[Ads-l] "me" = "my" in NYC

Tue Aug 6 17:32:49 UTC 2024

1942 in Jon Morris _The League of Regrettable Sidekicks_ (Philadelphia:
Quirk Books, 2018) 65: Holy cow! What's dis? Ow! Me eyes!

JL

On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 5:05 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Universally recognized as English and Hibernian, but allegedly unknown in
> non-immigrant U.S. speech.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 7:01 AM Edward Aveyard <edwardaveyard at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> It is extremely common in England to say this as in a weak form of "me":
>> /mi/ or /mə/. I don't think that it is ever said with a strong form in "me"
>> as in /miː/.
>>
>> It is even used in traditional upper-class English and not just
>> traditional dialects. I'm reminded of a line in the film Brief Encounter,
>> where the speech is now laughed at as old-fashioned upper-class speech that
>> has largely died out in England, when the uncaring husband says "I want me
>> dinner" [a wɒnt mə dɪnəː]. If I've got the time-stamp right on this YouTube
>> video, it should go to 52:30 on the time.
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LguRis_h1qc&t=3150
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Sent: 23 January 2024 22:08
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Subject: Re: "me" = "my" in NYC
>>
>> "Guadalcanal."
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 5:07 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > In _Gudalcanal Diary_ (1943), actor Lionel Stander (not trying to be
>> > Irish) repeatedly says, "Where's me helmet?! Where's me helmet?!"
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > On Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 6:56 PM Jonathan Lighter <
>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> In the role of the character "Flossy" - a working-class woman in her
>> >> sixties - NYC-born actress Mabel Paige ( b. 1880) consistently
>> pronounces
>> >> "my" as "me" in _Behind the Green Lights_ (1946).
>> >>
>> >> Otherwise, nothing that sounds like an  Irish accent - real or stage -
>> to
>> >> me.
>> >>
>> >> JL
>> >>
>> >> On Sun, Jan 30, 2022 at 12:13 PM Paul A Johnston <
>> paul.johnston at wmich.edu>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> Sounds like first-generation irish-American to me--plus stereotyping,
>> as
>> >>> what you've quoted would all be fine in Ireland.  Thst would account
>> for it
>> >>> becoming less popular later in the 20th century, too.  I never heard
>> it,
>> >>> and I lived  with a second-generation Manhattan-born grandmother,
>> born in
>> >>> 1879.  But her parents?
>> >>> ________________________________
>> >>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>> >>> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> >>> Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2022 11:38 AM
>> >>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >>> Subject: "me" = "my" in NYC
>> >>>
>> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >>> -----------------------
>> >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> >>> Subject:      "me" = "my" in NYC
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>>
>> >>> 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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>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> >> truth."
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society -
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>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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