Fast Talking

Jersey Girls are fast talkers, and I was one of the fastest.

Here's an excerpt of Vanessa Huxtable's fast talking friend on The Cosby Show.  I realize that The Cosby Show took place in Brooklyn, but here's an excerpt of Vanessa's friend, the fast talker.  She was on several episodes, and my family said she talked just like I do.

I was a Rotary Youth Exchange student to New Zealand in the 90s, so I had to slow things down.  Think Simon and Garfunkel (if you can't name that tune, I'll do it for you at the end of this post).  I was only in New Zealand for a year, though, so I sped back up.  A friend I grew up with ended up at the same college as me, and I can remember running into her and the two of us talking the day before classes began.  Imagine a man bopping his head three times faster than these kittens, and you'll have a vague idea of what this guy looked like:

However, fast talking might be acceptable in New Jersey, but it's not something you can do all over the country.  Arizona, for example, is a much slower state. I worked hard to speak more slowly, but when I was very busy, I automatically sped-up my voice the same way I had to speed up my actions.  Unfortunately, my boss took that to mean I was panicing whenever I was approaching a deadline, so I worked hard for a decade, and I believe that my boss stays at a well modulated speed most of the time.

I'm in Boston now, and while people are faster here than in Arizona, work might move quickly, but voices just don't have that faster Jersey girl sound to them.  So imagine my surprise when I started a new project working with a Canadian who spoke as quickly as I used to (ok, as quickly as I still want to talk about 1/2 of the time).  She was going on "aboot" the project, and I couldn't figure out why I was so drawn into a conversation about a boring (but necessary) portion of the project.  Then I realized that she is a fast talker!  It was wonderful.

Sometimes I miss being a Jersey girl.  Did you know that Jersey gave the world people like Danny DeVito and Jon Bon Jovi?  I do. I grew up in the 80s.  Knowing that Bon Jovi was one of us was a requirement and something that all the sixth graders bragged about.

Mostly, though, I miss being someplace where people aren't surprised when I forget to self-censure and just talk as fast as I want.  In fact, I've lost my skills - even when I talk fast, I'm slower than I used to be!

One last thought - folks from Jersey don't speak in "Joisy Accents" because that's not a Jersey accent - that's how folks from Brooklyn talk.