Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Heyna



Northeast Pennsylvania has an odd dialect.

Many of us spend the rest of our lives trying to get rid of it.

It's hard to describe.... but I think some of it originates from the Irish coal mining settlers. I hear it mainly in the way locals say "tink" instead of "think", or "tree" instead of "three". But I'm just guessing.

The best one is "heyna" or "henna". Basically, it means "isn't it" or worse, a bastardization of "ain't it".

I don't know why I didn't post this before. A friend sent it to me ages ago - as a joke about where we grew up. The funny thing is, I realized I knew a few of the people from this comedy troupe.

It's quite funny - particularly so if you grew up here.




2 comments:

John said...

I made a conscious decision at a very young age that I didn't want to sound like a Hazleton hick. It must've worked, because one day when Aimee and I were looking at an apartment for rent, the lady showing it to us said, "you're not from around here, are you?"

Aimee and I looked at each other and I said, "Yes, we were born and raised here. Why do you ask?"

And she said, "Because youse have an accent."

Still one of the best compliments I've ever received.

Unknown said...

I know what you mean...same thing happened to me when i went to college. They thought I sounded so weird.