Judge, 1930-06-21 · page 10 of 36
Judge — June 21, 1930 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Lessons in New Yorkese" - Judge Magazine Satire This page satirizes New York immigrant dialect and urban working-class speech patterns. The top section presents a comedic dialogue in exaggerated "Brooklynese"—phonetic transcriptions of how recent immigrants and working-class New Yorkers spoke English, with dropped consonants ("whohitcha"), malapropisms ("poisonal" for "personal"), and characteristic phrasing ("ain't nobuddy," "dunnit"). The bottom cartoon illustrates the dialect lesson with an accident scene: a man lies injured after being hit by a car, while a woman gestures. The caption mockingly suggests he blamed a "strong wind" for the accident—implying the stereotype that immigrants made excuses rather than taking responsibility. This reflects early 20th-century urban American humor that made ethnic speech and working-class immigrants objects of ridicule for educated readers. The satire punches downward at outsiders struggling with English.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
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