E.J. White

Elyse White is an English professor at Stony Brook University, and author of You Talkin' to Me?: The Unruly History of New York English.[1]

Elyse White
Nationality United States
Other names
  • E.J. White
  • Elyse Graham White
Occupation(s)author, English professor

White is a Fellow of the Society for the Humanities.[2]

During an interview on WSHU about her 2020 book You Talkin' To Me?: The Unruly History of New York English, White confessed that when she first arrived at a New York City airport to take up her new position at a New York City University, she was surprised to hear a New York City accent.[3] She said she thought the accent was an invention of television writers.

In its review, The Economist quotes White explaining that New Yorkers regard what outsiders see as aggressiveness as merely a flattering sign of engagement and interest.[4]

In its review, The Wall Street Journal quoted White's comments of the influence the New York accent had on the lyrics of the popular songs or Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter.[5]

Publications
  • E.J. White. A Unified Theory of Cats on the Internet. Stanford University Press. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  • E.J. White. "You Talkin' To Me?: The Unruly History of New York English". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2021-02-24.

References
  1. Wendy Smith (2020-06-15). "LI author talks about 'You Talkin' to Me?,' which looks at how New Yorkers speak". Newsday. Archived from the original on 2020-08-18. Retrieved 2021-02-24. It's clear from the unprintable-in-a-newspaper opening line of "You Talkin' to Me? The Unruly History of New York English" (Oxford University Press, $19.95) that Stony Brook University assistant professor Elyse "E.J." White is comfortable combining a scholar's measured tone with the salty vocabulary of popular speech.
  2. "Elyse Graham (EJ White) on her new book, You Talkin' To Me?". Society for the Humanities. 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  3. Davis Dunavin (2020-08-10). "New Book 'You Talkin To Me?' Delves Into New York Accent". WSHU. Retrieved 2021-02-24. 'I'm embarrassed to say this, but I was surprised. I did not think that the New York accent existed in real life. I thought it was made up for television,' White said. 'I apologize. That's on me. It was a stupid thing for me to assume. But in my defense, every time you hear somebody on television talking with a New York accent, they're a henchman. They're not a person who exists in normal life. They're like "Sure, boss. I can get it for ya. But it'll cost ya!"'
  4. "Pride, prejudice and the story of New York English". The Economist magazine. 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2021-02-24. Ms White reckons a conversational manner that might be called "assertive" by, say, polite Britons, is, for New Yorkers, not rude but the opposite: a sign of engagement, and therefore of warmth. Patient, slow-paced styles can, to the New Yorker, seem aloof.
  5. Daniel Akst (2020-07-16). "'You Talkin' to Me?' Review: Sounds of the City". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2021-02-24. Ira Gershwin said he came up with titles "by listening to the argot in everyday conversation," and Cole Porter, Ms. White says, "filled his songs with slang and phrases of recent coinage," including "you're the top" and "I hit the ceiling."
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