Having asked several people whether they thought I had an accent, I received similar responses each time. First was the cocked head, followed by the furrowed brow, and finally “No, I don’t think so.” There is no New York accent. There are, however, two distinct intonations, the Long Island and Brooklyn accents; the latter is what people are typically referring to when they talk about the elusive New York accent. Growing up in Manhattan I have neither, but rather a voice that is characteristically neutral. New York City truly is a melting pot of cultures. I grew up hearing not only the voices of my parents but also those of my Filipino babysitter, Israeli teacher, and my doorman from the Dominican Republic. Always an inquisitive child, I had …show more content…
I may not have a clear accent but there must be something distinct about the way I speak. The first response was invariably, “You talk really fast. Like, really fast.” I was also told that I have a penchant for dropping my thoughts half way through a sentence and merely finishing with “Y’know” where the rest of the thought was supposed to be. New Yorkers have a reputation for being rude and inconsiderate, but anyone who has ever spent anytime in the real New York City—anywhere other than the tourist trap that is Time Square—knows that is untrue. New York City is the financial capital of the world and there time can—quite literally—equal money. Contrary to popular belief, any real New Yorker will take the time to hold the door open for the person walking behind them, yet we do want to get from point A to point B with as much expediency as possible. This can often lead to us coming off as seemingly impatient, aloof, or short with the tourists who are standing in the middle of the sidewalk trying to get the entire Empire State Building in frame because we are just trying to get through. This attitude does not only apply to our commutes, but rather, it is the true New York mentality. A Sunday in the suburbs may consist of a lazy day on the porch. By contrast a New Yorker is much more likely to spend their day off with a trip to the Metropolitan, going to see the new show that opened up Off-Broadway, or to try that new French place that opened up down the block—there will be time for the paper on the subway ride there. I grew up in the midst of all the energy that seems to come from the city itself and consequently I have an innate need to fit as much into as little time as possible. As such, I talk fast—sometimes too fast—because it allows me to get through one idea and onto the next that much quicker. It is for similar reasons that I cut my thoughts off midstream and substitute a “Y’know”
An accent, according to www.dictionary.com, is defined as “Vocal prominence or emphasis given to a particular syllable, word, or phrase.” Around the world, different cultures have different accents because of their language and the way they say words. In Allison Joseph’s “On Being Told I Don’t Speak Like a Black Person”, this description is shown. Joseph uses her mother as an example of having an accent and her mother was from Jamaica. In World War I, 250,000 workers from the Caribbean were recruited and 90,000 of them were Jamaican.
Besides coating your hotdog in a thick layer of ketchup, or implying that the Packers are better than the Bears, there is nothing that makes a Chicagoan cringe more than suggesting that we have an accent. You always get the same repudiate answer; “What do you mean I have an accent? I don't have an accent, you’re the one with the accent.” Chicagoans, are struck with one of the worst cases of “Midwest accent denial syndrome” we simply don’t hear it, and we can’t fathom the fact that we sound different to those in other parts of the states. There are hundreds of accents within the English language, and dozens within American English, and contrary to popular belief, Chicago is among one of them.
it easy. Spoken like a true New Yorker” (154). He is a true New Yorker because he
New Yorkers are stereotypically known as a crass and rude group, devoid of compassion. Having visited other places in the world I can frankly attest that I have never experienced apathy so widely spread throughout a populace as I have felt living in New York. The "New York attitude" isn't unique to lower class individuals who are down on their luck; it transcends class, gender, and race. It's evident in the Wall Street white collar, the ghetto rogue, the chubby mothers of three-and me. It's a compelling force. I've been trained, conditioned like one of Dr. Pavlov's dogs, to behave this way; to bark on demand, to push as I'm being shoved, to hate when hated.
Brooklyn was so different from Long Island because the people in Long Island are much more respectful and you feel safer being out here.
The New York City Subway System, or the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), has become the “life line” of New York City (NYC) since people are reliant on the subway system for commuting to different places within the city. One such person, who buys this fact, is a person by the name of SunDo K, who runs and owns a restaurant business in Cypress, California. He claimed in his profile on Yelp that, “One of the best part about New York City is traveling via the subway.” Now there are also acid twists and turns into this. Precisely there are many others out there whose judgment matches flawlessly the same with K.
