Gothamist: Tawk the Tawk

Emma

Fri, 13 May 2005 20:51:56 -0500

ok, ok I admit it. I'd pay. weird how it submitted my original and the revised one. *ANYWAY...

Emma

Fri, 13 May 2005 20:47:30 -0500

"and I kiiiiint stand im!" Ah Lina Lamont. I also lament the passing of accents in America. Though some sound better to me than others- growing up in Montana, I'm so glad I never picked up that accent. At school- "oh, yah, git yer baig lunch now kids." But then there was this English lady who had the misfortune to end up in MT. She actually paid someone to give her accent *retention* lessons, so noone would forget whence she came. If getting rid of your accent is self-hating, what's paying to keep it a sign of? My dad's lifelong friends in New Orleans have the coolest, smoothest accents ever. If I could choose, I'd have that accent.

Emma

Fri, 13 May 2005 20:47:06 -0500

katie

Fri, 13 May 2005 18:46:54 -0500

R J Keefe , i love you.

R J Keefe

Fri, 13 May 2005 17:40:24 -0500

"Hark, I hear the cannons roar!" is one of the funniest lines in the movie, and it doesn't take much to set my wife and me bouncing it back and forth. "Raw, raw, raw!"

Jack

Fri, 13 May 2005 17:31:20 -0500

There's this saying in ethnic communities that ____ group will never make it in the U.S. until they affect--or become--neutral/bland WASPs. Stuff like this falls right in that mindset. People trying to lose their accent are really self-hating in a way. And it's really embarassing that technology and the modern age has brought us all closer in some ways. Yet people still flee from who they are as if it's a disease.

kristin

Fri, 13 May 2005 16:07:22 -0500

I grew up in queens and went to college in new hampshire. during freshman orientation i had many gleeful requests from idahoans and the like to "say __" , the blank being coffee or dog. My first trip home was thanksgiving, and i remember thinking to myself, when did my best friend get a new york accent? and when did my mom?? then i realized that in that short time away my own accent had been flattened out by my daily contact with kids from california, idaho, and colorado. it was a sad day. luckily, i can always bring back my own ny accent by getting sufficiently soused.

toyochin

Fri, 13 May 2005 16:02:48 -0500

PBS recently had a special called Do You Speak American? and talked about regional differences, language prejudice, etc. It was a little too short for the variety of topics covered, but interesting nonetheless. I seem to pick up dialects from people around me - I have a mishmash of California, North Carolina and London. But I've managed not top pick up any of the NY accents. Just not my style.

Deckard

Fri, 13 May 2005 15:30:29 -0500

I've always found it sad whenever I hear about somebody trying to lose their accent. Steinbeck has a great section in Travels with Charley about the loss of the regional accent and I have to agree that it's one of the major losses of character in America. He blamed the American freeway system, but I'd have to point the finger at radio and television. Well, that and the idiots of the world who have to stereotype everybody to feel superior.

katie

Fri, 13 May 2005 15:11:43 -0500

"...king approachin'" actually has a hard "g" at the end. More like "approachingha." Hee. Anyway - one of my all time favorie lines. Up there with any line from Lina Lamont.

K

Fri, 13 May 2005 14:59:25 -0500

I think LIers and (most) NJers are the hicks of the north. Being from FL I'm used to white trash all around me. These are a different breed though. Not sure which is worse.