[Ads-l] "me" = "my" in NYC
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sun Jan 30 16:38:25 UTC 2022
In the movie _Flying Wild_ (1941), inimitable New Yorker Leo Gorcey
(1917-1969) says, "I'll give ya the back o' me hand!"
This pronunciation "my" is stereotypically British and Irish, and I don't
think I ever heard it "live."
However, it's prominent in circa 1900 accounts of lower-class life in the
city. E.g.,
1895 Edward W. Townsend _"Chimmie Fadden" Major Max and Other Stories_
(N.Y.: Lovell) 166: We chases down town and meets me friend de barkeep.
JL
--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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