I was asked the interesting question of what happened to
Frazetta's Brooklyn accent. Every borough of New York City has its' own
distinctive language pattern. Staten Island residents speak differently from
people in Queens; the Bronx is different from Manhattan. Historically, the most
extreme accent is spoken by the Brooklynites. Brooklyn was nationally famous
for its' accent and distinctive linguistic patterns. Many many famous
celebrities, scientists, and athletes all started in Brooklyn, e.g. Jackie
Gleason, Michael Jordan, Barbra Streisand, Sandy Koufax, Jerry Seinfeld, Bobby
Fischer, and thousands more. Ellie
and the kids still had their New York accents in varying degrees. Of course,
it's only natural that kids would emulate their mother. Yes, I did specifically
ask Frank about this. Frank spoke very clear unaffected English the whole time
I knew him. Here is the short explanation:
"While I was growing up I noticed that all the people on
television and in the movies spoke a certain way. They spoke differently from
everyone I knew. While I was in
grade school some of the kids starting calling some of the other kids 'Brooklyn
Hillbillies'. Minga. They teased them because of the way they talked. Some of
the kids had heavy accents. It never used to bother me. I really didn't pay
attention, but then I started to think about it. It did sound kind of ignorant
and lower class. It was a harsh sound to my ear. Sinatra didn't sound like
that, and he was from Jersey. We hated most people from Jersey, looked down on
them. I don't know why, we just did.
I started to really get bothered. Did I sound like that? I asked my mom.
She thought I was nuts. I started to listen more closely to the TV shows and
movies. One of the movies had a guy saying 'get rid of that accent or you'll
never be a success'. FucnnnnnnAaaaaaay! A light went on...I never thought about
just changing how I talked. I wanted a taste of success. I wanted that sweet
smell of success in my life. I was surrounded by losers. I didn't want that. I
despised those guys. Real lowlifes. The next day I went to see the speech therapist
at school. She was a nice old lady who no one really noticed. We thought anyone
who saw her was a retard. She helped kids who had bad stutters or other
problems. She was very kind and met me after school. I was scared that someone
would see me. It would have led to a fight for sure. She gave me a sheet of
words to practice with. She told me to look into the mirror and slowly
pronounce the words. Speak everything clearly, don’t drag out the
syllables. She said people in Brooklyn are lazy speakers. I didn’t
know what she meant.
She said I had to build new mouth habits. Repetition. Practice
it, just like someone would practice pitching or hitting. I did it. Actually,
it wasn't easy. Very frustrating. I had to stay with it. For weeks I stared into the mirror and
kept saying that whole list of words over and over. I made sentences. It took
me a few months, but I got rid of it. I can still talk Brooklyn if I need to.
Why would I need to? Minghia!
Fuggettaboutit, eh? [Frank
laughs and blasts out a fusillade of choice Brooklynisms. Funny as hell. ]
(C) 2014 DocDave Winiewicz
