Well, I should have seen it coming.<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks ago when a column of mine about regional words ran in this newspaper, I managed to irritate a couple of people. People from the Bronx. People I\u2019d accused of saying \u201cyouse\u201d instead of \u201cyou\u201d as in, \u201cYouse people from the Bronx talk funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked readers for contributions for a follow-up column, and I got an earful. But as it turns out, a couple of readers explained to me that, in fact, \u201cyouse\u201d isn\u2019t just a Bronx word. It\u2019s a Brooklyn word.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up in Brooklyn, we said \u2018youse \u2019 just like youse guys who live in that place with the zoo,\u201d wrote Ray Hughes of Monroe, N.Y.<\/p>\n
He went on to express a certain amount of annoyance with the Bronx. \u201cAnd why is da Bronx the only borough that requires a definite article?\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s got a point. No one says da Queens or da Brooklyn. Just da Bronx.<\/p>\n
But wait. The \u201cyouse\u201d issue is far from settled.<\/p>\n
The first time Kristin Frillmann of Milford, Pa., heard the word was in 2014, when she moved from New York City to Dingmans Ferry. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIt was a social worker addressing a church congregation who used \u2018youse\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n
The word grew on her, though. Now she kind of likes it. \u201cIt\u2019s useful.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Jim Frey of Chester, N.Y., begs to differ. \u201cNobody says \u2018youse,\u2019\u201d he explained. \u201cListen. It\u2019s \u2018yiz \u2013 \u2019as in \u2018What\u2019ve yiz been doing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Sorry Jim, but someone else begs to differ with you. It\u2019s \u201cya\u2019ll\u201d according to Mollie of Harriman, N.Y., who confesses to being an Ozark hillbilly from Arkansas.<\/p>\n
Mollie was also kind enough to provide a southern guide to giving directions. \u201cWe were always good with directions,\u201d she wrote. It\u2019s very easy to get anywhere you want to go in Arkansas, according to Mollie – just go over yonder a piece; or down yonder; or up yonder; or out yonder.<\/p>\n
See? Easy.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a difference of opinion about how to refer to that sandy place where water meets land and people lie around on towels.<\/p>\n
According to Mary Eileen Schoen of Wantage, N.J., going to the beach and going to the shore are totally different things.<\/p>\n
When she is on Long Island, where she was born and raised, she goes to the beach. \u201cBut here in New Jersey, we go to the shore,\u201d she explained. In fact, the word \u201cto\u201d isn\u2019t even necessary according to a friend of hers who was raised in Jersey. He says he \u201cgoes down the shore.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Laurie Dever, who\u2019s from Bergen County, N.J., wrote to say that Long Beach Island in New Jersey, is never called \u201cthe island.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe island is Long Island,\u201d she said. \u201cLong Beach Island is LBI!!!\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s right, of course. Exit 63. LBI. I know this from personal experience.<\/p>\n
One other option for describing where water meets sand comes from my granddaughter Devon, who lives on the cusp of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vt. \u201cWe go to the waterfront,\u201d she told me.<\/p>\n
Then there are the people who simply make up words of their own regardless of where they live. Take Ray Hughes\u2019 mother-in-law. \u201cShe insists that the plural of spouse is spice,\u201d wrote Hughes.<\/p>\n
(Of course, having a few spice might just add a little spice to life.)<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not the only one with family members who make up their own words. Just ask Mary Dinos of West Milford, N.J. \u201cMy mother told me that her sons said \u2018geeet? \u2019when they meant \u2018did you eat?\u2019\u201d Clearly, Mary is a bit reluctant to claim those same boys as her own brothers.<\/p>\n
Along the same lines, there are those who insert a letter into a word that just isn\u2019t supposed to be there, according to Michael Chirichella from Jefferson Township, N.J.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I went to college in Ohio, I discovered that they stick the letter R into weird places, and they do it very matter-of-factly,\u201d he wrote. \u201cFor example, when they are talking about the first president of the United States, the third letter of his last name is R followed by the rest of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I also heard from several readers who departed from the topic at hand and wandered into grammar felonies that annoyed them. A lot. I can relate. Every time I see an apostrophe used incorrectly, I want to grab a Sharpie and scribble it out.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll save those for another time. But I would like to leave you with a question to ponder, one posed by William Grohoski of Durlandville, N.Y.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust where does upstate in New York begin?\u201d he wrote. \u201cCertainly not at the Hudson River. And I don\u2019t feel Orange and Sullivan are upstate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good question. Most city folks think everywhere this side of the George WaRshington Bridge is upstate. But most of us here think we\u2019re downstate and that upstate doesn\u2019t begin until maybe Syracuse. We need a consensus!<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, my apologies to all the Bronx folks who know how to talk right, including my city cousins. The rest of youse … well, best if you just don\u2019t talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, I should have seen it coming. A couple of weeks ago when a column of mine about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,96285,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-246541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-george-warshington-bridge","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}