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Did You Grow Up In Brooklyn With Grandparents, Parents, Aunts, Uncles, And Cousins Who Said "The Water's Burr-ling"?

The New York Accent is for the most part, extinct. The only remnants (and thousands more), are The Dead End Kids, Jimmy Durante, Ed Norton, Leo Gorsey, Huntz Hall, And Maybe Bugs Bunny. Anyone from Brooklyn who remembers hearing..."Burl the water!" "I'm goin' ta take a bat," "Ah, fa'h Christ's sake." "Let's go to thurd-tee turd Street."..........

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by Anonymousreply 14June 5, 2023 4:05 AM

i hoid it mor like "Duh wudduhs burr-ling."

by Anonymousreply 1June 5, 2023 12:39 AM

They talk like that in New Orleans too. At least they used to. It’s become very watered down these days. My grandparents sounded like Archie and Edith Bunker. They said turlet and all that. My uncle looked and sounded like meathead.

by Anonymousreply 2June 5, 2023 12:52 AM

Several NOLA historical neighborhoods feature that accent, particularly the Irish Channel, Mid-City, and the 9th Ward.

by Anonymousreply 3June 5, 2023 12:58 AM

There's a wonderful gay schoolteacher TikToker who has a heavy and very old school Long Island accent. The kind that says moidah instead of murder and hah-ribble instead of horrible, and it's not at all put upon or fake. I'll try to find his username -- I'm not on there very often -- but he's charming to listen to.

by Anonymousreply 4June 5, 2023 1:12 AM

R4 probably gets interesting when he gets knotty.

by Anonymousreply 5June 5, 2023 1:25 AM

I still talk that way OP. I was born in Brooklyn in 1960 and have lived in NYC all of my life except for 8 years in CA. The accent really comes out when I go on a rant about some crazy thing I've seen someone do. My background is German Italian.

by Anonymousreply 6June 5, 2023 1:37 AM

It’s a Bronx thing too; my elderly uncle says “earl” instead of “oil.”

by Anonymousreply 7June 5, 2023 1:42 AM

Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall were Dead End Kids.

by Anonymousreply 8June 5, 2023 2:03 AM

And The Bowery Boys

by Anonymousreply 9June 5, 2023 2:08 AM

I saw a very early sound newsreel somewhere online where the reporter stopped passersby near 23rd Street and asked their opinions on women's skirt lengths. They all had insanely thick New York accents. I couldn't believe how widespread and hardcore they were.

I wonder if there's a way to chart this type of thing, but it had to have peaked in the late 1920s to early 1930s.

by Anonymousreply 10June 5, 2023 2:46 AM

[quote]They talk like that in New Orleans too. At least they used to.

Burl the water in da zink.

The New Orleans Saints phrase "Who Dat" comes from this old Brooklyn-style dialect.

by Anonymousreply 11June 5, 2023 3:01 AM

Free as a boid

by Anonymousreply 12June 5, 2023 3:28 AM

[quote]hah-ribble instead of horrible

That's the last bit left of my accent. I just can't force myself to say "whore-abull".

by Anonymousreply 13June 5, 2023 3:39 AM

Add James Cagney to the list of fading New York accents

by Anonymousreply 14June 5, 2023 4:05 AM
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