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."..........
Did You Grow Up In Brooklyn With Grandparents, Parents, Aunts, Uncles, And Cousins Who Said "The Water's Burr-ling"?
by Anonymous | reply 14 | June 5, 2023 4:05 AM |
i hoid it mor like "Duh wudduhs burr-ling."
by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 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 Anonymous | reply 2 | June 5, 2023 12:52 AM |
Several NOLA historical neighborhoods feature that accent, particularly the Irish Channel, Mid-City, and the 9th Ward.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 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 Anonymous | reply 4 | June 5, 2023 1:12 AM |
R4 probably gets interesting when he gets knotty.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | June 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 Anonymous | reply 6 | June 5, 2023 1:37 AM |
It’s a Bronx thing too; my elderly uncle says “earl” instead of “oil.”
by Anonymous | reply 7 | June 5, 2023 1:42 AM |
Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall were Dead End Kids.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 5, 2023 2:03 AM |
And The Bowery Boys
by Anonymous | reply 9 | June 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 Anonymous | reply 10 | June 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 Anonymous | reply 11 | June 5, 2023 3:01 AM |
Free as a boid
by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 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 Anonymous | reply 13 | June 5, 2023 3:39 AM |
Add James Cagney to the list of fading New York accents
by Anonymous | reply 14 | June 5, 2023 4:05 AM |