New York Accent (Buffalo, Rome, Patterson: house, college, friends)

[Rachael84]

I voted that I do have an accent since I've been told everywhere I go that I have a NY accent. I don't have an accent, other people do

[King of Kweens]

A lot of people I know have NY accents, but I speak surprisingly like a Midwesterner. Why? I have no idea.

[samyn on the green]

The New Yawk accent is waning. The common New York English accent is specific to European-American outer borough working class neighborhoods. It was strong in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx with unique variations from neighborhood to neighborhood. As the European-American working class was blockbusted out of the city the accent is not heard as much as it was in the past. Upper class Anglos, Southern Blacks and Hispanics do not share this accent. Even outer Borough Jews had a different accent than working class whites. With the media homogenizing speech these highly localized accents are a thing of the past.

[Rachael84]

You're right. I hardly find any real local NYers here in Astoria. It seems most living here are young professionals who have only been in NY for a short time. But then you have the older ones in the area who are pushing 70 and 80 who stand around in front of the local stores chatting. Those are the few locals I ever see in this area. There aren't many of them. The younger ones never have the accent, but the older ones do. I felt like there were way more NY accents growing up on LI. I guess that's because a lot of NY locals move to the suburbs when they start a family.

[FutureCop]

Originally Posted by Freak

I always thought it wasn't too similar to the New York accent, but when I went to Michigan everyone said that the way I spoke made me the king of the accent. I guess it is kind of like the accent, but I don't sound at all like, say, a New York mobster in a gangster film does.

The NY accent isn't Mobster though. I know plenty of people who aren't Italian or Irish who have the NY accent.

[Q-d0g_Bronx]

i hear this "new york accent" garbage everywhere i go out of town.

[UpstaterInBklyn]

The New Yawk accent is waning. The common New York English accent is specific to European-American outer borough working class neighborhoods. It was strong in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx with unique variations from neighborhood to neighborhood.

The classic Brooklyn accent is alive and well where I live (Gerritsen Beach/Marine Park). But this is the typical European-American outer borough working class neighborhood you describe.

I have noticed differences from person to person - for example, some people drop the "R" at the end of a word like "her", so it becomes more like "huh", and some people put an extra "R" at the end of some words. ("saw" becomes "sawr") Are these neighborhood variations?

[SuperMario]

Staten Island probably holds the most people with the NY accent presently.

[del718]

Originally Posted by SuperMario

Staten Island probably holds the most people with the NY accent presently.

very true.... Staten islanders always had a very distinctive accent.

[Carbro]

I proudly voted YES.

I grew up in the white-bread NJ suburbs with no discernible accent (or so I was told). In the 38 years I've lived in the city, I have tried to cultivate a very slight accent. I think it suits me.