Hockey---(NYC pronunciation of "chocolate")

[Tom Zurinskas]

Remember Nestle's dog Farfle.  He said "CHAW-klit.

Interesting that the show "Lost" is pronounced "Lawst" instead of "lahst".


Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
See truespel.com.  The 4 truespel books and "Occasional Poems" are at
authorhouse.com.





>From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: Hockey---(NYC pronunciation of "chocolate")
>Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 16:22:08 -0500
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Hockey---(NYC pronunciation of "chocolate")
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Paul Johnston
>Sent: Mon 5/21/2007 2:40 PM
>Subject: Re: Hockey
>
>It is the CAUGHT vowel in "coffee" in Brooklyn, and indeed,
>throughout the whole NY/NJ area.  A person asking for a cup of
>"cahfee" is definitely from someplace outside the Metro region.
><snip>
>=20
>I had experience with this in 1958, but with the word "chocolate."  Born =
>and raised in NYC I went to Tampa, Florida to attend a baseball camp =
>right after high school (I was athletic in those days). We played ball =
>in the morning and evening, but it was too hot to play in the afternoon, =
>so we went to the beach then.
>=20
>One day at the beach I was telling two other boys sitting near me a =
>story and without thinking anything of it mentioned the word =
>"chocolate."  One of the boys interrupted me in amazement. "What did you =
>say?" "What do you mean, what did I say?"  "That word, you just said."  =
>"You mean chocolate?" (which with my heavy New York accent sounds like =
>"chawklitt").  "Yes, that's it!!", whereupon he immediately called =
>several other players over who were sitting on blankets nearby, and I =
>had to repeat my pronunciation of "chocolate."
>=20
>I felt a mixture of self-consciousness and amusement at this fuss, =
>because I had previously said "chocolate" hundreds if not thousands of =
>times, and no one ever thought anything of.  But I was now speaking with =
>boys from the Midwest and South, and evidently they had never spoken =
>with anyone from NYC before.  I asked my astounded friend how *he* would =
>pronounce "chocolate," and he regarded this question as one of the =
>silliest he had ever heard.  He replied--still in amazement--"Why, it's =
>CHAHKlitt." Now it was my turn to be amazed.  I said CHAHKlitt? (with a  =
>nice long first vowel).  My father has a delicatessen, and if I asked =
>one of the clerks for some CHAHKlitt (I often picked up a Hershey bar =
>there), he'd think I was trying to be funny."
>=20
>This was my first serious experience with dialectology.
>=20
>Gerald Cohen
>=20
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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