To continue the dialect fun, there is a
town/section/greater-metropolitan whatever/ that is just west of
Asheville, NC, that is spelled Leicester.
You will know the locally-correct pronuciation if you are from
Worcester, MA.
Ken
PS - I can't compete in Mike P's contest because I have been to
the NYC Houston St.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---------------------------------------------------------------
On 1/2/2014 7:42 PM, Mike Palij wrote:
Okay, I just want to double-check something:
(1) The article that Claudia Stanny linked to on the New Yorker
website is actually a joke with the punchline "You are from
Worcester, Massachusetts". It doesn't matter how you answered
the questions, Sarah Larson, the author of the article is either
identifying what she got after doing the dialect test or was making
the bald assertion that all people who take the dialect test are
from Worcester. I am not sophisticated enough to understand
New Yorker humor but given that this is in the "Daily humor"
section, I think the correct sociolinguistic strategy is not to take
it seriously.
(2) John Kulig's response refers to the dialect test that I posted
about a while back and served as the basis for the "Language
and Dialect"; see:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg11072.html
Now there may be some question as to what role "worcester" plays
in the article/joke and it might be the case that there may be a
variety
of ways of saying "Woostah" depending upon where one is from,
but can we be clear that Worcester/Woostah/whatever is just a
punchline. Otherwise, fuggetaboudit.
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
P.S. How do you pronounce the street in Manhattan that is spelled
"Houston Street"?
If you don't know, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKXZHOAxTKA
I note that this was put up on YouTube in 2007 and that the area
that is described has undergone significant growth and
hipsterfication. It is strange to see isolated skyscraper apartment
buildings standing among the tenements of the Lower East Side,
a byproducts of the Bloomberg years.
On Thu, 02 Jan 2014 15:31:01 -0800, John Kulig wrote:
>Actually, it does let you submit from the link - underlined -
in " How well
>does this test of regional slang reveal where you’re from?" I
took it and it
>told me I was either from northern new england or southern
Florida (obviously
>people who fled the hardy and healthy north). I will check
outside and verify
>my location
>
>Interesting they put the "worcester" (city just west of Boston)
at the end.
>Pronouncing it separates new englanders from everyone else. If
you want to
>blend in, please pronounce it correctly ..
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czw5sP2E7s8 (though true
worcester-ites say it a
little different)
----- Original Message -----
On Thursday, January 2, 2014 5:36:56 PM, Claudia Stanny wrote:
OK. This one is low tech and won't let you actually submit your
answers.
But it is worth a look anyway.
http://www. newyorker .com/online/blogs/shouts/2014/01/what-do-
yall - yinz
-and- yix -call-stretchy-office-supplies.html? utm _source= tny &
utm
_campaign= generalsocial & utm _medium= facebook
Happy New Year, collective mass TIPS submitters (create your own
multiple
choice answer for the correct regional name for this group).
:-)
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