1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Lauren bolk Bomb here with a classic episode from our 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: erstwhile host, Christian Sagar. The team around the currently at 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: home office is continually fascinated by accents and how they work. 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: I'm partially because we say things into microphones for a living, 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,080 Speaker 1: but the way that accents develop over time is so 7 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: weird and cool. In this episode, Christian takes a look 8 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: at how two distinct American accents came to be. Hey 9 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, is Christian Saga here? Warm up your vocal cords, 10 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: because today we're diving into the history of Boston and 11 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: New York accents. Now. I'm from the Boston area. Originally 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: in Tourists love to ask if they can park the 13 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: car in Harvard Yard, or rather pack the car and 14 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: have it yead. This question illustrates the stereotypical Boston accent, 15 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: whose origins date back to the seventeen century. Beantown's famous 16 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: Die elect is a melting pot bearing the influence of Quakers, Puritans, 17 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: and Algonquin Indians alike. But by far the Boston accents 18 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: best known quirk is a tendency to drop the R sound. 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 1: This is exchanged for an ah, turning beer into via. 20 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: Until recently, historians attributed the custom to good old Anglophilia. Supposedly, 21 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: Massachusetts colonists were trying to emulate the high brown norms 22 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: of England's elite, who always made a point to ditch 23 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,680 Speaker 1: their rs. However, this explanation might have it backward. The 24 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:40,399 Speaker 1: dropped our habit first showed up in southeastern England, where 25 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't originally seen as prestigious in Linguist Richard Bailey 26 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: used phonetically written records to show that the trend later 27 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: became popular in pre revolutionary Boston. And yet, according to 28 00:01:55,400 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: his research, Britain's well off wouldn't embrace the practice until 29 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: the mid eight hundreds. So in other words, it's possible 30 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:09,639 Speaker 1: that English socialites were copying Boston and not vice versa. 31 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:12,959 Speaker 1: Oh and for what it's worth, Harvard Yard has very 32 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: strict parking policies, so you might want to leave your 33 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: vehicle elsewhere. I'm just just telling you that, as was 34 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: the case in Boston. Though, the first English speakers to 35 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,239 Speaker 1: arrive in the New York region came from the south 36 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: of England. At some point in the eighteenth century, New 37 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,839 Speaker 1: Yorkers started dropping there, ares even the ones originally from 38 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: the north of England picked up the habit. This explains 39 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: why Hyde Parks owned Franklin Delano. Roosevelt said fia instead 40 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: of fear during the biggest address of his life. The 41 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: missing our phenomena began to die down after World War Two, 42 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: but other norms still persist. Say Long Guyland instead of 43 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: Long Island and you'll be pegged for an area native. 44 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: Some believe this little centric city could be the product 45 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: of Yiddish or Italian influence. However, other linguists aren't convinced. 46 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: Most experts agree that the New York accents basic characteristics 47 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: are British in origin. What's debatable is the exact degree 48 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: to which any non English language affected any specific word 49 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: pronunciations or sentence structures. As such, we may never know 50 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: where coffee or toy Todd Street came from. Today's episode 51 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: was written by Mark Mancini and produced by Tristan McNeil 52 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: and Tyler Klang. For more on this and lots of 53 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: other distinct topics, is it how stuffworks dot com. Brain 54 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeart Radio or more podcasts my 55 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Visit the iHeart radio, app, Apple podcasts, or 56 00:03:48,280 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.