new york, new york...





I really got a kick out of this license plate I found in the parking lot at the mall. it looks to me like someone is proud of their new york accent. recently while visiting wisconsin, quite a few of the natives enthusiastically commented on my accent. one lady seemed quite proud that she identified a "real" new yorker, as if I were an entirely different breed of man. this always amuses me because unless someone is from the deep south or another country, I usually don't notice a difference between my accent and theirs.
what about you, are you conscious of other people's accents?

this is a small part of my world. to see other parts of this great world, please go here, thanks to klaus and his team, sandy, ivar, wren, fishing guy and louise.

Comments

Marylène said…
In France, we make lots of fun with people's accents, North against South, Paris against .... the rest of France.... !!!
If you add some typical vocabulary, many patois.... then you're in trouble if you are not native.
bobbie said…
Love that license plate!

I was born in PA, lived 21 years on LI, and now more than 30 in NJ. Whenever I visit any of those states, I am accused of having an accent from one of the others.
BLOGitse said…
my accent is weird because English is not my first language...(as my writing!)

In Finnish - yes, other Finns can hear that I'm from Helsinki, capital city of Finland... :)
Daryl said…
LOVE it ... I always say/write I am from NewYawk ..
Pietro Brosio said…
Very interesting Lily.
In Italy we have a lot of different accents and dialects! For example, Piedmont and Lombardy, although they are near, have very different intonations.
When people speak we generally recognize at once their region by the accent!
Anonymous said…
It's always interesting to have people point out to us nu yawkas that we do have a nu yawk accent. I find it interesting that they like to listen to it when we speak, I've had some interesting experiences with citizens from other parts of our country. PGma
Mark Kreider said…
I will take the liberty to remind folks that there are differences in accent within NYC itself, a Queens native would not be mistaken for a Brooklynite, lol. Rippingly good license plate! I had a vanity plate that read "KITCHN" because some of our renovation money had to go into a new Jeep, so we're driving our kitchen. Somebody liked it enough to steal it, what a hassle.
Janie said…
I've lived all over the country, so I think I notice accents more than most people do. I like trying to guess where folks are from based on their accent and speech patterns.
Cute license plate.
Sylvia K said…
I love it!! Even though I haven't lived in Texas for many years and worked very hard to get rid of my accent, every now and then, someone will ask me where I'm from, was I from the south. Guess some accents never die, but I never thought of a Texas accent as one I'd want to publicize! Fun post!
James said…
That's cool.
I'm from California, starting in Texas and going east I can hear accents. I think it's interesting.
Alexa said…
What a great find this license plate is! Tho I would have written it "Noo Yawk" :~} I think accents are fascinating. My Virginia-born mom has lived in NY for
67 years and thinks she has no southern accent at all—wrong. My Welsh friend has been here for more than 40 years, but her Welsh accent returns whenever she's angry. Often when I'm in Italy and I speak in Italian, I'm answered not in Italian, or even English, but in French—??
BTW, lili, I don't think you have much of a Long Island accent.
luvmyboys said…
I never thought I had an accent until I went to CA and my friend told the waiter "Have her say sausages (I say sawsawgez, she says sahsahgez) and ask for a glass of water" (me - waughta, her - wahter) :-) I did have someone ask me if I came from South Africa, because they thought I sounded like I came from there. I've also had someone from Ireland ask me what part of Ireland I came from (none, since I'm originally from Queens! LOL!).

I did comment on someone's accent once and asked "You definitely don't sound like you're from around here. Where are you from?" and they said "Manhattan." :-O
Anonymous said…
The coolest license plate I saw was ' Dnt pnic' or don't panic in reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Jennakrug
Marka said…
It's not just accents, it's also speech patterns and phrases that help localize where someone else is from.
Marites said…
can't help but smile at the license plate. our country has about 100+ dialects and our people tend to be just amused of difference in accent, speech patterns and meanings because a lot of words may sound the same but have different meanings which could lead to confusion and well, funny consequences sometimes.

Strange thing is our govt and school emphasizes English as 2nd language when we could've used one of our major languages to understand each other.

Anyway, my world is here
Wolynski said…
Oddly enough, I recognize the Long Island accent -instead of "coffee" they say "cwoffee".
Arija said…
Recognising accents is like recognising music and being able to say who wrote it. I love accents and there are so many in New York alone let alone in the whole of the US. Canada changes from coast to coast and so do even the smallest European countries.
It is always fun to place where people come from by their accents.
Bill said…
That's amazing! I saw that car on the parkway the other day!!!
Double Hawk said…
I wonder if I have a good New York accent. It'd be cool for someone to guess that based off my (seemingly non existant) accent.
Anonymous said…
LOL! Funny. I like the license plate, too. I get the same reaction to my accent to when I travel else where. People love to tell me that I have an ACCENT. LOL! I actually think it's the other way around. THEY'RE the ones with the accent. ;-)

Paz
LOL! No one would ever mistake me for anyone but a New Yorker...and one from Brooklyn!
Love this vanity tag. Also, have to admit our family loves accents. I just asked a woman at the local craft store, "are you from Pittsburgh, PA?" and she smiled and responded, "Yes, I can't get rid of the accent."

However, we like people just the way they are, WITH accents. Would love to meet the person behind this vanity tag!

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