JULIAN MACIAS
Every visitor in the City must noticed real new yorkers have a special accent when we talk. Years of immigrants melding their respective languages into one in a jungle of words, New York talk needs a bit of explanation.
tip1 | Make sure your O’s sound like AW’s and your R’s at the endcourier new of a word are left off. For example: Do ya want a cup a cawfee afta dinna?
tip2 | Make sure you put tons of emphasys on the vowels
Caffee: Cawfee
Chocolate: chawcolate
water: wooder
Mother: Mudda
Long Island: Lawn-Guyland
First things firts; It’s “Noo York” not New York.
Ga’ Head (Go Ahead): A phrase of encouragement.
Get the Fuck Outta Hea (Get the Fuck out of Here): sounds confrontational but its a term of disbelief more than anything.
How YOU Doin? (how are you doing?): with emphasis on the YOU.
Fuggetaboutit (Forget about it): Don’t worry about it, it’s all good.
Boss : People that either don’t know or forgot your name will call you “boss” instead.
EYYYY (Hey): Used to up the level of any conversation.
Mudder (mother): “F*ck your mudder”.
The City: used when referring to New York City. Mostly used for Manhattan.
Bridge and Tunnel: used when referring to those that live in the suburbs, mostly Jersey or Long Island.
Houston is a street, not a city in Texas:Please, for your own sake, pronounce it HOW-ston and not HUE-ston.
Williamsburgisn’t in Virginia.It’s in Brooklyn.
Pie: entire pizza (not a slice).
Stand on line: to stand in a line.
Subway:You’ll be riding the “subway” or the “train,” not the “metro.”
Lox and a Schmear: a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese.
Finally; Pick up the “attitude”:
- Speak quickly and succinctly.
- Use loud, expressive tones when speaking.
- Really draw out those vowels for emphasis.
- Throw an extra “r” at the end of words that end in vowels, like “that’s a good idear.”
Image credit: The Italian Food Center by franck bohbot