( Health insurance whining )
There are days where I forget how alien my accent sounds around here, then someone reminds me. Watching "MyCousin Vinny" this morning I have to admit I must sound a lot like Marissa Tormei to folks here. The nuances I hear that designate me as being a Jewish New Yorker (think a slightly toned down Barbara Streisand) aren't as obvious to folks outside of NY. And while I can pretty much orient a New Yorker's neighborhood by listening to them speak, as would a Londoner in the UK, its only when I exaggerate it do folks hear the difference. Unless I'm tipsy, angry or tired that is - then I fall back into Jewish New Yorker with a side of matzo. And nobody mistakes it then.
The gal on Tricare, btw, brought this forward in my mind. She'd placed me on hold to find the clinic number and when she came back wasn't sure if it was me or another call and asked "Mrs. Cook, are you there?". When I said, "I'm here" she laughed and said "that's certainly you!" Two words, that's all she needed. Oy.
At the adoption, someone who knew me only online was looking for me and asked one of the covenor's who I was. To which the response was "you'll know Trista when you hear her!" To which I turned at the sound of my voice and asked "What!?!?" in Brooklynese to everyone's delight.
Some days you gotta play the game or it'll play you.
There are days where I forget how alien my accent sounds around here, then someone reminds me. Watching "MyCousin Vinny" this morning I have to admit I must sound a lot like Marissa Tormei to folks here. The nuances I hear that designate me as being a Jewish New Yorker (think a slightly toned down Barbara Streisand) aren't as obvious to folks outside of NY. And while I can pretty much orient a New Yorker's neighborhood by listening to them speak, as would a Londoner in the UK, its only when I exaggerate it do folks hear the difference. Unless I'm tipsy, angry or tired that is - then I fall back into Jewish New Yorker with a side of matzo. And nobody mistakes it then.
The gal on Tricare, btw, brought this forward in my mind. She'd placed me on hold to find the clinic number and when she came back wasn't sure if it was me or another call and asked "Mrs. Cook, are you there?". When I said, "I'm here" she laughed and said "that's certainly you!" Two words, that's all she needed. Oy.
At the adoption, someone who knew me only online was looking for me and asked one of the covenor's who I was. To which the response was "you'll know Trista when you hear her!" To which I turned at the sound of my voice and asked "What!?!?" in Brooklynese to everyone's delight.
Some days you gotta play the game or it'll play you.