WNY colloquialisms and accents (New York, Buffalo: living in, shoppers, stats)

[Port North]

Originally Posted by UpstaterInBklyn

Yup let's face it - WNY is part of the Midwest - linguistically, culturally, and in how we like our pizza

Absolutely WNY is part of the midwest. I didn't think of myself as a midwesterner when I lived there, but after living on Long Island for the past decade I say with confidence that WNY is midwestern.

WNY does not have the pace, harshness, and grandiose lifestyles you find on the east coast. It is more down to earth, friendly and that accent just gives it away!

By the way I now have a hybrid Long Island/Buffalo accent. I actually said "Cheektawager"(Cheektowaga said with a Long Island accent), but still say "caaat" with that hard A.

[BuffaloTransplant]

Originally Posted by FedupWNY

"unaccented English"? How often do we ask: who wants a spawt of tea? Not that there's anything wrong with a spawt of tea.

I don't understand when people tell me that I talk "funny" because I say "Y-or-k".

My Mom was mocked out for her Brooklyn accent when she went to work. She learned not to sound like it. Unaccented can be learned from any dictionary... you get the mix of all areas. She didn't want us all mocked out sounding like NY/LI.

[garmin239]

Once you start to get in the Buffalo area you may see some midwestern characteristics but anything east is nothing like the midwest. When ever I'm in the midwest I get asked where I'm from because of my accent. The pace is much slower than here. The people are much different. The culture is much different than here. Other than similar weather, I don't see very many similarities of where I am now and the midwest.

[newyorkborn&raised]

I agree with Garmin. I lived in Minnesota and spent time in Wisconsin and I do not consider any part of NYS to be midwestern. Even though you can call the pace of life slower it still fails in comparison with the midwest. Remember it's more geography than culture. Even though New Hampshire is on the East Coast of the US I'm sure some people on here would not consider New Hampshire "East Coast" because it "does not have the pace, harshness, and grandiose lifestyles" as quoted by Port North. I just don't get this kind of thinking. Weird.

[FedupWNY]

Originally Posted by BuffaloTransplant

My Mom was mocked out for her Brooklyn accent when she went to work. She learned not to sound like it. Unaccented can be learned from any dictionary... you get the mix of all areas. She didn't want us all mocked out sounding like NY/LI.

The way people speak is a lot more than where we live. My maiden name is recongnizable to my Canadian heritage, but I can pronouce Polish dishes like I'm 100%, another ethnic trait.

[newyorkborn&raised]

It doesn't matter where you're from or who your ancestors were. It's where you are now and how you got there.

[Khayla007]

I thought WNY had more of an Canadian accent than a Midwestern accent?

[popowich]

The "the" phenomenon in front of the route numbers is in Rochester too.

I don't know why we do it, we learned it from our elders.

-Raymond

[Theresa_W]

Originally Posted by popowich

The "the" phenomenon in front of the route numbers is in Rochester too.

I don't know why we do it, we learned it from our elders.

-Raymond

You put "the" in front of EVERYTHING, not just the route numbers. And you did not learn that from your elders.

~Your Elder

[UpstaterInBklyn]

I guess "Midwest" is perhaps defined too broadly.

I was making a reference to the "Industrial Midwest" - Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, which culturally and linguistically, has more in common with Buffalo.

I agree that as you move further west into the Great Plains the dialect certainly changes. The "Midwest" is actually several regions with separate identities. Minnesota/Wisconsin has a very distinct dialect that sounds almost Canadian, while Kansas residents sound similar to Texans.

NYC residents define anything east of New Jersey, west of the Rockies and north of the Mason-Dixon line as "Midwest", a distinction which generally comes with a good amount of derision.