Potato Potato, Tomato Tomato, they all look the same but the way we and our English neighbors pronounce them differ greatly. While we stress the "a" in our words, the English tend to ease off it a little. We accept the difference that our two cultures place on our pronunciations of the same words, Why then do we not accept the differences in speech that come not from across the "pond" but from down the high way. I am a proud member of the city of Philadelphia, however I work with a girl from New York. Today when we went on break I asked her to pass me something very common and she acted as if I had said something outrageous, a water bottle. She repeatedly asked me what I was saying as if I was speaking a foreign language. " A what bottle", I would reply water, this went on for several minutes until finally she said do you mean wa-ter. I replied that that was what I said. "No, you said wa-der". This comment set me off.
Why is it that we ostracize the way others from our own country speak when they say words different then we are used to, yet we fantasize over foreign accents. Why is my accent considered ruff and uneducated, where as a British accent is acceptable and looked on fondly. She made a fuss about the way I was speaking, even though she knew exactly what I meant. I didn't say pass me a marijuana bottle. She just did it to point out that I was saying something out of her norm. In my city we all say water the same way, we don't correct each other, and our more likely to make fun if you say it different. The bottom line is that language is alive and subject to change, that is why we have so many dialects in the world today, because humans don't have a uniform language. Why now in modern times do we allow it to stagnate. I believe that pronunciation is a regional ideal and there is no set way to pronounce any one word. As long as their is a common understanding to what is being said then there should be no problem. I hold out hope that the next time I ask her to pass me a bottle of water, she just does it, and saves the inquisition for something else of supposed import.
The discussions that go on throughout the day are unique in that we all have our own take on language and how we present it...what I post here is what stands out to me the most.
I really enjoyed this blog. I sympathize with you, for I really have no accent, but a jumble of accents together. I have grown up all over the word, acquiring a melting pot of accents and punctuations. I feel people forget that rhetoric is more the stlye is which we convey our opinions through pathos and logos (which you seemed to do very well) and focus more on superficial characteristics that relieves them from the job of proper critisims. Consider it the easy way out.
ReplyDeleteAs a New Yorker attending Penn State, I wasn't use to hearing Philadelphia accents and yet I have grown accustom to them over time. Still I can remember hearing the accents for the first time and finding them to be the most comical. I often found myself correcting my new peers around me as they did the same to me. All I recognized was that they sounded funny to me, without taking note on the judgement I was passing each time i corrected them or laughed when they spoke. What makes my New York accent more correct than theirs? Nothing at all, but as I continue to go out in the world and gain exposure to a lot more accents, maybe I'll learn to better appreciate them for what they are and not for just how my own sounds in comparison.
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I am guilty of the same thing that your friend has done. I have family that live near Philadelphia as well, and we always go back and forth with each other about how we say things. I found it amusing that you used "water" as your example because that is one of the words we toss around all the time, along with "syrup" which I pronounce "sir-up" and they pronounce "seer-up." I have to point out though, that the context of how people point out the accent makes a difference. If I were talking to you about someone with a British accent, the conversation would seem like we are accepting it. But if I was talking to a British person about a British accent, perhaps that person would not take it so well. Maybe they would be offended, as you were in this instance. So, I think the circumstance and context are important in deciding if people are making fun of the accent.
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