Wannamayksumpnuvit? Lawyer Takes 11 Years of Speech Lessons
Patrick Mullin was tired of the complaining.
A tax and criminal defense lawyer who practices in New York and New Jersey, he would attend legal training seminars where colleagues complained that his thick accent made him impossible to understand.
Mullin had a New York accent, and he decided to do something about it, the New York Times reports. Eleven years ago, he began seeing a speech therapist, and he still goes about once a month.
“I didn’t want to be boxed in regionally,” Mullin told the Times. “I wanted to be a clear communicator. My accent got in the way.”
The newspaper spoke with several people trying to eliminate their New York accents with the help of speech therapists. Says the Times, “The classic New York accent is not as distinct or as prevalent as it once was, but there are plenty of native ‘New Yawkers’ who not only have it but consider it a curse.”
The story includes some New York words defined in the 1938 Almanac for New Yorkers. They include:
• Wazzitooyuh? A “delicate rebuff to an excessively curious questioner.”
• Wannamayksumpnuvit? An invitation to fight.
• Hootoadjuh? For “please give the source of your information.”
• Sumpmscroowie. Indicates suspicion.
• Whazzup? A request for information.
