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I hope you dingbats talking about how everyone is getting a neutral accent know that accents get STRONGER with time not the opposite. That's why the "west" which is a pretty recent society in relative terms doesn't have a strong accent, and England a much tinier country than us has accents that vary tremendously within a few miles (Manchester and Liverpool are as close a Queens and Newark NJ but sound completely different for instance) because unlike America which is a baby country, the English language has millennia to become localized in Britain. Ever notice that the oldest settled regions of America like the Deep South, New England, NYC, and Philly have the strongest accent? Just saying...
I don't know why people disparage local accents I love my NY accent and freaked when an employer years ago told me to tone it down because it "sounds uneducated"...I was like "bro we're in NY how do you want me to sound? like Queen Elizabeth this is an NY accent and we are in NY." He was a foreign dude and it's like why open a company in NYC if you think New Yorkers sound dumb? Most people here that don't have the accent are 9/10 transplants that live in Williamsburg :P
I hope you dingbats talking about how everyone is getting a neutral accent know that accents get STRONGER with time not the opposite. That's why the "west" which is a pretty recent society in relative terms doesn't have a strong accent, and England a much tinier country than us has accents that vary tremendously within a few miles (Manchester and Liverpool are as close a Queens and Newark NJ but sound completely different for instance) because unlike America which is a baby country, the English language has millennia to become localized in Britain. Ever notice that the oldest settled regions of America like the Deep South, New England, NYC, and Philly have the strongest accent? Just saying...
I don't know why people disparage local accents I love my NY accent and freaked when an employer years ago told me to tone it down because it "sounds uneducated"...I was like "bro we're in NY how do you want me to sound? like Queen Elizabeth this is an NY accent and we are in NY." He was a foreign dude and it's like why open a company in NYC if you think New Yorkers sound dumb? Most people here that don't have the accent are 9/10 transplants that live in Williamsburg :P
I'm as Southern as it gets and I love the Southern accent and I always try to cultivate mine. However, there is a movie, "MY Cousin Vinnie" and I loved the accent of the two leading characters Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei.
I'm as Southern as it gets and I love the Southern accent and I always try to cultivate mine. However, there is a movie, "MY Cousin Vinnie" and I loved the accent of the two leading characters Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei.
I love that movie!
"The two yoots"
"Two what? Do you mean youths?"
"Yeah! Like I said the two yoots"
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Seattle is over 60% transplants from other states, but the people I meet from New York or Boston don't seem to have any accents. Maybe they are trying to fit in better and lose them quickly. The accents I hear the most are people from Texas, and of course, the people from India.
Seattle is over 60% transplants from other states, but the people I meet from New York or Boston don't seem to have any accents. Maybe they are trying to fit in better and lose them quickly. The accents I hear the most are people from Texas, and of course, the people from India.
The people that would transplant themselves to Seattle are probably highly educated young professionals, people mainly move to Seattle for techie type jobs right? That means you went to college and could afford to go to college (grants and loans will pay tuition but if you have nothing else you cannot feed yourself) which demonstrates that they come from a more upper income strata. As I said, white collar professionals (I called them yuppies but you know what I mean) are usually accent-less. Which is why there is no "Manhattan Accent" because most people who live there are either foreign or upper class. Regional accents have always been the realm of the working class..with the exception perhaps of the old south (Scarlett OHara type accent). Someone from Staten Island, Bay Ridge Brooklyn or Long Island will have more of an accent than someone from the UES or Westchester, in Boston you probably won't hear much in Beacon Hill but hang out in Quincy, Braintree, West Rox and you'll hear it. Listen to the kids of working class background from Boston, NY and such and you will hear the next generation of accents..its a social class thing so places like Seattle or Portland which are no longer working class cities might not have it and when they were working class they were much newer than cities back east so it didn't have time to develop.
Because accents are dying out. I'm old enough to remember when people had accents, in the 1940s and 50s. Accents are dying out.
I still know a few people my age who have severe accents. Older people have them and younger people do not, which ought to tell you something.
You're in TX right? Isn't TX getting flooded with upper class transplants in Austin, Htown, DFW? And simultaneously gentrifying and pushing working class people out? That would explain it. Or do you mean to tell me that the 22 year old, Caucasian son of a carpenter from Lubbock doesn't have a heavy accent? Cause that would be hard to believe.
NYC is getting flooded with transplants but even though we probably have a numerical number that is higher than Portland of non natives, it's likely a smaller percentage..also gentrification and rising prices has pushed working class people out of the center so the accent has moved. You ain't gonna hear many accents in Manhattan today like you would in the 40s on the LES or something because now the working class lives on the periphery and professionals and the rich live in the center and In the outer suburbs (think central jersey or Connecticut)
[quote=I don't know why people disparage local accents I love my NY accent and freaked when an employer years ago told me to tone it down because it "sounds uneducated"...I was like "bro we're in NY how do you want me to sound? like Queen Elizabeth this is an NY accent and we are in NY." He was a foreign dude and it's like why open a company in NYC if you think New Yorkers sound dumb? Most people here that don't have the accent are 9/10 transplants that live in Williamsburg :P[/QUOTE]
I have news for you buddy... the new york area is becoming so full of immigrants and transplants, that the native accent WILL go away. not completely obviously, but it will be merged into the larger picture of a more neutral accent. i'm from jersey and i love the ny/nj sound too but there are too many foreigners/migrants here for it to last. your neighborhood might be full of native new yawkers but even that will change.
I have news for you buddy... the new york area is becoming so full of immigrants and transplants, that the native accent WILL go away. not completely obviously, but it will be merged into the larger picture of a more neutral accent. i'm from jersey and i love the ny/nj sound too but there are too many foreigners/migrants here for it to last. your neighborhood might be full of native new yawkers but even that will change.
We have always been getting immigrants, and transplants. However how many transplants are you meeting in Marine Park Brooklyn or Wayne NJ or Mastic (where I live) Long Island?
Outside of Manhattan and trendy Brooklyn the vast majority of white people and black people I meet are from here.
I read some thing that the NYC MSA is only 6% U.S. born people born in another region. The catch is that 6% of something million is a lot.
It's definitely a social class thing, and this is a class divided area. The vast majority of people i socialize with are in my social class and have the accent. If you're white collar it's probably different.
I still can't believe that dude moved here from another country and told me that I was the one that needed to work on my accent. Maybe if I was in Texas but I'm home so there ain't no way I'm turning it down. But if you think the accents dying, volunteer at a middle school on Staten Island and tell me all those kids don't sound like Joe Pesci.
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