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Queens Argues Over Disappearing Accent
By
Jaya Saxena
Published May 11, 2010
Modified May 11, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published May 11, 2010
Modified May 11, 2010
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While Queens residents are worried their specific, nasal dialect of classic New Yawk slang may be dying, some residents are arguing it never existed in the first place! Queens College linguistics professor Michael Newman told the Daily News, "People claim that there is a difference, but no one has been able to show it." He argues that it's the same as the regular New York accent, which is fast fading.
But Queensites, including notoriously nasal Fran Drescher, are adamant that their accent is distinct. It's "melodic and mellifluous, with just a hint of nasality," according to Drescher, and Astoria native Panayiota Pharos said the accent is only distinguishable to those who have it, who can pick up on the subtleties. "It's not so different from a generic New York accent," he said. "Words just take a little longer to come out." But that may just be borough pride. Dialect coach Amy Stoller said teaching someone a "Queens" accent is the same as teaching them a New York accent. "You think you have a Queens accent because you want to believe you have a Queens accent." Do you want to believe?
For a lowdown on the alleged differences in borough accents, check out this YouTube tutorial. And whether or not Queens is completely distinctive from Brooklyn, we can all agree that Lawn Guyland has the most annoying accent?
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