"Hey, yo" Should Have Been "C'mon now!"

There are loads of movies that contain slip ups, oversights, and out and out screw ups that will take you out of the film because it shatters the cloak of believability. All films need to have its audience buy into what they are trying to convey. One for me is "The Shining" at the very end when Jack is chasing his boy through the freezing labyrinth of hedges outside the hotel. This movie is supposed to take place somewhere in the Rockies in the middle of winter in a snowed in location, yet when Jack is running after this little pain in the ass, in the dead of night...you do not see his breath at all in the cold. At that point, I get taken completely out of the film and say without fail "Can't they CGI some shit in there to make this look more real?"  I have no problem accepting that this film is about a hotel possessed with long dead spirits who also happen to have telekinetic powers, but it is the laws of physics ignored regarding water vapor in sub freezing weather that turns me into Roger Ebert.

"Independence Day" is another example. Now while this is a horrid film with amazingly large gaps in believability, the part that always gets me was how Jeff Goldblum's character was able to disable the ship by giving it a virus from his laptop. You cannot even sync PC and Mac systems without it being a major undertaking, yet in this film alien technology that was able to build force fields and travel at light speed is somehow vulnerable to a Dell Laptop initiated virus.

Those are obvious; however, it was not until recently that I noticed this new one. Now, every time I see one of these movies it completely takes me out of what I am watching due to its complete inaccuracy!

Why the hell does Rocky not have a Philadelphia accent???

I have lived 40 miles from Philly for the past few years after coming from New York, and I have to say that without question, Philly-bred residents have the worst accents I have heard (this is coming from a man who has visited both Pittsburgh and Alabama). It took me a while to figure out why, but it really boils down to a few things. (this was found on http://www.ehow.com/ under "How to speak English with Wiz dripping down your chin"):

1. Turn a long "e" before a "g" into a short "i." A beagle is a "biggle," Philly's football team is the "Iggles" and a league is a "lig." A long "a" must be turned into a short "e." A bagel is a "beggle," and the Hague is the "heg."
2. Make "ow" sound like a flat "a" when it comes before an "r" or an "l." For example, our is "are" and howl is "hal."
3. Simplify words that have two or more sounds in them. Mayor is "mare," tour is "tore," towel is "tal" (remember the "ow" rule) and Italy is "Itlee." Conversely, some short words that have an "oh" sound must end up with two syllables. Add a "w" sound after the "oh" so that thrown and phone become "throwen" and "phowen."
4. Use the "aw" sound frequently, like "dawg," "cawfee" and "maw" instead of dog, coffee and mall.
5. Add a subtle long "e" sound before an "an." Ann should almost sound like "Ian" and "pan" is almost "pee-ann."
6. Say "you" and "to" as "yuh" and "tuh." But remember that "two" is still pronounced "two." For example, "Yuh go tuh da store tuh get two cee-ans of soup."
7. Practice the Philly "a" a lot. It's difficult to master because it varies depending on usage. Use a tense "a" before most consonants, so that fan is "fa-an" and staff is "sta-aff." There is no steady rule when the word ends in "d" - mad is "ma-ad" but "brad" is "brahd." If there is another vowel after the consonant or if the word is a verb, the "a" is lax, as in "hahmer" for "hammer," "I cahn" and "I rahn" (I can and I ran).

Now getting back to the Italian Stallion, this fictional character represents and is profoundly identified to Philadelphia as any real athlete like MJ to Chicago, Elway to Denver and Ripken to Baltimore. This character is supposed to come from the working class of Philadelphia. This speaks volumes for how desperate this city was for any type of sports’ champion that they embraced this fictional boxer (though you have to wonder why Philly did not embrace Joe Frazier who actually was from Philadelphia and was a Heavyweight Champ during the greatest era in Heavyweight Boxing...well, I am willing to bet we know the reason why).

Now, while his backstory was never really fleshed out, you have to assume Rocky Balboa was born, raised and lived his entire life in the heart of Philly. Any person who was born and raised in a city that has a regional dialect like Boston, NY, Dallas, Chicago CANNOT avoid acquiring some sort of accent. So how is it that the character who has come to be identified so strongly with Philadelphia has an accent like he just stepped off the set of "The Lords of Flatbush"?

Comments

[jamesdugan]

I always did think there was something funny about that accent. I grew up near where the supposed "fake" Philadelphian lived and I don't think I ever heard anyone from Kensignton speak that way. Don't get me wrong, most of us did not have total command of a posh accent, but we didn't sound as terrible and grating as New Yorkers.

I am finally glad it was exposed. The fact is that Philadelphians speak much better than New Yorkers or Bostoners. As people from a more Southern and gentile background, it is finally time to let Rocky go. We are the World Champions and we need no faux heroes anymore.

It is said that Rocky or Stallone went to Lincoln High in Philadelphia -- this actually far from the streets of Kensignton. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen in NY, so that probably had more to do with the movie. Hell's Kitchen looks much more like Kensignton than the Northeast. So finally, this is another example of how New York has exploited our culture -- just like selling soft pretzels on the streets of Manhattan -- that is wrong.

Thanks for the post -- it was humorous and brought a lot of fun to lunch.