DIALECTS By : Barbara Donlon Bradley
I ’ ve been having fun learning the new slang w o r d s . T h i n k i n g about this new slang made me think of dialect . Putting the dialect of a particular place into your manuscript can add to your story . Slang can do the same thing . It can show part of the personality of your characters like if they ’ re trying to fit in by using certain slang words or fake a certain accent .
I was a Navy brat growing up and my dad was stationed all along the coast of the U . S . He was stationed in Queens ,
NY . Yes , there was a small base there years ago . And we lived in Brooklynn . We did a short stint in California when Mirmar was Navy . Then we moved to Marrero , LA which is on the west bank of New Orleans while Dad was stationed at Belle Chase . Our next stop was South Weymouth , MA which was just a ride on the T to get to Boston .
Each city has its own particular phrases . For New York , it was “ use guys ,” me ’ al bo ’ le ( metal bottle ), terlet , ( toilet ), doag , ( dog ) and coaffee ( coffee ) to name a few . My dad grew up in Brooklynn and those words sneak out every once in a while . One day I was working , and I heard a friend , who had no real accent suddenly say , “ Sure , come on down and we ’ ll have some cauffee .”
My brain went straight to New York . Using certain words will do the same for your reader .
I ’ m going to skip California because we were only there a few months . New Orleans however has such a rich dialect there is no way I can list them all . Here are a few though , oil was Earl , pencil was perncil , orange was erange . Then there was the cajun , mixed in . “ I tol ’ you four t ’ ree times .”
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