The reality of New Jersey accents and dialect boundaries 

OK lets get one thing straight, here in Jersey we don't have accents, we have attitudes.

Lived in Jersey my entire life and I swear I don’t have an accent until I travel out of state. People immediately pin me! I feel like my jersey doesn’t come out unless I’m mad. Then I can hear it!

I really have never heard an actual nj accent, and I live in nj

All you Jersey people who think you don't have an accent, go to the south and I *guarantee* they will know that you are from NJ (some will say NY)

New Study: Why did everyone have such difficulty reading that simple sentence??

Let’s all admit: we here in Jersey are plenty confusing enough without dialectical differences.

All I learned is that most people can't fucking read haha

Water ice and italian ice are literally two different things.

I lived in South Jersey for 42 years until I moved to Florida. Now I'm living in Central Minnesota and no one can understand me here. I just tell them "imagine how funny you must sound to me!"

Video seemed a lot longer than it actually was

Born and raised in North Jersey, my family and I have always swore we never had an accent. Until recently, my sister went to Delaware on a trip - and when she was out at a bar a guy literally pinned her from Jersey because of her accent. He was from Staten Island so she was able to tell where he was from too LOL

I remember I moved from north jersey to south jersey and I ordered a sub ... they got so mad and asked wth hell is a sub ? I was so confused I never will forget it she said "do you mean you want a hoagie" and all I was thinking is ... wth you mean hoagie ? then after I left I remember thinking "I'm not calling a sub a hoagie, who the hell says hoagie, my friends will laugh at me" lol

I grew up in Passaic in the late Fifties and Sixties. We definitely did say "dawg," "cawfee" and "chawclit." We also said "vanella" for vanilla. The big difference from the New (which we said as "Noo" and not "Nyoo") York accent is that we said our "r's." We didn't say "Noo Yawk," we said "Noo York."

I've lived in south Jersey my whole life and I honestly have no idea, i suppose I do pronounce words with the south Jersey accent. Eh idk

North jersey is more new yorkish and south jersey is more pa or de

People realize I’m from jersey the moment I say Water.

I'm from semi-rural areas in North Carolina. I was driving from the north side to the Blue Hole in South Jersey and at some point EVERYTHING AROUND ME CHANGED. There was this sudden shift from things looking "northern" to things looking COMPLETELY indistinguishable from North Carolina. I was walking to the Blue Hole and ran into these guys in a big four-wheel drive truck. They were looking for a gun range and if I didn't know I was in New Jersey and wasn't standing on top of a bunch of sugar sand, I'd have sworn up and down that I was just on some path in a North Carolina park somewhere. They sounded and interacted just like rural North Carolinians and it wasn't until I finally told them that I'm from North Carolina that they realized I was just some out-of-state weirdo with no clue where anything was. Other than not saying "hoagie" I'd probably blend in there disturbingly well.

Oh my God. Cape May here. The South Jersey accent, I never noticed it until now. When the south Jersey guys were talking, I was like, "WHAT ACCENT?" Then I was like, "Oooooooohhhhhh."

My online friends always say I have a New Jersey accent but I honestly can’t tell. (North jersey)

I love people's accents from New Jersey...what's amazing is the size of the state and how much different residents of New Jersey accents can be..this video clearly shows this..interesting. I guess migration and development causes this when people keep relocating to different areas over short periods of time.

I love the different accents. Don't ever feel bad about your accent, peeps, it's good. It's flava! :-)

I live in New Jersey. I went on a vacation to Hawaii and met a couple at the beach who immediately told us they knew we were from New Jersey. We have accents we just can’t tell cause we speak it

Grew up in Monmouth County. Lived in five counties in NJ and NC, Seattle and Vermont. People out of state would find out I was from New Jersey and ask me why I didn't sound like Tony Soprano. I had to break the news that not everyone sounds that way. Thanks for the posting this!

Never heard “dawg” or “cawfee” and I’ve lived in NJ my entire life

Step one for this study should have been finding people that are literate.

Can't we all just get along?!?!… After all, no matter how we say coffee, we all get it from WaWa.

