Monthly Archives: June 2011

Did Yiddish Shape the New York Accent?

One of the first dialect anecdotes I heard was from the director of my high school production of Guy’s and Dolls. “The Brooklyn accent is dying out,” she said. “There isn’t as much of a Jewish presence there anymore.” This … Continue reading

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Posted in British English | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Multicultural London English is not “Jafaican”

The Telegraph’s Ed West recently published an editorial titled Jafaican may be cool but it sounds ridiculous, that I find appalling.  I respect West for having politics different from my own, but that’s no excuse for slandering a legitimate dialect … Continue reading

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Posted in British English | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Accent Humor: Pittsburghese

Accent humor is often mean-spirited and stereotypical. But  I can’t resist sharing this loving parody of the Pittsburghese (created by comedians who grew up in the area): The actors are exaggerating this accent a bit, but the salient features of … Continue reading

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Posted in American English | Tagged , , | 31 Comments

Estuary English in the 21st Century

I’ve used the term  Estuary English quite a bit on this site.  For the dialect novices out there, I’d like to explain what this phrase means, and my personal take on it. Estuary English is a hard concept to define.  Sometimes … Continue reading

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Posted in British English | Tagged , , | 28 Comments

Is the Welsh Accent “Foreign?”

The Welsh accent is a mystery on American shores.  Numerous Welsh celebrities have made the US their home: your Hopkinses, Burtonses, Zeta-Joneses, and just plain Joneses.  Yet Americans have few of the preconceptions about Welsh English that we do for … Continue reading

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Posted in British English | Tagged , , | 25 Comments