But if I ran into a couple of friends in the local grocery store and just said something like, "So what are y'all doing tonight?" I'd have to say it with a southern twang or something because you just have to, and I know it would totally sound ridiculous in the cold section of the Grand Union. Or any section for that matter. Coming from a real live New Yorker who isn't wearing a cowboy hat, it just would not be authentic. I am positive.
(fyi, if you ever happen to google "girl in a cowboy hat," just be prepared to shield your kid's eyes. Apparently, girls who wear cowboy hats also like to be naked.)
When I moved out to Colorado years back, I met a group of kids who totally picked up on my NY accent, like immediately. So much for just quietly sliding in under the radar. I obviously never knew I had any sort of accent, never really having been too far from home. Their accent to me was way more subtle and chill. I actually really came to like the Western accent and sort of gradually blended in for a while there, softening up my own tone of voice some.
Where a New Yorker would pronounce the words "ball and talk" as "bawl and tawk," someone from CO would pronounce them as "bahl and tahk." I think it was pretty glaring when I first moved there. Funny memories of sitting at this place, conveniently called NY Pizza Boys (nothing like a NY pizza, right?), and my new friends totally teasing me about my heavy accent and imagining that all of NY was the "city." I think a lot of mid-westerners think that way actually.
City New Yorker's definitely have a heavier accent than us upstate folks. And we totally live among farms and lakes and mountains and rivers - no skyscrapers or smog or lights and noise all night upstate.
You know, I without a doubt can go far, far off topic when I just free write. That didn't just occur to me, by the way. This is definitely something that I am aware of but cannot help. I am a long talker. As long as I am not a close talker, I am OK with that. (sorta)
Close talkers make me very uncomfortable.
I love hearing other people's accents. Of course, when I realize the things that come out of my mouth occasionally I am horrified.
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It's surprising the number of accents you pick up on throughout the country. When I was younger I always thought there were just two, southern, and everyone else. ;)
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