Does anyone miss the Northern VA of the past?

[ibeg4sushi]

Originally Posted by michgc

One of my favorite things about New Jersey is that you DON'T have to pump your own gas. It is such a pleasure to pull over and have the guy do the work and get his hands dirty and smelly.

Are you female? My mom has always said the same thing!

[rubytue]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I wholeheartedly agree that it's a shame that inner suburban areas in Metro DC are being allowed to fall into neglect while more precious open space is lost further out. Why not REDEVELOP these brownfield sites into new housing options so you can knock out blight AND save trees at the same time?

Its a heck of a lot easier to buy a 100 acre farm and develop it than it is to convince ~400 homeowner (assuming 1/4 acre lots) to sell to a developer. Thats always been the quesiton in my mind when it comes to redevelopment, what do you do with the folks that live there? I look at some of the tear down listings on the MLS, and it saddens me a bit. Sure, some people want the huge McMansion, and its not like a post-war era ranch has a lot that people want, but not everyone can afford a $1.2 million McMansion in Falls Church. So where does the redevelopment/tear down mentality leave the folks making $100k/year in their 30s w/o $800k in equity from the bubble to pour into another house.

Originally Posted by irvine

The DC area does have a local dialect. It's called the Virginia Piedmont Dialect, but unfortunately, because very few people in this area are natives (of at least a few generations) this has largely died out, but not completely. It's a Southern dialect and non-rhotic, so Washington is /Warshingtn/ and river becomes /rivah/. Unique to the VA Piedmont Dialect is the pronunciation of the /ou/ dipthong. Pat Buchanan, who grew up in the Brookland neighborhood of DC speaks with a mild version of the local dialect.

My best friend speaks like that, but she is really from the Peidmont area (outside Richmond). It seems odd to me that the DC area would have the same accent. But what do I know LOL (Although, I can spot an East TN accent a mile away)

[frugal shoping guy]

Wow, you guys hit a nerve! I now live in Madison VA and it's like living in Franconia all over again. I lived in 2 places in nova. The first 6 years of my life, 1959/65, we lived just off of Beulah St, it's now Kingstowne I think? The house was about where Darden Row and Kingstowne Village Pkwy is, right by the power lines. It was a dirt quarry road then for the big Euclids that would go across Beulah St. It was a rundown shack, no plumbing of any kind. It had a woodstove to cook on and a big potbelly stove for heat, the well was outside and you had to lower a water pail down to draw up water. We had lots of chickens and guineas, but sometimes my mom would shoot a squirrel or two and we would have that with gravy. We had no phone or car and only a b/w tv with only a handful of channels. Best of all, never did we ask the govt for a dime, ever. But thanks to the Salvation Army, (Capt Darr is the only name I remember), they where real nice to us. This was all a blessing coming up like this. The remaining years, from 1966 to about 1978, we lived in Windsor Estates in the same manner. This is no joke and every bit is true. It was a whole other world back then.

[Alicia Bradley]

Ok, when I rib New Jersey, I'm mostly just kidding (you guys should know how to take it, anyway).

Seriously - there are places in NJ I'd love to visit (and if I drove, I'd have done so already). I'd *really* love to see the Pine Barrens, for instance - I adore unique (even creepy) natural environments. I'm afraid I might have seriously angered the Jersey Devil with all my mockery of his state, though, so I'll have to be extra careful if/when I do go.

And Tone - I do love Old Town, but all the tourists make it sort of hard to pretend it's your own little 'hood, you know? (Actually, I had the most fun when I was there with some actual tourists [my parents].)

[pcity]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I wholeheartedly agree that it's a shame that inner suburban areas in Metro DC are being allowed to fall into neglect while more precious open space is lost further out. Why not REDEVELOP these brownfield sites into new housing options so you can knock out blight AND save trees at the same time?

Huh? What "inner suburban areas" are being neglected in VA?

Potomac Yard is getting tons of new apartments and possibly a Metro. Columbia Pike is getting a streetcar and is starting to see development. Springfield Mall is getting a "town center". Carlyle in Alexandria was recently built on a brownfield. The fact is there is a lot of new construction in the inner suburbs and there is still not enough of a housing supply. This is not like Philadelphia where you have "zero-growth sprawl". The NoVA population keeps growing so you have both inner and outer suburbs development.

