Why is the Chicago "Blaccent" More Southern than Boston/NYC/Philly's? (Troy: restaurants, versus)

[SawBoi]

Chicago black folk don't sound more southern than NYC or Philly. Some of the youth in northern cities got their "blaccent" from the elders in their families that migrated from the south. Others probably listen to too much southern trap/crunk and mimmick it. Now I will say that Chicago may have more blacks that view a southern accent as a good thing. Many blacks from NYC and other northern cities still call us southerners "country a$$ n****s".

[DAS]

Originally Posted by SawBoi

Chicago black folk don't sound more southern than NYC or Philly. Some of the youth in northern cities got their "blaccent" from the elders in their families that migrated from the south. Others probably listen to too much southern trap/crunk and mimmick it. Now I will say that Chicago may have more blacks that view a southern accent as a good thing. Many blacks from NYC and other northern cities still call us southerners "country a$$ n****s".

Maybe someone just said that to you, and probably not in a serious tone. In casual conversation Black people in NYC usually refer to every else outside of NYC as "country" if they are not being specific about a place. They'll say for example that "yeah John is from the country". You might ask where exactly and they'll say "oh he's from Yonkers."

This is not an insult. It just means that you are from somewhere else. Or they say they are going to the country if they don't want to specific about where they are going, but letting you know they are traveling out of the city (5 boros).

Yonkers is city that is exactly North over the Bronx one of our boros. But it is not in the Bronx or any of the 5 boros, it is its own city in the State of NY. So it is referred to in general as country. It just means that is not NY. So if a person is from anywhere else and they are not from NY they'll just say you are country. But you could be from a large city. Its not said in a bad way.

White people say the same thing. They just substitute the words "the sticks" instead of country. They would say about the same person used in my example, "yeah, John he's from the sticks".

Upstate NY is considered country or the sticks.

One thing about NYC is that most people come from somewhere else. Most people are not born in NYC, we are used to different accents and different types of people, and we welcome that. That is why I'm thinking if someone said that to you it wasn't serious.

[reppin_the_847]

I find this pretty accurate. I remember talking to a random white dude from Long Island in his 20's at NY Penn Station (had to ask him about a train line). He mentioned something about everything north of the Bronx as being "the sticks" or the "boondocks" including Yonkers. He also dismissed New Jersey and labeled it as "trash" lol.

Folks from the Bronx and especially Westchester County will obviously disagree with this guy. I always thought Yonkers was supposed to have some street cred anyway. It's closer to Midtown Manhattan than some parts of Brooklyn after all. Plus, a bunch of rappers call the area home. You have the whole Lox crew from Yonkers (Jadakiss, Styles P & Sheek Louch), DMX & R&B singer Mary J. Blige. There are some rappers that also hailed from Mount Vernon & New Rochelle which are a few miles to the east of Yonkers and also in Westchester County.

Originally Posted by DAS

Maybe someone just said that to you, and probably not in a serious tone. In casual conversation Black people in NYC usually refer to every else outside of NYC as "country" if they are not being specific about a place. They'll say for example that "yeah John is from the country". You might ask where exactly and they'll say "oh he's from Yonkers."

This is not an insult. It just means that you are from somewhere else. Or they say they are going to the country if they don't want to specific about where they are going, but letting you know they are traveling out of the city (5 boros).

Yonkers is city that is exactly North over the Bronx one of our boros. But it is not in the Bronx or any of the 5 boros, it is its own city in the State of NY. So it is referred to in general as country. It just means that is not NY. So if a person is from anywhere else and they are not from NY they'll just say you are country. But you could be from a large city. Its not said in a bad way.

White people say the same thing. They just substitute the words "the sticks" instead of country. They would say about the same person used in my example, "yeah, John he's from the sticks".

Upstate NY is considered country or the sticks.

One thing about NYC is that most people come from somewhere else. Most people are not born in NYC, we are used to different accents and different types of people, and we welcome that. That is why I'm thinking if someone said that to you it wasn't serious.

[DAS]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

I find this pretty accurate. I remember talking to a random white dude from Long Island in his 20's at NY Penn Station (had to ask him about a train line). He mentioned something about everything north of the Bronx as being "the sticks" or the "boondocks" including Yonkers. He also dismissed New Jersey and labeled it as "trash" lol.

Folks from the Bronx and especially Westchester County will obviously disagree with this guy. I always thought Yonkers was supposed to have some street cred anyway. It's closer to Midtown Manhattan than some parts of Brooklyn after all. Plus, a bunch of rappers call the area home. You have the whole Lox crew from Yonkers (Jadakiss, Styles P & Sheek Louch), DMX & R&B singer Mary J. Blige. There are some rappers that also hailed from Mount Vernon & New Rochelle which are a few miles to the east of Yonkers and also in Westchester County.

