Hey Y'all

 

It's a quiet Saturday morning in the hood. 

The streets are peaceful but there is a full day ahead.

The Cat (yes, I'm making him a noun) is sitting in the window.

A two-hour drive and a wedding and a brunch tomorrow and so on.

Y'all enjoy.

Or is it "yooze enjoy?" 

Or what is it?

I saw an interesting exercise via the New York Times that could pretty much determine what my regionalism is. That is, what I say and even how I say it can determine where I'm from.

It's a personal dialect.

(I should mention that this was actually from 2013 so why it's making the rounds now is beyond me but I still got a good laugh out of it. I probably even did it at that time. But it's a Saturday morning with a lot to do so I hope you'll forgive me.)

So I grabbed my soda and my wedge (not hoagie or sub or grinder -- and "wedge" wasn't an option) and participated in the process.

They asked a series of questions about the pronunciation of "pajamas" (I don't say puh-JAM-uhs like I'm slathering some goo on a peanut butter sandwich), whether it is indeed soda or pop, and what exactly a drinking apparatus is called (such as a water fountain).

I mean, a bubbler? Really?

Of course, there's the question of an aunt. I'm from New York. It's not "ahnt." It's like the little bugs that interrupt any picnic.

And what is a collection of people? Is it you guys or you all or y'all or yinz (PITTSBURGH!)?

So many of these online "tests" are spam and ridiculous but this one caught my attention and, in the end, they figured me out.

My mother was born in Paterson, NJ and my father was born in Hartsdale, NY (lower Westchester, not too far from Yonkers). Now both families moved north when my parents were somewhat young but not too far to leave the dialect.

My father had his own small touches that I didn't pick up, such as emphasizing the second syllable on "Westchester."

I worked in central Westchester and indeed picked up the occasional harder "r" sounds that emanate from Yonkers into The Bronx. It doesn't happen often but I do say it occasionally.

For the record, the test said my "least similar" dialect places were Minneapolis/St. Paul, Salt Lake City, and Spokane, WA. Yes, I would quite agree.

Anyway, if you need a laugh (granted, from eight years ago) and have a few minutes, go ahead and visit the link.

I need to go buy comfortable black shoes and get on with the day.