I never really thought I had an accent. I always thought it was everyone else who was mispronouncing everything. And I like how I talk. It’s a little tough, a little rough around the edges, but not quite as tough as, say, a Brooklyn accent. Or as annoying as, say, The Nanny. But now that I am teaching Princess to talk, its becoming apparent to me that I may need some speech lessons.
Let’s start with that word: “talk”. From what I now understand, it is supposed to be one syllable, huh? Hmm. Because I say Taw-uk. How about dog? One syllable again? Nope, I say Daw-ug. Door? Doo-uhr.
Coffee is Caw-fee.
Because is Be-caw-uhs.
Chocolate is Chaw-klit.
Mall is Maw-ull.
As I am teaching Princess her words, and she points to a door and says “What’s that?” and I answer “doo-uhr”…and she repeats my 2-syllable approach to the word…I wonder if I am teaching her the right thing or the wrong thing. But I guess being that she is going to grow up to be a Jersey Girl like her mom, she may as well learn to taw-uk like the rest of us.
(And just for the record, I don’t know ANYONE who says “Joisey” instead of Jersey!)
31 comments:
Being from NE, people always tell me I have an accent. I think it's hilarious, because it's usually people from North Dakota or Minnesota, where they say "soorry" for sorry and "aboot" for about. I've had people ask me if I've ever lived in the South, so maybe I have picked up other people's accents around me.
In NE, it's "door" and "dawg". :P
People tell me that I have an accent all the time. I am from West Virginia. But I just don't think I have one.
I have a baby on the way. And you can bet your by golly that I will teach her to talk like me. lol.
I don't really say by golly. I just wanted my comment to be more effective. lol.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a great weekend.
Hi, here from Michele's. :)
I live out here in California where nobody has any kind of accent whatsoever. ;)
Back in high school we had a "new girl" move to town from New Jersey. It was fascinating to hear her talk: "I'm gonna go waw-alk the daw-ug now, so I'll taw-alk to yous lay-tahr". She ended up moving back to Jersey after high school. Probably because her family couldn't stand all the "like, totally!"s going on here. Hehe.
Good luck with the speaking lessons for Princess, but I suspect you'll both do what comes naturally and in the end all that's important is that you understand each other!
- M.
I make my husband talk new yawk. We go to the staww and got some bred. I have the Queens accent going:)
That is funny, I don't think you have an accent at all. : )
I have no accent but I love to hear other peoples. I love the way you sound. Or type....
Here from Michele's.
I know a guy who has spent his whole life in the midwest, but still says coffe like caw-fee. He says taw-uk too. it's the oddest thing.
i honestly don't think I have an accent.
But, I think little kids that do are adorable.
Teach your princess how to say door both ways. It's important for children in the world today to be bilingual. ;)
I don't have an accent. I'm from upstate NY. We are too boring and lazy to bother coming up with new ways to say things.
I'm from Texas and when I meet people I am greeted with disappointment that I don't have a strong accent. Booo. :)
Michele sent me.
Do you say "Vanilla" or "Vanella" ;0) Accent shmacscent...you tawk..we listen then laugh ;0) That's all that matters right?
Mary- I live in Cali and you do have a "dilect" ... trust me... i moved from cali to NY and Yes NYPinTa YOU have a "delect" also. BUT, here is the catch, I now live in Jawja and I am going thru what jewersy girl (wink) pointed out only I can HEAR my daughters "Southern Dilect". For the record when it is the same language but a variation of pernounciation of it, it is a "dilect" when you speak say french and learn english, you speak english with a french accent.
We all should be proud of our culture; it gives us character. I grew up with Italian accents all around and I miss hearing it. When I do, it sounds like home to me.
Thaks for coming by my site and for your kind words. Have a great Friday!
Accents are so cute.....
I don't have one until I speak to somebody who is not in Texas... Then, apparently I have a major one. You speak the way you speak.... have fun with it... teach your children with what they'll hear... (Even if it is jersey taw-alk).
My little one is real funny... she picks up on accents quickly and will parrot those around her... When we went to Kentucky, you'd have never known she wasn't a local.
Hi again TJG, thanks so very much for making the trip over to my little poetry blog to read me. :)
Just wanted to let you know if you want to find me at my everyday "rambly" blog, it's here. (I don't like keeping that everyday blog public/open to the entire Blogger community so I don't put it in my profile, but certainly any friend of Michele's is a friend of mine. I'm so used to using mostly haloscan comments with the 'usual' Michele crowd that I forgot you didn't have an automatic-linky way to find my everyday blog when I posted here before.) Hope to see you come by there sometime. I've added you to my links and I'll look forward to reading you more regularly, too.
