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I find this discussion interesting as there are actual contributions from many cultures that contribute to the New York accent. Down in Atlanta where I was thankful to escape from, that Southern twang, and all the "y'all" and "ma'ams" just grates on your ears. It's also deceptive. People think you are being polite and formal, but their venom seethes just below the service. I find in New York (and in other Northern cities like Boston, DC, Philadelphia, etc) people are either nice to your face or they're not. There's none of this fakeness you find in the South and in their ever-so-nice accents.
I find this discussion interesting as there are actual contributions from many cultures that contribute to the New York accent. Down in Atlanta where I was thankful to escape from, that Southern twang, and all the "y'all" and "ma'ams" just grates on your ears. It's also deceptive. People think you are being polite and formal, but their venom seethes just below the service. I find in New York (and in other Northern cities like Boston, DC, Philadelphia, etc) people are either nice to your face or they're not. There's none of this fakeness you find in the South and in their ever-so-nice accents.
I do declare! Well bless your heart.
I get a kick out of the unspoken rules some of my NYC coworkers use., "if a word ends in r, drop the r. Heather is Heathuh.
If a word ends in a, drop the a and add er. Soda becomes soder ".
Blacks in NY have a very different accent from blacks in Detroit or the South, even though millions of blacks migrated to NYC during the great migration NYC already had it's own huge black population since colonial times that developed with the different poor working class groups but still keeping it's own black style and when Southerners moved up here they assimilated with the NY blacks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Antdawg1
Yeah an African American from Detroit or the south sounds nothing like a new yorker. I just don't get why black people from northern places like Detroit, Chicago, and LA never adapted a more northern sound like Philly, New York, and Boston.
Not all Blacks in Detroit have a country accent....some do some dont...Now Chicago, St Louis, Indiana (Gary, Indianapolis) on the other hand......black people in those cities talk like they never left the south....heck the only major difference btwn southern and midwestern blacks is that midwest blacks have a harder edge to them (if nothing else bc of those brutal midwest winters) and the hospitatlity isnt as strong (with chicago blacks its almost nonexistant!).
Black americans in NY and most east coast cities prob lost their country accents mainly bc east coast cities move @ a much faster pace (the midwest is slow and cold). black people out west basically have a country accent shot with tranqulizer.......esp blacks from South Central Los Angeles and Oakland.....
I also notice black west indians in NY dont talk like black west indian migrants in London or Toronto. Granted those are diff countries with totally diff accents and cultures but caribbean ppl in toronto and england merge caribbean lingo into whichever accent their host country has. black west indians in NY either talk in a full on NY Accent or a full on west indian accent. very rarely do the 2 mix.....
There is a new documentary specifically about the origins of the ny accent. Check it out. Also, most Blacks from the south migrated to the Midwest. I am Black and Blacks from ny don't sound anything like those from the south or Midwest. The ny accent is more British. I've lived in the UK and it's a mix of east end and city.
I'm from Chicago and Black. Rudeness is individual not ethnically related. Please don't generalize. Also, as a virtual Corporate recruiter, I hear voices from all over the world and can pick out origins of accents very easily now. Blacks from the U.S. sound differently from state to state and also regionally within states, but, so do whites. Don't lump it all together. Really try to listen and you will hear a distinct difference. Not a lecture just the truth.
I get a kick out of the unspoken rules some of my NYC coworkers use., "if a word ends in r, drop the r. Heather is Heathuh.
If a word ends in a, drop the a and add er. Soda becomes soder ".
Heathuh is Brooklyn
Soder is Bronx
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