Nancy and I jumped at the business opportunity to move to Chicago's western suburbs in 1997 to be close to family and grandchildren. We lived in a wonderful community, Stonebridge Country Club, within a mile of them. Other than the bone chilling winters and exorbitant taxes, it was a wonderful place to live. We assumed our Italian traditions, elaborate Sunday dinners, giving advice and tips whether or not solicited, and falsely assuming unchallenged wisdom. However, Nancy was far too young (and pretty) to earn the matronly connotation of family matriarch and I was a better drinking buddy than elder statesman for the family. Getting together with everyone was nothing but fun.
Although our neighborhood was mostly diverse, we didn't need to go very far to find hard core native Chicagoans! Since we were the outsiders, we generally were respectful of their funny dialects. That simply means we didn't openly criticize them. You know it's those exaggerated accent made famous by the Chicago sports fan on SNL; "th" pronounced as "DA", "FUR" instead of "for". What about those "A"s? Just listen to old Mike Ditka interviews! Again, I was accepting of the way they spoke. In fact, Nancy even though it was, well, cute.
However, our kind gesture and tolerance wasn't reciprocated. Everyone there thought "our" accent was strange and wanted to know where it sprouted from. In fact, more than one rug rat including my own grandchildren told me I talk funny! How about those that pretended they couldn't understand what I was saying, or the most annoying' those that responded with "pak the ca in Havard yd".
It's a simple argument! I reminded everyone in Chicago land the Pilgrims didn't land anywhere near Skokie, Illinois. Plymouth Massachusetts was ground zero, proof positive Bostonians aren't the ones with the accents. We represented the original American dialect, period!
Ok, the way we pronounce some words might be considered a little quirky. The language code is actually quite simple, plus and minus "R"s. We take "R"s away from where they belong and add them where they don't. September becomes Septemba, car/ca, park/pak, wonderful/wondaful, remember/rememba.
On the plus "R" side, Linda is pronounced Linder, Wanda/Wander, Nebraska/Nebrasker, granola/granoler, simple enough?
In conclusion, I'm sure when pilgrim ranchers gathered their herds, they asked their ranch hands to round up the hosses.
p.s. We loved living in Illinois, especially all its wonderful residents and the many friends we made; but some of you do talk a little funny! We go back on holidays and as often as we can.