Friday, February 2, 2007

You say potato I say po-TAH-to


My SO (significant other) thinks it's hilarious that I pronounce the word 'vocabulary' as "vo-CAB-u-LERRY " rather than "VO-cab-u-LARRY"….I in turn think it's hysterical that she pronounces the word 'horror' as "WHORE-ore" rather than "HARR-err".
She's from southern California, I'm from Long Island.
What can I say, we crack each other up.

I feel a Blogthings quiz coming on:

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Northeast

Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.

Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz


I'm intrigued to see that I've been pegged as being from "New York City or Connecticut" rather than Long Island (pronounced "Lawn GUY-Land"). It corroborates what every person up here in New England tells me whenever I tell them I'm originally from Long Island: "I would have never known - you don't have an accent." As if the only thing that Long Islanders are known for is their accent. C'mon people! We gave the world Billy Joel, Joey Buttafuoco, and a gaggle of Baldwin brothers and serial killers. (Long Island is 25 miles wide and has a population of 3 million people - you'd kill each other too). We have Levittown, the Long Island Expressway, and the Amityville Horror (HARR-er) House. We're splitting atoms at Stony Brook, we built the Lunar Lander in Bethpage (right behind my parent's house), and we have more unpronounceable Indian town names than New Jersey….all together now: Syosset, Massapequa, Hauppauge…..

I'll admit that after seven years of living with Ms. Southern California I now pronounce 'water' as "WAH-TER" rather than "WAW-TA".….and I used to think that only people on the Brady Bunch and the fantasy world of TV talked that way. We didn't talk (TAWK) that way in the real world. :::sigh:::….I've been corrupted, I've been lured over to the dark side….I guess I'll go study my vocab-u-lerry now.


....and now here it is, your moment of Zen:



8 comments:

episcopalifem said...

Hi Mocat! My first visit here, and I see you have me on your blogroll - I'm honored!

You are crackin' me up. I like here, and I'm going to have to add you to my list of fave places too.

Your description of going from Catholic to where you are now could be a description of my life (without the coming out part. Unless you count telling your very Catholic parents you aren't going to be Catholic any more, as coming out?!)

I'm technically from Long Island too. Born in L.I.C., lived in downstate-upstate New York for 11 years (think Orange County!) before migrating to New Jersey. My parents are both from L.I.C. (Woodside and Sunnyside), and I tawk like it too. The Philly influence has made no inroads into my speech patterns (praise God!).

episcopalifem said...

Also...I'm not a Seminarian yet...but I feel it coming on. My husband might divorce me over it, but, I feel it coming like a freight train!

Caminante said...

First time here -- by way of Eileen by way of Mad Priest.

I took that test and it said I was from the Midwest. No way. I am a damn CT Yankee by birth and a late-blooming Vermont woodchuck.

Love the photo of the two kitties with the apt Matthean quote.

Bill said...

Hello Mocat,
First time here. Much to read. Much to enjoy. Much to laugh about.

I took the test and it was exactly right. New York City or Northern New Jersey. I guess that since this is where I've worked and lived all my life (except for the Army)the test is fairly accurate.

I'm here by way of Eileen and it seems that there is a growing community of Ex-Roman Catholics making an appearance in blogspace.

I'm also gay which further reinforces the bonds of life experience. I've been through a fairly rough three years having gone through my comming out as well as leaving Rome.

If you have time on your hands and like poetry, I'd be honored if you dropped by my place
notquitedeadpoet.blogspace.com

Keep the Faith (of your choice) and God Bless.

Rev. Maureen Frescott said...

Thank you all for the warm welcome! The UCC is actually my second stop along the denominational highway...I was a Unitarian Universalist for awhile before finding a home in the UCC.

There are a lot of ex-Catholic UUs as well. I think it's just Catholicism's sheer numbers that make it seem like they have a lot of castaways. In the US there are 2.4 mil Episcopalians, 1.4 mil UCCers, and something like 298 billion Catholics (ok, its actually 77 million, but you get the point). You can't swing a dead prophet without hitting an ex-Catholic in most denominations (I wish they'd stop doing that, it hurts).

Thanks for the welcome Guys! See you around the Blogs!

Ann said...

Hi Mocat -- reminds me of Kliban and his Momcat drawing with the kitten in mom's pouch like a kangaroo baby. I went to seminary at 50 -celebrated with a keg and chocolate cake. Eileen steered me here - thanks!

Caminante said...

I am not an ex-RC (cradle Episcopalian) but live in other small percents: left-handed, brown hair/blue eyed, half of a same-gender couple...

episcopalifem said...

I was contemplating your statement about sheer numbers of RC's, and, it was making me think about how the RCC won't let you renouce your Roman Catholicism - so, even if you leave, they still count you as a member. Chutzpah, right?

But, hey, I guess when you are the OTC (One True Church)...