If there were no signs, and the fact that the bus lines look different in Yonkers, from the ones in the 5 boros, you would think you are still in NYC until you get into Northern Yonkers. Each boro in NYC is also a county. Yonkers is a city in Westchester county, and they use Westchester county bus line, Liberty Lines.

Yonkers would probably remind you of some parts of Chicago like NYC does.

"The sticks", "the country", "the boondocks" as I mentioned is not an insult. "Boondocks" is usually reserved for rural areas that are truly rural. Like Ulster County, NY. Google that and you will see what I mean in comparison to NY or Chicago. (I'm not as familiar with Illinois to give you a similar looking place in your state) These are just expressions.

[reppin_the_847]

Yeah, I've been on the Hudson Line Metro North train into Westchester County before (the one that goes through Yonkers). I never got out of the train at Yonkers, but I got the sense that southern Yonkers was urban much like southern Evanston still looks urban to a person that is driving or taking the CTA Purple Line or UP North Metra line from Chicago going north.

Originally Posted by DAS

If there were no signs, and the fact that the bus lines look different in Yonkers, from the ones in the 5 boros, you would think you are still in NYC until you get into Northern Yonkers. Each boro in NYC is also a county. Yonkers is a city in Westchester county, and they use Westchester county bus line, Liberty Lines.

Yonkers would probably remind you of some parts of Chicago like NYC does.

"The sticks", "the country", "the boondocks" as I mentioned is not an insult. "Boondocks" is usually reserved for rural areas that are truly rural. Like Ulster County, NY. Google that and you will see what I mean in comparison to NY or Chicago. (I'm not as familiar with Illinois to give you a similar looking place in your state) These are just expressions.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

I find this pretty accurate. I remember talking to a random white dude from Long Island in his 20's at NY Penn Station (had to ask him about a train line). He mentioned something about everything north of the Bronx as being "the sticks" or the "boondocks" including Yonkers. He also dismissed New Jersey and labeled it as "trash" lol.

[MassVt]

You really aren't out of urban New York until you proceed north of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Capital District, which is three hours north of NYC. Yes, a few parts of the Hudson Valley are somewhat quanit, but you're still in a fairly urba area ( Poughkeepsie, Albany, etc).

Once you're north of Albany ( and Saratoga), then you start to encounter far upstate NY, with heavy forest and lakes..and much more remote populations..

[nei]

Originally Posted by MassVt

You really aren't out of urban New York until you proceed north of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Capital District, which is three hours north of NYC. Yes, a few parts of the Hudson Valley are somewhat quanit, but you're still in a fairly urba area ( Poughkeepsie, Albany, etc).

Once you're north of Albany ( and Saratoga), then you start to encounter far upstate NY, with heavy forest and lakes..and much more remote populations..

I guess it depends on what you consider urban. North of the Hudson Highlands or so (past Cold Spring) it's rural with scattered small cities. Some exurbs, but most land is farmland or woods. The Adirondacks are just remote, and barely inhabited in places. This is ain't urban:



West of the Hudson, of a MetroNorth line. Nor is this [photos taken by me]:







Yes, as you said there are small cities, but most of the land isn't built up.

[SawBoi]

Originally Posted by DAS

Maybe someone just said that to you, and probably not in a serious tone. In casual conversation Black people in NYC usually refer to every else outside of NYC as "country" if they are not being specific about a place. They'll say for example that "yeah John is from the country". You might ask where exactly and they'll say "oh he's from Yonkers."

This is not an insult. It just means that you are from somewhere else. Or they say they are going to the country if they don't want to specific about where they are going, but letting you know they are traveling out of the city (5 boros).

Yonkers is city that is exactly North over the Bronx one of our boros. But it is not in the Bronx or any of the 5 boros, it is its own city in the State of NY. So it is referred to in general as country. It just means that is not NY. So if a person is from anywhere else and they are not from NY they'll just say you are country. But you could be from a large city. Its not said in a bad way.

White people say the same thing. They just substitute the words "the sticks" instead of country. They would say about the same person used in my example, "yeah, John he's from the sticks".


Upstate NY is considered country or the sticks.

One thing about NYC is that most people come from somewhere else. Most people are not born in NYC, we are used to different accents and different types of people, and we welcome that. That is why I'm thinking if someone said that to you it wasn't serious.

Black people from northern cities were not interested in black people down south in the 90s. The south was taboo to them because of the stories that their grandparents told them. The opinions of black people in northern cities were negative towards black people from the south. The attitude was if you weren't from NYC, Chicago, etc. you weren't chit.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by SawBoi

. The attitude was if you weren't from NYC, Chicago, etc. you weren't chit.

Little did they know.