Key Takeaways
- Cam'ron and Mase rejected claims that New York accents are fading on It Is What It Is, with Mase crediting New Yorkers' temperament, personality and aggression.
- Cam'ron dismissed the claim as another internet invention, saying regional expressions wouldn't sound right coming from people outside New York.
- A February survey of more than 3,000 U.S. adults ranked NYC No. 12 among accents respondents say they use less, though the self-reported poll wasn’t a linguistic study.
Cam'ron and Mase are not buying the idea that New York City's accents are dying out.
Their comments arrived on Thursday's (November 5) episode of It Is What It Is when co-host Treasure "Stat Baby" Wilson opened the conversation with a question about NYC accents.
"They're saying that the New York accent is fading among younger generations because, I guess, internet slang and what people are hearing on the internet," Wilson said.
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Mase answered first, tying the accent to the city's personality rather than to anything kids pick up online.
"I think [the] New York accent probably will never go away. I think it's just the way that New Yorkers talk. Their temperament, their personality, the aggression. It's just—it's never going to fade," Mase said. "I don't think it'll ever change."
On the other hand, Cam’ron said: "First of all, I just think people make up shit every day on the internet."
Further into the episode he elaborated: "It ain't going to sound right if a girl from down south or maybe even the West Coast be like, 'Yo, fuck out of here. Suck my dick.' That's a New York accent for a girl. I can't even see a girl from down south saying suck my dick. It's just not going to sound right."
He added that the accent comes down to "your environment."
About 30 years ago, Cam said, he returned from college in Texas sounding Southern, couldn't shake it, and kept hearing from people that something was off. These days, he said: "I think I'm pretty much stuck with this."
The fading-accent idea does line up with a February survey of more than 3,000 U.S. adults. That self-reported poll, not a linguistic study, ranked New York City No. 12 among accents Americans say they use less, behind Appalachian and Southern, per The Word Finder (via CBS News New York).
The Word Finder said that years of media portrayal of big-city accents "may help preserve them even as everyday usage softens." It blamed the softening on moving, changing jobs, and talking with non-locals.