[athousandlogins]

Originally Posted by Fairfax Mom

Alicia Bradley - the Jersey I come from is much mellower, funkier and cooler than the yuppie filled NOVA area - real towns - not cookie cutter Starbucks and fake Silver Diners - we had REAL coffees shops, REAL delis full of real down-to-earth people not the plastic people I see here. Heck - we have streets that actually cut through and no HOAs.

LOL...fake Silver Diner....I can't believe the Silver Diner isn't authentic?! You've broken my heart!

My home state (Rhode Island) is like this, as well. I mean, in terms of real delis, coffee shops, etc. I do miss that local flavor. My dad owned a restaurant when I was growing up and he was adamant about patronizing small businesses. It really improved our quality of life, I think. But RI also has some of the worst unemployment in the nation, and the people can be really narrow-minded - they might be more likely to talk to a stranger than the folks here, but they're also much more likely to make a nasty comment about that stranger behind his back.

Every place has its pros and cons...

[leighland]

Originally Posted by athousandlogins

My home state (Rhode Island) is like this, as well. I mean, in terms of real delis, coffee shops, etc. I do miss that local flavor....... and the people can be really narrow-minded - they might be more likely to talk to a stranger than the folks here, but they're also much more likely to make a nasty comment about that stranger behind his back.

Every place has its pros and cons...

I lived in RI, 16 years. No one in RI misses the RI of the past because they are still living in it.

East side is beautiful tho'- and RI has best beaches north of FL.

[athousandlogins]

Originally Posted by leighland

I lived in RI, 16 years. No one in RI misses the RI of the past because they are still living in it.

East side is beautiful tho'- and RI has best beaches north of FL.

*snort* - I can't argue with any of that!

[irvine]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Who knew?

When I moved to seemingly dialect-free NoVa as a youngster from MD outside Bawlmer, my teacher gave me a VERY hard time when I asked if I could be excused to go get a drink of wooter.

Of the DC area natives (of No Virginia, DC, MD) that I know that are over the age of 50, the majority speak local variations of the Virginia Piedmont Dialect, which is the local Southern dialect. Historically it has (or in some cases "had") been stronger among native whites and blacks in the parts of NW like Georgetown, NE, and SE DC, PG County, parts of MoCo like Rockvile and Silver Spring, and Southern MD. Local black dialects do have their own idosyncracies, however. I recently had a conversation with a gentleman in his 60s who grew up in Hyattsville, just across the DC line, and his accent was very strong, and barely indistinguishable from the dialect as spoken among others his age from Richmond or LaPlata (MD), etc. Pat Buchanan's accent is much milder but you when he pronounces about /abawoot/, for example, you can pretty much tell he's from DC and of a certain, older generation.

Of my generation, Generation Y, a minority of my friends that I grew up with in the inner suburbs of Northern VA and in NW DC speak with a very mild, more generic "Southern accent." The defining characterisitcs of the non-rhotic Virginia Piedmont dialect have become sublimated by many outside influences. This is also the case in Richmond and its suburbs, and in the suburbs of Baltimore. This more generic "Southern accent" is however strongest in Southern Maryland, and to a lesser degree in the Richmond suburbs.

For the curious I have a couple ideas: Tune into 98 Rock (97.9 FM) in the morning or afternoon when the station is taking calls from Baltimore and the burbs. You will likely hear this newer more generic Southern accent, as well as the related dialects of Baltimore (which while related are a bit different). Closer to home, call the University of Maryland Bookstore; the person on the default message also has this more common, local, generic "Southern accent." For a road trip, just drive down to Southern Maryland. The dialect in its original and more sublimated versions is still very strong there. And one last idea--go to the Greenbelt Labor Day fair. Many kids around my age (about 10 years ago anyway) spoke with a strong version of this local Southern accent.

So in conclusion, for those that miss the "accents" of the cities they grew up in and loath the perceived banality of the area, if you listen a bit harder, and seek out multi-generational locals, you will find DC's local accent.

[quiet walker]

Originally Posted by irvine

The DC area does have a local dialect. It's called the Virginia Piedmont Dialect, but unfortunately, because very few people in this area are natives (of at least a few generations) this has largely died out, but not completely ...

I am a second gen native and remember my older relatives had a sound to their language that was noticeably different from most transient DC residents. It's almost as if there is an underground, totally different "old" culture. I am reminded of this when listening to Eleanor Holmes Norton speak (she is a DC native). She pronounces the word again as "ah-gane" with a long "a" - rhymes with "plane", where most pronounce it "ah-gen" - rhymes with "pen". My older relatives pronounced again and similar words in this way