Nawth Joisey. I drink cawfee and eat chalklet. It's definately the Nawth that sounds basically like new yawk

There is North Jersey accent and South Jersey accent. South Jersey has more of a Philadelphia lean to it. North Jersey has more of a New York lean to it. Former South Jersey- ite here

Northern NJ is such a cornucopia of global cultures that going from one town to the next or from one side of one to another part of town can make you feel like you've literally traveled to a different country. Even if you only take people who speak unaccented American English (meaning indistinguishable from a native speaker) who has spent most of their lives in this part of NJ, you will get a huge, and I mean a HUGE, variety. You can try to argue that we should be represented by those who are the most influential in politics or media/music/entertainment... but then that's not very accurate for America at large, either, now is it?

I think there is a difference between a "reading" accent and an accent in social situations. Listen to these people during an argument with their spouses and that will be a much more interesting sample of their dialect.

Ugh once you go south jersey it gets weird!

Born in Jersey, gotta love it.used t drive an chill with friends in boonton down to seaside heights, great state,expensive now to live

I’ve heard exactly 3 people talk in an nj accent irl in all my 18 years and I’m in north Jersey (no joke one of them said in a perfect Jersey accent “u got it boss” I think I laughed out loud 😂)

My great grandfather was born in Montclair and lived in Newark until he was 8 or 9. Then he moved to DC. Watching this video answered the decade old question of whether he had an accent or not.

I live in Morris county and even tho I defend myself, I sometimes find myself saying cawfee instead of coffee 😂🤷🏼‍♀️

I never thought I had an accent until I moved to Florida. I'm from Newark/Elizabeth but to the southern people we're all New York accents because we talk fast. NJ/NY we can tell our differences in accent, but everyone else too damn lazy to tell the difference. 😑 I can agree though the NJ accent is not set in stone because it depends the area you're from.

I was born in NJ in the middle 1940s and we moved to CT about 7 years later. From there we moved to FL until after I got married and we came to OH. I'm still here and I never really lost my accent (northern NJ). My whole family always "tawked" this way and, with all the moving I've always done, I needed something to stay the same.

I've heard people say that my accent is a bit weird and I TOTALLY understand why: my mom and her family are New Yorkers BUT my FATHER'S family is from the SOUTH. I was born in NYC but my childhood was in the SOUTH so my accent is a mixture of both Southern and New Yorker accents! I say all of the "southern-ism" with a New Yorker accent. I NEVER really paid attention to it until someone pointed it out me the other day. I said "ya'll want some coffee" and someone asked me if I was from the North or South cause he couldn't figure it out because of the way I talk.

I'm from NJ and I love playing, "Guess That Accent!"

I knew i wasn't in Florida anymore the moment i heard the cashier say "coffee"

North Jersey accent is from ppl from the 5 boroughs & LI inter-marrying & moving to NJ. The South Jersey accent is split between American Country & American Country mixed w/ Philly immigrant Italian.

No joke im from new jersey and we’re the only people in the world without accents

1:46 wow, a perfectly accurate map showing the best part of jersey in white

I am originally from Cumberland County which definitely has a distinctive accent. One thing they did not mention which is a difference between South Jersey, Philadelphia, and the REST of the country is "Mary/merry/marry". Most of the country says all three the same way. South Jersey pronounces the first two the same (rhyming with "airy") but the third is different (not sure how I'd spell it phonetically). Philadelphia pronounces all three differently (like my father who pronounces "merry" and "Erin" like A-mur-ica). It is a distinct difference between regions.

Drive 15 miles in North Jersey and you feel like you should have your passport stamped at least twice

Jersey City born and raised. I live in central Jersey now. The Northern population slowly moved south to central NJ. The accent has become closer especially on the coast. Vacationers on the shore over the years have migrated to the beach.

4:18 to 4:30 That South Jersey accent doesn't just sound like a Southern accent, it is virtually indistinguishable from a Southern accent!

Im from Philly, but live in South Jersey. I have an accent..period.

In the south its pronounced "wooder" ice

All you people saying you don't have a nj accent even though that's where you're from: obviously you don't know cuz you're "immune" to the sound. Go to the South and I guarantee people can distinguish the accents

This is so true, I'm from North Jersey when I first moved to South Jersey some people accents sounded so much like someone from the Southern states, like NC, GA, and AL.

