HOW CAPICOLA BECAME GABAGOOL: THE ITALIAN NEW JERSEY ACCENT, EXPLAINED

Atlas Obscura ^ | November 5, 2015 | DAN NOSOWITZ

[NYer]

Somebody, even in their 70s or 80s, who was born in Italy and lived in the US can still be understood in Italy. But Italian has undergone huge standardization changes in the past few decades, and it’ll be hard for modern Italian speakers to understand them ...

This may be true in the larger cities but in the remote villages, the old dialect continues to hold sway. Sourcing the dialect can be quite fascinating. For example, I annually visited a small town in the Molise province, over the span of several decades. They trace certain elements of their dialect to the Etruscans. Here is an example of the distinct differences in language vs dialect for that village, written phoenetically.

Upstairs: Italian: sopra - Dialect: in gup
Downstairs: Italian: sotto - Dialect: bal
Let's go: Italian: andiamo - Dialect: amachee
Boy: Italian: ragazzo - Dialect: oocheetala
Girl: Italian: ragazza - Dialect: aahcheetala

Language can be quite fascinating. I studied French and worked for Air France. One of my coworkers often visited Quebec, to study their French. He said that while French is taught in school, the locals continue to speak the French of the 18th century, brought to Canada by French explorers.

[sparklite2]

From the time I spent in Roselle, Bradley Beach and Metedeconk, I found the New Jersey accent to be the ugliest in the nation.

[kaehurowing]

“. . .should be familiar to viewers of other New Jersey-based shows like the now-defunct Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of New Jersey, where food often drives conversation.”

Oh, I thought they were just white trash.

[Ancesthntr]

OK, so WTF is “capicola?”

[headstamp 2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqE7ZxH7BJE

[real saxophonist]

I work with a guy from New Jersey who is of Polish descent. He speaks in so many double, triple, quadruple negatives I can barely understand what he’s saying.

[Tax-chick]

Ooh, you sound like my grandmother!

I once watched an episode of “Real Housewives” at the gym, with no sound. Even with my glasses off, it was obvious from body language that everyone on the show hated each other, including spouses.

[Tax-chick]

A sausage product: “Capocollo, also known as [gaba’goul], is a traditional Italian pork cold cut made from the dry-cured muscle running from the neck to the 4th or 5th rib of the pork shoulder or neck. The name capocollo comes from capo and collo of a pig.”

[W.]

Dry-aged ham, found in fancy deli sandwiches. Our town’s butcher shop has it occasionally, $8+/pound.

[NYer]

OK, so WTF is “capicola?”

Capocollo [kapoˈkɔllo], also known as [gaba'goul] (in certain parts of the United States, notably among Italian-Americans in New Jersey, as made famous by the HBO Television series "The Sopranos"; cappicola, coppa in Canada, capicollo or capicolla),^[1] is a traditional Italian pork cold cut (salume) made from the dry-cured muscle running from the neck to the 4th or 5th rib of the pork shoulder or neck. The name capocollo comes from capo ("head") and collo ("neck") of a pig. It is a whole muscle salume, dry cured and, typically, sliced very thin. It is similar to the more widely known cured ham or prosciutto, because they are both pork-derived cold-cuts that are used in similar dishes. However, coppa is not brined as ham typically is.

[Trillian]

Dialects are one explanation. Different regions, different dialects. I can understand most of them.. it’s the Sicilian dialects that can confuse me!

[RitchieAprile]

head cheese.

[j.argese]

As a former New Jerseyan, I found Boston, Lawwn Guyland or Manhattan to own that distinction.

[DemforBush]

Yum! Throw in a little bresola, or maybe some mortadella, and you’ve got one happy FReeper!

[Made In The USA]

I took Standard Italian in H.S., did well but couldn’t get my teacher to pronounce my Italian name correctly... my ancestors are from Sicily.

Always find it funny how those of us that are 3rd or more generation American born still try to sound Italian. I don’t see this happen as often with other languages. Besides, the ONLY Italian anyone ever needs is the ability to sing ‘Volare’ and ‘That’s Amore’. And if you’re able to sound a little like Dean Martin, you’ll never be lonely.

[Vaquero]

Hot Italian ham

[Dr. Sivana]

OK, so WTF is "capicola?"

It is a meat, like supressata (zoopressot') and prosciutto (pro-zhoot'). They are wonderful with some melted mozzerella (moot'serell). Connecticut's Italians have some of the same pronunciations.

[Vaquero]

I prefer prosciutto di Parma ...nor pro-zhoot in NY Italian

That will run around $18 a pound for imported. Makes a nice sang-witch as my Calabrese nanna would call it

[Tired of Taxes]

I grew up using that accent in the Philadelphia area because my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles used it.

After I took an Italian course in college, and I figured, well, this is the real Italian. My family must’ve been speaking some kind of Americanized version of the words.

But now, according to this article, they were speaking an older version of Italian words from a particular region (?). Very interesting.

Another thing we grew up saying was “man-i-gawt” for manicotti.