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elleng

(130,147 posts)
Tue Oct 6, 2015, 05:32 PM Oct 2015

How a New York Accent Can Help You Get Ahead

Fun reading, at least for us New Yorkers, even those not supporting OTHER New Yorkers!



"THEIR partisans may be loath to admit it, but Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump do in fact share some common ground. There is of course their upstart, outsider image. Then they share a posture of forthrightness and candor. A third similarity is how they talk. Not what they say, but how they sound: Like they’re from New York. . .

But how could a New York accent actually play a positive role in politics? Well, we can start with the observation — made by the Georgetown linguist Deborah Tannen — that New Yorkers tend to have a different conversational style than other Americans. New Yorkers usually favor being more direct. We speak over one another, particularly to show our engagement with what our interlocutor is saying. We like to tell long stories. And we don’t mind arguing as long as it is not too personal.

When other Americans talk to one another, they tend to wait for clear signs that their turns are over before beginning to speak. They make room for others by not, as they see it, “hogging the floor.” They tend to interpret open disagreement as conflict, and so avoid it.

To be fair, Ms. Tannen was referring specifically to Jewish New Yorkers in her research, and Jews do seem to provide a kind of prototypical example. Witness the classic Easter dinner scene in Woody Allen’s 1977 movie “Annie Hall,” in which Mr. Allen’s character Alvy Singer is visiting his girlfriend Annie’s family in Wisconsin. Toward the end of the scene, a split screen shows the Halls’ bland, unthreatening and slow-paced conversation on one side. On the other is the Singer family in Brooklyn, loudly talking over and contradicting one another."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/opinion/how-a-new-york-accent-can-help-you-get-ahead.html?

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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How a New York Accent Can Help You Get Ahead (Original Post) elleng Oct 2015 OP
I just love local accents. I love the NY accent and the Boston accent. CTyankee Oct 2015 #1
There is Bugs Bunny... morningglory Oct 2015 #2
Specifically Bronx-Brooklyn. Aristus Oct 2015 #13
I loove the NY accent- LiberalElite Oct 2015 #3
DITTO! elleng Oct 2015 #4
From where? LiberalElite Oct 2015 #5
Another native here... virgdem Oct 2015 #6
YO! LiberalElite Oct 2015 #7
Rockville Centre elleng Oct 2015 #9
Hicksville... virgdem Oct 2015 #10
Born in Manhattan, lived in Brooklyn til 9 years old, elleng Oct 2015 #8
A generation ago, a NYC accent would have marked you cprise Oct 2015 #11
I lived in New York for 7 years. Love NYC with all my heart, but..... marmar Oct 2015 #12

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
1. I just love local accents. I love the NY accent and the Boston accent.
Tue Oct 6, 2015, 05:45 PM
Oct 2015

My husband has a bit of a Wisconsin (Wis-cahn-sin) accent. His name is Jahn.

My son in law has a real Boston accent. Love it. We used to kid him with the "Pahk the cah at the Hahvahd Yahd."

Noo Yahkes are great. But there are sub groups of Jewish and Italian. Watch the original Godfather movie and hear the Italian one.

elleng

(130,147 posts)
8. Born in Manhattan, lived in Brooklyn til 9 years old,
Tue Oct 6, 2015, 11:14 PM
Oct 2015

> Long Island.

Now in MD, near DC where most of my professional life occurred.

cprise

(8,445 posts)
11. A generation ago, a NYC accent would have marked you
Thu Oct 8, 2015, 05:08 AM
Oct 2015

...for derision. The twang of the South was still gaining favor.

marmar

(76,982 posts)
12. I lived in New York for 7 years. Love NYC with all my heart, but.....
Thu Oct 8, 2015, 11:51 AM
Oct 2015

..... I never could stand the accent. The inability to enunciate an "r" gets under my craw.


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