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

[Edward Aveyard]

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."
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society -
>>> https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C362c7b6be549466a60bc08dc1c5fdab7%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638416445230964294%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=hkXIUOFV5mbJVwZeBpWmYfG9HI%2Bib%2BxbbR1OZNKYdzA%3D&reserved=0<http://www.americandialect.org/>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C362c7b6be549466a60bc08dc1c5fdab7%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638416445230971207%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=rBVn9IIMjY8xu3Ey4X%2B9nWCjb%2BV%2FZ3l%2FzzyXfRb%2FUGY%3D&reserved=0<http://www.americandialect.org/>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "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 - https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C362c7b6be549466a60bc08dc1c5fdab7%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638416445230976699%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=uKLu8QcBU5QmN%2B1h1qjiEQVvBd8iCnFZc5XQa8JnO7g%3D&reserved=0<http://www.americandialect.org/>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org