Wednesday, September 28, 2005
So, you want to talk like a Long Islander…........
Quote for the day: The language you about to hear ............. is disturbing. Dave Chappelle
For those of you who know the most about me, you know I am not from NY or to be exact Long Island.
I grew up in the Great Lakes region aka Michigan and have only lived on Long Island for a little over 5 years. Before I moved here I had to suffer through various comments from individuals that I met here who commented on my ‘accent’ (do NOT get me started on that topic) and how I pronounced words. It only got worse after I moved here and met more people; especially the truly annoying ones who would crow, “Oh, you aren’t from around here. I can tell by your accent.“
Well boys and girls let me tell you - at least I know how to speak properly and use correct grammar when speaking; unlike most of the people that I have met here who really need to go back to speech class - preferably in a different state.
Most people that I have met here have the very annoying habit of putting an ‘er’ sound the end of a word that should be ended with an ‘ah’ sound or totally leaving the ‘H’ pronunciation off of the front of a word.
Examples: Pizza Columbia Soda Huge
Pronounced: Pizzah Columbiah Sodah Huge
LI pronunciation: Pee-zer Columbe-er So-der You-ge
Even watching the TV news tonight I was catching grammatical errors and hubby was saying “I know, I know. They don’t know how to talk” Really you can’t use a verb meant for singular usage in place of one meant for plural usage. i.e. Don’t use was when you should use were.
Now these errors are not only made by people who have a H.S. education or less, they are routinely made by people who have a minimum of a four year degree and by people whose job it is to be a public speaker or worse yet to teach others. So, color me astounded but I find this constant abuse of language very irritating; especially when made by people who go out of their way to correct how I pronounce things. (Aside to all of them - I routinely consult no less than 3 dictionaries on how things are pronounced)
So, if you want to sound like you come from Long Island just follow the examples above and you will be on your way.
