a very old Queens accent can be found in Archie & Edith Bunker; Ed Norton's character had much more of an old NY accent.
John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever, was more of an evolving 70's/80's NY accent - which remains today in Staten Island, although among some people, it's watered down.
But in the 80's, you could tell who was from Southeast Queens, versus Northeastern Queens; Brooklyn was a bit discernable too, between itself and people from Northeastern Queens.
***
I now live in the Charlotte area, and there's a marked difference in accents between people in my County, versus the County immediately North of me.
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