Bryan W. Alaspa 1Learning to Speak Chicago
June 12th 2009 12:00
Whether you are planning on living in Chicago for any length of time or just planning to visit, it will soon become evident that the people here speak some form of English that isn't quite the way everyone else in the country speaks. It isn't a Souther accent and it isn't an East coast accent, but it's some kind of accent. It may leave you baffled. It may leave you standing there confused and befuddled, but it isn't a code or anything. That guy trying to give you directions is really probably trying to help you.
The first, and most important, thing to remember is that Chicagoans are working-class people. Whether they work for an office or some high-tech firm downtown, they all have working-class roots. That means they are busy people with very little time for things like correctly pronouncing the “th” in front of words like “the” and “that” and “these” and “those.”
What that means is that the man in the nice suit and expensive haircut who is standing there talking to you about insurance might look highly educated. He may very well be very educated. But if he is from Chicago he might hand you information about the policies, look you straight in the eyes and say, “dose policies right dere are some of da best you're going to find.”
When in Chicago you have to know one other very important thing and that's they like to add letters where there aren't any necessary. There is a suburb near Chicago known as Palatine. If you are truly a Chicagoan you pronounce this PalaNtine. If you are talking about the football stadium where the Chicago Bears play (Soldier Field) you should consider it SoldierS Field. You can even add an extra “s” to places like the grocery store chains. Instead of going to the nearby Jewel, you go to Jewels.
I once heard a man on a talk radio show talking about the metal bars they put into roads to strengthen the concrete. Anyone who knows anything about construction knows that this is called “rebar.” This guy was pronouncing it “rebarb.” I don't know what he was thinking about, but that was what he called it. The only way someone or anything could be a rebarb would be if they were once named Barbara and went by Barb, changed their name and then changed it back to Barb. They would then be Re-Barb.
Chicagoans also have names for rooms in their house that are not likely to be found in any other city. Don't be frightened. If a Chicagoan invites you into their home and asks you to sit in the “fronchroom” they are just talking about the living room near the front of the home. To some this might be called a “front room.” In Chicago-speak, you run that together into one indecipherable word like “fronchroom.”
You can practice these at home if you want. Maybe you can do it in front of a mirror. By practicing just these few things you might even be able to pass as a Chicagoan yourself. There are other things, of course, but those basic ones should help get you through to start with.
Maybe later on, I'll tell you what the difference is between a regular hot dog and a “Chicago” style hot dog. You can eat it in someone's fronchroom.
The first, and most important, thing to remember is that Chicagoans are working-class people. Whether they work for an office or some high-tech firm downtown, they all have working-class roots. That means they are busy people with very little time for things like correctly pronouncing the “th” in front of words like “the” and “that” and “these” and “those.”
What that means is that the man in the nice suit and expensive haircut who is standing there talking to you about insurance might look highly educated. He may very well be very educated. But if he is from Chicago he might hand you information about the policies, look you straight in the eyes and say, “dose policies right dere are some of da best you're going to find.”
When in Chicago you have to know one other very important thing and that's they like to add letters where there aren't any necessary. There is a suburb near Chicago known as Palatine. If you are truly a Chicagoan you pronounce this PalaNtine. If you are talking about the football stadium where the Chicago Bears play (Soldier Field) you should consider it SoldierS Field. You can even add an extra “s” to places like the grocery store chains. Instead of going to the nearby Jewel, you go to Jewels.
I once heard a man on a talk radio show talking about the metal bars they put into roads to strengthen the concrete. Anyone who knows anything about construction knows that this is called “rebar.” This guy was pronouncing it “rebarb.” I don't know what he was thinking about, but that was what he called it. The only way someone or anything could be a rebarb would be if they were once named Barbara and went by Barb, changed their name and then changed it back to Barb. They would then be Re-Barb.
Chicagoans also have names for rooms in their house that are not likely to be found in any other city. Don't be frightened. If a Chicagoan invites you into their home and asks you to sit in the “fronchroom” they are just talking about the living room near the front of the home. To some this might be called a “front room.” In Chicago-speak, you run that together into one indecipherable word like “fronchroom.”
You can practice these at home if you want. Maybe you can do it in front of a mirror. By practicing just these few things you might even be able to pass as a Chicagoan yourself. There are other things, of course, but those basic ones should help get you through to start with.
Maybe later on, I'll tell you what the difference is between a regular hot dog and a “Chicago” style hot dog. You can eat it in someone's fronchroom.
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