Brooklyn, A State of Mind by Michael W. Robbins and Wendy Palitz
Excerpted from Brooklyn, A State of Mind by Michael W. Robbins and Wendy Palitz
Copyright © 2001 by Michael W. Robbins and Wendy Palitz
Used by permission of Workman Publishing Co., Inc., New York
All Rights Reserved
A GLOSSARY OF BROOKLYNESE
Brooklyn has always been a borough of immigrants and for immigrants the “th” sound in English is a bitch. As a vocal noise,"th" is practically unique to the ancient Anglo-Saxon language, in which it had its very own letter of the alphabet, known as the “thorn.” The French, for example, when attempting to pronounce this sound make do with “z.” (“Is zat so?”) But in Brooklyn the letter “th” at the end of a word (as an ultimate fricative consonant) are invariably pronounced like a “t”:
bath = bat
both = boat
Smith = Smit
with = wit
tooth = toot
truth – troot
When the letter “th” come at beginning of a word., Brooklynites sometimes pronounce them as “t”…
three = tree
third= toid
thrill = trill
thing = ting
throw = tro
but more often they were a “d.”
that = dat
them = dem
there = dere
this = dis
those = dose
they = dey
Sometimes in ethnic Brooklyn pronunciation of the short “o” is “hypercorrected” into a cross between a drawl and a whine:
coffee = cwafee
dog = doowaahg
God = Gwoddd
or,
walk = wooawk
talk = tooawk
The letter “r” is seldom pronounce anywhere in the Northeast, from New Hampshuh to Hahvud to New Yawk. In Brooklyn, “more” is “moowuh,” “door” is “doowuh,” and “her” is “huh.” “Brooklyn” itself comes out (something like) “Bwookn,” while “Canarsie” is “Cnawsee.” Furthermore, the vowel sound that precedes the unpronounced “r” sound is pronounced “oi.”:
Bensonhurst = Bensonhoist
bird = boid
first = foist
girl = goil
heard = hoid
murder = moiduh
nerve = noive
perfect = poifect
world = woild
certain = soitun
No one really knows is so in The American Language, H.L. Mencken attributes it to the influence of Yiddish. Anyway, and perversely enough, in Brooklyn the “oi” sound itself is pronounce “er”:
boil = berl
Greenpoint = Greenpernt
noise = nerse
oil = erl
oyster = erstuh
Thus, when Dodger knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm dropped to his knees after being stuck by a line drive, the Ebbets Field crowd gasped as one, “Hert’s hoit!” - Sean Kelly
No comments:
Post a Comment