gentriconfronunciation

sweet tea · May 2006

so i met a woman recently who had grown up around here (she was born in the building i now live in, actually), and she told be that the correct pronunciation of that street between grand and franklin is "claw-son", as in, "nice bling on your cat's claws, son". i had been saying "claa-son", as in "where was i during the class in jeans-pegging?"

thoughts?

escap · May 2006

You mean Classon? One of my best friends grew up on that street and he always pronounced it Class-on, not clawson. The G train conductor also says Classon. Were you perhaps speaking with a Brit?

mikewalton718 · May 2006

I suppose I live on Worshingtun Between Perq Playce and Stahling.

candicissima · May 2006

Yeah, I'm with escap (imagine that!). I've never heard it any other way than Class-son. Do you know her well? I'd say she was just fucking with you.

armchair_warrior · May 2006

i know it to be claw son too.

iowagirl · May 2006

My neighbors, lovely people in their early sixties, grew up in PH and have lived here most of their lives. They both pronounce it Claw-son, and taught this newcomer of seven years how to say it.

carnivore · May 2006

iowagirl wrote: My neighbors, lovely people in their early sixties, grew up in PH and have lived here most of their lives. They both pronounce it Claw-son, and taught this newcomer of seven years how to say it.

Either your neighbor is a total cob-nobbler, or is making this up for the tom-tom club lamestains.
Harsh realm!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge_speak

sweet tea · May 2006

escap wrote: Were you perhaps speaking with a Brit?

definitely not. born in crown heights, grew up mostly in flatbush, currently lives on eastern parkway near the street in question.

and while i do not know her well, i did not get the impression that she was fucking with me, although i suppose that is the hallmark of really good with-fucking.

alafairnadia · May 2006

I've heard this a few times. mostly from ppl who've been here longer than I. maybe when the nabe is uber gentrified, we'll all say clawson. you know, like we all say howston. cause that shit is houston.

sweet tea · May 2006

wait, are you saying that when the nabe is uber-gentrified, we'll go back to the old pronunciation? because it seems like people are saying that the old-timers saw "claw" and the newcomers say "class".

alafairnadia · May 2006

sweet tea wrote: wait, are you saying that when the nabe is uber-gentrified, we'll go back to the old pronunciation? because it seems like people are saying that the old-timers saw "claw" and the newcomers say "class".

exactly. it'll be a sign of "I know more than you, tourist". saying clawson will mean you know what you're talking about, and saying classon will be an indicator that you're a moron.

sorry, I have big beef about the way ppl flip out about howston/houston. of course, I say howston. english - most obnoxious language ever.

sweet tea · May 2006

got it.

(in fact, that's very like the situation with goethe street in chicago. the german immigrants likely said it right, then the chicago pronunciation shifteed to go-ee-thee (like "go easy" with a lisp), then the smarty pants set started correcting all the by-then-old-timers, and now snobs like me say it the chicago way to prove that, not only can i pronounce it in german, i can also pronounce it in chicago.)

glad i'm in on all this in time to sneer at those someday tourists.

iowagirl · May 2006

Either your neighbor is a total cob-nobbler, or is making this up for the tom-tom club lamestains.
Harsh realm!

We were swingin' on the flippety-flop when someone pulled over to ask us for directions. After telling him how to get to Claw-son, she told him to rock on. I don't know if he was coffeeable later.

whyfi · May 2006

And here I always thought that I lived on Prospect and Claus-un...

gentriconfronunciation

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