A question for you new yorkers

Does anyone in New York ever anymore actually pronounce words like hoid or boid instead of heard or bird, like Bugs Bunny or like in those old 1930s gangster films, or Curly from the Three Stooges? I've meet many people from New York (but don't live there) but I've never heard anyone from there in real life talk like that. Is that accent only fictional?

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Based on 7 votes (6 yes)
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Comments ( 21 )
  • GeekyGold

    This from a native New Yorker living in Brooklyn.

    We don't speak like that it's actually an Italian Brooklyn accent, not at all what some people call a New York or Brooklyn accent. There are some people who thought all native New Yorkers got that type of accent but no we don't. I have personally seen some Italians and non-Italians who do have that accent but only a few.

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    • Correction about Jerry Springer, he was born in UK. Other celebrities I know that are from NY are Adam Sandler (Brooklyn), Aida Turturro, and of course Soprano stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco.

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      • CozmoWank

        Fuhgeddaboudit.

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      • Gandolfini and Pesci and devito were born in NJ, maybe some of the others too. I recently read that somewhere.

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        • I may've confused New York and Jersey accents. Like I said, I may've been incorrect about some of the people on my list, except I'm positive about Woody Allen, Leslie Ann Warren, Bruce Willis, Al Pacino, and Robert De Nero being true New Yorkers.

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    • I always knew that not all New Yorkers said "hoid" instead of heard. I'd noticed for a long time the different celebrities with varied New York accents. Robert De Nero and Al Pacino are both Italian American New Yorkers, I think Ralph Macchio and Joe Pesci too. Jon Lovitz and Woody Allen have Manhattan accents, but I'm not completely sure, you correct me since you're a native New Yorker. Other New York accents I've noticed are Danny DeVito, Bruce Willis, Jerry Springer, Judge Judy, Leslie Ann Warren, Marisa Tomei (she's Jersey, I think), and Fran Drescher (her's very nasal). I know that them, and others are from somewhere within the vicinity of New York, but not totally sure which specific part.

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      • GeekyGold

        I'm pretty sure there could be a Manhatten accent. NYC is very diverse so there are many types of languages and accents in general.

        I did have this random guy call me once who I think was either from Queens or the Bronx and after spending like 5 minutes convincing him that I wasn't some girl he was looking for, he finally realized that I "sounded" like someone from Brooklyn because apparently from what he said all us Brooklynies talk the same.

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      • I don't watch alot of more modern shows and movies, which explains how almost every celebrity on my list is from 1980s and 90s movies and shows, except the Sopranos which I like which ran until about 2008.

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        • Well, Danny DeVito has been big in the 21st century with It's always sunny in Philadelphia, which I watched some of the episodes of.

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  • papajoe56

    You must not get around ALOT bcuz people from different countries have heavy accents. I been in California 37 years and I lost most of my accent. But I'm still being asked... Are you from the East coas? People from Boston have a really heavy accent. Ive had females tell me they like a person with an accent but not too heavy so it's makes it difficult to understand. By the way I'm HALF ITALIAN & PUERTO RICAN. GIRLS SAY ITS A HOT MIX. IS IT? LOL NO NOT CONSEITED JUST PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN THAT FOUGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM IN VIETNAM. TAKE CARE EVERYONE

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    • I don't get around as much these days, I'm in my 40s. My sister has told me how she notices that I still live in the 80s and 90s, and all I ever watch is movies and tv shows from then. She doesn't really care though, it's what I prefer. I'm still a fairly active internet user, the one difference obviously from people back in the day.

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  • CozmoWank

    My barber was born in Italy and raised in Brooklyn. Instead of saying "That Thing" he says "Dat Ting".

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  • McBean

    In Manhattan, people talk like network news anchors. In Queens, the accent is barely, if at all noticeable. Brooklyn is where Bugs Bunny learned to talk.

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    • Algum

      Eeehh, it's because he took a wrong toin at Albequoique

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  • RoseIsabella

    I hate that accent!

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  • S12207

    No its real and not everybody from NY talks like that. Alot of people move there as adults and already have their own pronunciation of things. Lol go to Jersey and you will hear plenty of gangster accents.

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    • Kind of like those big menacing guys in those old films who permanently talked through clenched teeth?

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    • Only in the hood like Newark or wannabes from Staten Island at the jersey shore. Go to south jersey and you’ll think you’re in the Midwest or Philly depending if you’re in the east or the west part of that state.

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  • It’s probably dying out as areas like Brooklyn and the Bronx where that was prevalent continue to become gentrified. Part of it was regional dialect passed generation to generation. It was really more of an NYC thing than an NY thing.
    Today you’ll hear more Asian accents in Brooklyn than ppl calling birds “boids”.

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    • The Bugs bunny accent was supposed to be a Brooklyn accent, I remember. But isn't Newark where people have the real nasel accents? I do understand how the varied accents are probably now all melded together and no longer strictly regional with people having moved here, there, and everywhere all over the place.

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      • Newark is the hood, mainly black gangsta types that you’d need subtitles or a code book to understand what they’re saying. It’s the carjack capital of the world. People that work in Newark live somewhere else so there is no real single neighborhood dialect. However the Iron Bound section is mostly Portuguese ppl, so they have their own dialects I’m sure. Nice area and great food.

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