Born and raised in the water ice area ...And its "WOODER ICE " I haven't lived there in years and about a year ago a lady at home depot asked me what part of Philly I was from. I've lived all over the country and the JERSEY /PHILLY accent shines thru

I lived in New Jersey (20 minutes outside of Philly) and for the longest time I didn't know I had an accent. It wasn't until my dad told me that I sounded like his co - workers that I realized what I sounded like.

I worked in Willow Grove, Pa north of Philly, (am from CT)when I heard a co-worker mention "Olejerk" Road. Repeated the word with a question and he answered Old York Road.

that blue shirt guy actually said fork-Ed River I’m so happy

Yeah the line moved South because all of New York Brooklyn Staten island the Bronx moved in and brought their accents with them

I was born in New Jersey but started school in New York and ended up getting raised in Florida. Can we just-

Much of south jersey has people with heavy southern accents that have never been down south . I grew up in SO JERSEY and It would blow my mind.

The guy from Woodstown sounds like some if the guys I knew from Maryland & Penna.

I'm from Atlantic City, South Jersey. We (original locals) say "subs" not "hoagies". A lot of South Jersey does also except Wawa who calls them hoagies which is okay because we look at them as low quality subs especially because of the bread. People are constantly saying that it's the opposite in print trying to tell us it's different. The most famous of all down is here is "The White house Sub Shop". Try this, look up locally "sub shops" and then look up "hoagies". Most Hoagie places are chains and/or transplants. Younger people know both versions probably because of Wawa and Philly. We say "subs, sauce and water ice". Hoagies, gravy, and Italian ice hurt our ears.

"Hey, ya goin' down thuh shhoooore?"

I am a North Jersey native - born and raised and I can tell the host of this video is in Newark (Nork 🤣) *in my Joysey accent!

i just moved from central to south and i just can't handle it?? i mean, water ice? really?

a few years back ,i was at 92nd and b'way in Manhattan, patrolling with the AuxNYPD . some women approached us with cupcakes. one of the woman ,mentioned my philly accent

Guy in the green shirt totally had an accent saying 'football' and 'walk'

I am fascinated by accents and I have a good ear. Went to Brazil last year and can INSTANTLY tell if some one is a Carioca (from Rio de Janeiro. I've lived in Los Angeles for almost 40 years by way of Michigan for college and thought I'd completely affected a neutral Southern California accent (like TV announcers basically). I took a detailed accent quiz and they nailed it. "You are probably from Eastern Bucks County or Western Mercer County." My parents were from Trenton and moved across the river in 1955, before I was born. If I walked 3 blocks I was at the river and could see New Jersey. From the video, Trenton is right on the line of two dialects, and most of my friends, who's parents were from Philly, had a different accent. I didn't think any of us had an accent until I went home from living elsewhere, and heard my first "dahwn da shoah."

I don't think I have an accent

Ha! My grandmother from Philly's name was Dorothy and two of her sons are my father, Gary, and Uncle Paul (named for their father). She only settled in Jersey after they had grown though.

Yo! So true. To tell you the truth I've always thought of Jersey as having not just three separate dialects (or several as put forth by this video), but also having three distinct cultures as well. The southerners for instance, eat scrapple, while their more northern neighbors either never heard of it or find it simply repulsive. For me just another reason to love my Jerz: Jerzy's like every place - but there's no place like Jerz.

My boyfriend came from another country at age 10 didn't speak English and grew up in North Jersey I grew up in South Jersey. When I met him he sounded hardcore North Jersey accent with a tinge of his first language ..

Star Ledger. I think that’s some North Jersey paper.

That guy @4:20 does have a southern accent. His pronunciation of south as sowwth is exactly as I would say.

I’m from Central New Jersey and nobody really knows what accent we have lol

i live in central jersey and there are a few words that we pronounce kinda odd but most of the people who have that heavy italian/new york accent are people who moved from staten island to NJ

Im from Atlantic City and always thought I sounded regular when I speak ( if that makes sense) but I went to Rhode Island and I was told that I have an accent 😂

The guy from the tractor store has like a tidewater/delmarva accent that stills has a hint of the colonists accents.