Cheers!,
Mary,
munching on her Chaw-klit, waiting for her hubby to land at the airport after being gone a week...
Michele sent me today.
Being from the same region as you, I can identify. I'd go to PA and folks would make fun of my accent - particularly the "er" - wah-ah, quaw-tah, you get the idea. Someday when my kid asks me "where ya's going?" I'll freak.
My sister, born and spent most of her life in London (now age 9) does the whole chaaiir=chair, dooowen=down, chiyuld=child thing, and we could never figure where she was getting it from...she must have come from Jersey in her previous life :-)
Children do not necessarily speak with the accent their parents do...she'll pick up her accent from school and friends, so don't worry about what is right or wrong (I don't think, you should speak to her any other way than that which is natural to you).
Autumn
NJ drove me nuts when I lived there. Is it raute or root 1? (route). Do you drink walder or wooder? (water). It's like they had two variations on every word, but none were correct.
It depends on my mood but sometimes I sound like I am from the south and other times I sound like I am from new york......I live in Maryland so maybe it is because I live so close to both worlds?
Michele sent me this time
Hey, it's Jim from over at (of mixmania! fame). Would LOVE to have you on board in June. Thanks for stopping by and come around whenever you'd like but you'll definitely want to stop in on June 1 for the next version of mixmania!
Now excuse me while I poke around a bit...
Speaking as someone who has beat the Cracker accent out of herself and now works as a claims adjuster for New Jersey (and yes I still live in Florida) I can say that most people I've spoken to (and I'm on the phone 90% of the day with New Jersey) don't have that strong of an accent. I wouldn't know how yours is but I'd say raise Princess however you want; in light of Mother's Day I'll say mothers know best, right? I've always been very aware of my speech because of my impediment (I pause for long periods of time without realizing it if I'm not extremely careful) and people sometimes think I'm from overseas because I control my speech patterns. Everybody's different!
eh, she'll learn whatever she hears the most, so you telling her one way or the other isn't going to make much difference. sorry! I'm a michigander, and didn't think I had an accent until a girl (hooor...that's another story!) from southern ohio moved into town and gave me a hard time about MY accent...haha...she said we pronounced "car" as "cer"...whatever....hooor. (By the way, that's michigan for whore!)
At least with different accents we have character! I don't have much of one because I grew up halfway in PA and the other half in TX. I've learned how to blend. Of course, others might disagree...
No accent in this part of Joisey.
;)
My daughter says "yay-ya" instead of yeah. I swear I don't sound like that - do I?
My six year old is being raised in the south by a mama from NC and a daddy from NY, and his accent a weird mix of the two. I blame TV.
I was born on Long Island (lawngeyeland), did time in Jersey and eventually moved to Florida. I have no accent at the moment, but for a while there I had an English accent (acquired from our neighbors).
My husband still has traces of his NY accent, and my son is constantly correcting him, saying he "talks funny," as do both his grandfathers (both New Yorkers).
She may be learning the Jersey, but in the end, she'll come up with something that's completely her own. And hey, who cares - she's a Jersey Girl too!
BTW, the only people I've ever heard say "Joisey" were in the movies...
Oh, and Happy Mother's Day!
We have many accents in the UK as well. People get stereotyped because of them and that's terrible. You see this on TV adverts - if they need someone thick they use a Birmingham accent; dishonest, someone from Newcastle; salt of the earth, a Northerner; wide boy, a Londoner; upper class idiot, a home counties accent; gentle, a West country accent.Does this happen in the US too?
Don't worry -- listen to your parents closely and you will see where you got your accent from. Then see that, if Princess chooses to move out of state like her favorite aunt, her accent will slowly drift away and only come out when she either gets mad, or talks to you on the phone.
"Yes NYPinTa YOU have a "delect" also."
No. I don't. There is nothing unique or regional about the way people in this area talk. We sound like we could be from California or Oregon as well. When Hollywood spens money on speech coaches to remove the regional sound from actors, they end up sounding like people from around here.
Ever watch 'The Dead Zone'? That takes place in Maine. But do they sound like it? Or 'One Tree Hill'. On both shows all the actors speak with a generic american accent, one that has no region. That is how everyone sounds up here.
Call it laziness, or lack of imagination, but there it is.
Amen on that "I don't know anybody who calls it 'Joisey'" bit. Me either! Pass the sub, I mean hoagie, I mean hero!
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