I am on the polyglots page on Facebook. Somebody asked whether New Yorkers had a different accent, like the cockneys in London. I replied.
Angela Lansbury Yes, there's certainly a New York accent. I am from London, not cockney but received pronunciation, and I call New York 'New York', like nee-oo. New Yorkers call it Nu York.
The language is totally different because of a different attitude to life in the USA, more marketing orientated.
There is also a New York attitude, city, suspicious, circumspect. I was a travel writer on a press trip to Florida. I met a girl who was the tourist board promotion for Oklahoma. She gasped, "Boy, am a glad I met you!"
No New Yorker would say that. They would say, 'What can I do for you?''
Or more likely launch into a ten-minute non-stop promotion speech.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on Americanisms.
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