The city always gets bigger. Little towns too, brick was half empty 20 years ago, now it's one big traffic jam.

I moved from Jersey City to Utah when i was 28. Every one comments on my accent which i gather is quite strong. I just tell them 9 million people back home speak like me a million of you speak funny.

That dude had a newjersey accent. I live in monmouth county and he sounds just like me.

I moved to Seattle from Trenton and people automatically knew I wasn't from there. They always thought I was from New York for some reason.

You don't sound like you are from New Jersey. (If I hear that one more time!) I'm not from NJ. I'm from Sussex County!

True story: I relocated to Dallas for about a year or so in the mid-'80s for a job. My first week, I go into a hamburger place that was like a downmarket MickeyDs. I'm on the line and when I get to the ordering counter window, this cute as a button 18 year old girl says "Kin Ah hep you? (Can I help you?)" I pause for a second, look at her and I say "Yeah, you can. How you doing, lemme haf a dubblecheese wit a coke n frys..got that?" Dead silence in the whole place because I obviously spoke too loudly and was from a Gangster movie. She wrinkles that little nose and says "Mister, are you from Noo Jerzee?" I said yeah, so what? The whole place started laughing and I laughed too. I loved Texas... They used to ask me "Peetah, say y'all agin." I would and they would just howl.

lol that dad joke at the end XD good one I feel jipped :( I want to hear people's accents from all the counties in NJ now I live in NJ but I think I only have an accent on certain words or when I talk really fast

He's right about Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, and certain parts of Atlantic Counties with the "southern accent", I'm from South Jersey, (Cumberland County). When i served in the Marines. People thought i lived in Alabama.

I was about to say "Wait I'm from Warren County NJ and I most certainly don't speak south Jersey like or Pennsylvanian, it's more like the north east" until I saw the part at 1:31 which makes more sense.

Born in Manhattan, grew up in North Jersey from the age of 3. I was raised a 5 minute walk from the GWB and went to school with mostly kids whose parents worked in Manhattan, so I was never exposed to anyone with that North Jersey accent except for maybe a few of the older teachers. Everyone else just sounds like they’re from the city. I only really hear that accent now when I go down the shore, funnily enough

I still dunno what kind of voice the character in my video game has. he's from Jersey but there's no voicing AND THERES SO MANY OPTIONS

It's pretty simple. South Jersey sounds like Philly, North Jersey sounds like New York. Each one has a smudge of the other.

No one talks about the faint trailing 'er' sound in some words that end in 'a'. For example the word 'soda' becomes 'soder'. I heard it growing up in Northern NJ. Anyone else?

I had an aunt I used to visit in Trenten, New Jersery and trust me, you definately have an accent.

Holy Shit woodstown we made it on the map lol

I was born in Paterson NJ, and the very first generation American. I am native NJ.

how do you talk about nj accents without mentioning Taylor ham

I have noticed us in NJ do not say the G at the end of a word, "Where you goin' ? "Fishin' that's what I'm doin' today. "Oh ok thought your band was playin' at the bar !!

When I lived in South Florida from nj people always thought my accent was new York, but what do they know

First of all, they're "heroes", and FINALLY, acknowledgement of the South Jersey southern accent.

The fellow from Woodstown sounds like folks from Cecil County, MD. My Cousins from near Elkton, MD sound very much like him. It is the vowel in South that probably sounded Southern to the folks He met in Massachusetts.

I’m here to blow your minds with this concept: Italian water ice.

Italian ice and water ice are different things!!! Italian ice is the hard stuff you get from the grocery store and water ice is the soft stuff you get at the shore.

Northern jersey accents are those derived from New York. As in the time of white flight, Jersey was one of the first places many people fled to in the 1950's and 60's. Those accents are not native to New Jersey. But what also has happened in the past 40 years is the ongoing loss of accents, due to media. radio and television. more and more people are sounding the same because we are hearing lesser accents in media. as such an erasure has been ongoing.