Growing up on the south side of Chicago in the roughest neighborhood in the city I learned a lot from others and just observing my surroundings. At times, I would always think to myself my situation could always be worse than it was, and that there is always someone who is doing worst off than me. But my situation turned from being in a bad position to being in a position where my mother would come to lose her mother and our home that we had been living in, all in the same year. After losing her mother and bother my mom lost herself in her emotions and shut down on everyone and with that came the loss of a home for me and my siblings and her job. Shortly after my mom began to go back to church and so did we. It was the first time in a log time that we had attended church and it played a big part in a learning experience for me and my siblings. Through the days that came to pass going to church sparked a desire of wanting to help others who had or are struggling to get by. My mentor, Pastor, and teacher deserves appreciation for helping my mother through a hard time and keeping me and my siblings active in a positive manor.
New York City has always been an example of how diversity can exist in a successful and peaceful place. Full of action, enthusiasm, and a combination of many cultures, New York is rich in every sense of the word. For example, taking a walk down the busy streets not only opens your eyes to the small but meaningful details of the city and the different people that revive it but also the numerous worlds that are somehow fused in this magical city, like Little Italy, Chinatown, Little Syria, Korea Town, and many others.
Why are outsiders so fascinated with New York Is it the way that our city is portrayed by producers & directors? To the typical native New Yorker there is nothing special about the location in which we live it’s just average. the common notion to outsiders it that new York is this great city surrounded by fashion, gilts and glamour, normally they think of Manhattan which includes one world trade, the empire state building, central park, etc. people who aren’t from our city don’t know what it’s like to live here, they don’t understand what it takes out of someone to constantly put up with the stench, the noise, the exorbitant prices of everything & the long unending winters.
The video “American Tongues” is about variety of English dialect in America, and people still carry prejudice and stereotypes in people’s accents and dialects. These accent and dialects are not limited in pronunciation. There are different words, phrases and grammars in their dialects, therefore, some people are noticed where they are from. As a premise, everyone has an accent. However, some people believe they don’t have an accent because people around them have the exact same accent and dialect in their community. Therefore, they haven’t noticed differences. In the video, there was a scene of a woman was correcting her accent for work to speak “standard dialect”. It was required for her to speak “standard dialect” for work because when she was out of her original community where
As an elementary student, I had a slight accent as I spoke, and I would get bullied for not being able to talk as fluently as the other kids. The way the other students would act
must give a great deal of respect to the New York City taxi drivers because they
New York City’s population is a little over 8.3 million people. 8.3 million people are spread out among five boroughs and each have their own set routine. Each one of those 8.3 million see New York in a different way becuase “You start building your private New York the first time you lay eyes on it” (“City Limits” 4). Some people are like Colson Whitehead who “was born here and thus ruined for anywhere else” (“City Limits” 3). Others may have “moved here a couple years ago for a job. Maybe [they] came here for school” (“City Limits” 3). Different reasons have brought these people together. They are grouped as New Yorkers, but many times, living in New York is their only bond. With on going changes and never ending commotion, it is hard to define New York and its inhabitants in simple terms.
To conclude, New York City is one of the most densely inhabited metropolitan collection of cultural diversity in the world in which structures our temperament. New York City applies an imperative influence upon trade, economics, mass communication, skill, style, and education. Frequently it is known that New York City is a crucial core for global politics and has been depicted as the ethnic headquarters of the globe. New York City has been known as a melting pot of culture and as this prolong throughout towards the current day, the city has become ornate with distinct cultures. You can easily experience many aspects of different cultures by going to the different ethnic neighborhoods that exist throughout the city.
When you associate anything with New York City it is usually the extraordinary buildings that pierce the sky or the congested sidewalks with people desperate to shop in the famous stores in which celebrities dwell. Even with my short visit there I found myself lost within the Big Apple. The voices of the never-ending attractions call out and envelop you in their awe. The streets are filled with an atmosphere that is like a young child on a shopping spree in a candy store. Although your feet swelter from the continuous walking, you find yourself pressing on with the yearning to discover the 'New York Experience'.