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

Atlas Obscura ^ | November 5, 2015 | DAN NOSOWITZ

[mountn man]

What’s Eyetalian for “BOOOOOOBS!”?

I believe it is Gazonga's in northern EYEtaly and Yabo's in southern.

But I'm not absolutely sure.

I'll...look into it...for you.

[EQAndyBuzz]

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

Spent many nights at Columns.

I been in Texas 10 years now and I still speak Brooklyn.

[sparklite2]

I was raised in Texas. When in the Navy, I was stationed with guys from the Northeast, naturally picking up their accents over time. When I’d go home on leave my folks would tell me I talked like a Yankee. But when I went to the northeast, people would say, “You’re from the South, aren’t you?”

The last I heard, I have the accent of someone from San Francisco, whatever THAT sounds like.

[Tax-chick]

It’s very tacky to say that in Spanish.

[XRdsRev]

I am in north central NJ and whenever I hear “somewan tawk like dis”, I immediately think they’re stupid. Luckily where I live, that annoying English butchering accent isn’t too common.

[john drake]

Tacky in any language when referred to in a vulgar way, eh?

[mountn man]

The last I heard, I have the accent of someone from San Francisco, whatever THAT sounds like.

San Fran accent example 1

San Fran accent example 2

San Fran accent example 3

San Fran accent example 4

[Rodamala]

I was thinking of the SAME skit.

[sparklite2]

Thanks. Now I know why my only friends are online.

[Rodamala]

OK, so WTF is "capicola?"

Generally... Hot ham. More so... well if you know what prosciutto ham is... capicola is very similar, except uses cuts of pork from the neck and shoulder instead of the shank. It's dried and aged and I believe lightly smoked.

[XEHRpa]

Something to look down on and approve of at the same time... so confusing.

[Rodamala]

Connecticut's Italians have some of the same pronunciations.

I had a job in Waterbury... and lemme tell ya after growing up in NJ and then living I both the midwest and far western PA... where the pizza pie may as well be Ellio's from the freezer section and a "Hoagie" is 3 silces of bologna on a hot dog roll... Nardelli's grinders every other day were a real treat.

[heylady]

Being from Rhode Island I use all the old time Italian pronunciations. When I hear someone pronounce monigawt as manicotti or mootzarell pronounced mottsarella it is like fingernails on a chalk board.

But then I call a shopping cart a carriage and a purse a pocketbook which drives my grandson in Texas crazy.

[Rodamala]

I scored a smaller Sugardale bone-in hame a few weeks back for 77 pennies a pound... carved off a bunch of ham slices for sammiches and such, and turned the rest into the best ham, navy bean, and potato soup ever... oh good gawd is it good.

[dead]

I grew up Irish in dead center Soprano-land of North Jersey. If you didn’t pronounce your deli meats properly (like gabagool) you were regarded as stunad. A mook.

[Rodamala]

Back in the day, my brother refered to her show as “Cooking With Ds”. For reference, Rachel Rey’s show was “Cooking With Bs”. I really don’t like either of em. I like Pepin. Mike Colamecco had a really interesting show on PBS too.

[Rodamala]

I grew up in Hunterdon County and whenever anyone wants to get cute and crack jokes because I am from “Joisey”, I look them straight in the eye and say in my best douchebag “down the shore” accent... “Oh, Yeah? Wat? You gotta problem wid dat? I’ll break your f***ing legs”

[mountn man]

That looks good.
Where is this from?

[nopardons]

Very interesting article; however, there are two glaring non-Italian errors.

First of all, that "toity toid street" thing is NOT a "NEW YORK" accent...it is an Irish immigrant, first generation Irish-American accent that was heard in NYC, and hyped in the '30s gangster movies ( especially by James Cagney )and wasn't even au corrant in the 1930s, anymore.

The thing about NYC accents, is that they have always been not only fluid, but changed from not only neighborhood to neighborhood ( even from block to block, in some instances ), socio-economic levels, and also from generation to generation.

The second point that isn't correct, is that the author claims that Italian is the ONLY language that got muddled/mangled. Not true! When we moved to Chicago, from Manhattan, I was shocked how mangled Yiddish had become in Chicago! In NYC, everyone knows and uses many Yiddish words ( Italian too ), not just Jews.

[To Hell With Poverty]

Shoot, what’s our NY Italian boxer’s name again? The one with the cat named spaghetti? Love him but I can’t remeber what his freeper name is. Somebody ping that guy!