Pandemic gives megaphone to the oft-maligned New York accent

Hey, they're talkin' here!

With New York City at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. and its native-born among those offering crucial information to the nation in televised briefings, the New York accent has stepped up to the mic — or maybe the megaphone.

Holly Kelsey, for one, is charmed.

“I think it's because my accent is so opposite from theirs, it's intriguing to me," said Kelsey, 59, of Denton, Texas, who's been watching New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and top infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci, both sons of New York City.

Fauci’s science-based way of explaining the crisis at White House briefings has attracted untold numbers of fans, and Cuomo's news conferences have become must-see TV.

What matters most is what's being said, of course, said Kelsey, who's got a definite Texas tone to her own speech, but also, “I just like the way they speak."

That hasn't usually been the sentiment for the various fast-talking, final-letter-dropping, middle-vowel-stretching speech patterns of the five boroughs, often mocked in movies and television as the purview of miscreants and meatheads — and maybe a neurotic or two.

Researchers who have studied how the country's various accents are perceived by those in other parts of the U.S. have found when it comes to a New York sound, well, just fuggedaboutit.

“People opinion’s about accents are really opinions about the people who use those accents," said Laurel MacKenzie, assistant professor of linguistics at New York University.

Studies have shown “people around the country think New Yorkers sound aggressive," she said. “Pretty much no matter where you go, people don’t like the New York accent."

What? Archie Bunker and George Jefferson aggressive? Mona Lisa Vito? Oh, fine.

But in this...