Here’s a fairly good resource for the Bawlamer accent, although a few of them aren’t quite right to my ear. Also, to get a lot of the “definitions” you need to know about local names and places. For instance, Droodle = Druid Hill. But “awl” for “oil” and “Har and Far…What the boss does” are spot on.
But my favorite Bawlamerism is where people go on their summer vacations: Danny Ayshin.
Down [to] the ocean!
Is the slurring of the “oo” sound a Bawlmer thing? As in the word “too,” which ends up sounding like a Frenchman (or a Louisianer) saying “teaux”? I notice that a lot, especially with Prop Joe and Omar.
Some dialogue from the real-life Jay Landsman, from the book Homicide (actually the very first page):
I’ve been watching S4 on On Demand, and I’ve heard several characters (mostly kids) who do this. I’ve heard it in real life from folks from inner city Baltimore, so I’d say yes, it’s a real thing.
As a general rule, the characteristic Bawlamer accent I’ve been talking about is almost exclusively a blue-collar white thing. I don’t know why, but I don’t recall hearing black people talk that way. (Maybe Trunk or some other locals can confirm or refute that.)
However, the way Prop Joe speaks is authentic, since the actor, Robert F. Chew, is a native or a long-term Baltimore resident. But I couldn’t say if the example you’ve pointed out is peculiar to Baltimore.
I’ve been imitating the accent aliquot mentioned for the past couple of days because it’s funny to my ears (and I’m addicted to S4 on OnDemand). Instead of saying “you”, I say “yew” and “too” becomes “tew”. According to wikipedia article, this is indeed a Baltimore thing.
FYI, HBO On Demand has two 30-minute making-of films: It’s All Connected and The Game is Real, along with the three short prequel clips mentioned above.
I’m about 1/2 way through series 3, so I’m skimming over a lot of these posts!
I just have a quick question, especially for Trunk and anyone else from Baltimore.
Do the British/Irish actors’ accents give them away? Do they sound like they could actually be from Baltimore? Can you listen to them without wincing?
The actors would be:
Aidan Gillen
Dominic West
Idris Elba
They all sound American enough to me (I don’t really know enough to pin down a Baltimore accent), but I wonder if that’s the same way that truly painful “Irish” accents (to me) can sound OK to non-Irish people.
If I didn’t know that Elba was from the UK, I would have pegged him as second-generation West Indian. He does a very good American accent (all the movies I’ve seen him in, except for the Rwandan genocide one, he has an American accent), but sometimes his “proper” enunciation gives him away.
All three have perfectly fine American accents and give away no hint of their national origins, AFAICT. West and Gillen don’t sound like native Marylanders, but neither do I, and I really am one.
It’s quite amazing to hear West speak in his (presumably) natural English accent in the “making-of” shows I mentioned above. There’s no hint of it in his Wire work.
That makes it all the more hilarious to hear the incredibly bad English accent McNulty does when he’s trying to get into the brothel in S2.
I’ve heard some traces of a British accent from Dominic West, but the other two have no trace, as far as I can tell.
BTW, what did you think of the three short prequels: 1962: Prop Joe, 1985: Omar, and 2000: Bunk/McNulty? According to The Hollywood Reporter, they were produced by David Simon himself, and there will be more as S5 progresses.
Frankly, I was disappointed and don’t think they live up to the standards of The Wire. It’s as though they found some young film students, showed them a few episodes, and told them to write and produce the clips. They just don’t seem to fit organically into the world of The Wire.
The first two in particular feel unsubtle and amateurish. The young Prop Joe is preternaturally clever and eloquent, and overuses the word “proposition.” IMHO the idea of a 1962 grade school kid trying to shake down a teacher for money is completely implausible. He might have offered to rat out his paying client to gain favor or get out of trouble, but demanding cash rings completely false to me.
Also, the amounts he’s asking for are completely out of line. In 1962 my father, a middle-class white man (working for the Baltimore Sun, BTW), earned about $100 a week, on which he supported a family of four. Prop Joe asking another inner city school kid for $10 is ludicrous. Ten cents would have been more likely.
I will say that the production design for this clip, particularly the costumes and the teacher’s hairstyle, is good.
The Omar piece is not much better. The acting by the kids is not great, and I wouldn’t expect Omar to have earned his scar by that age. (You may not be able to see it on the computer, but you can if you watch it On Demand.) The whole notion of “here’s how Omar developed his code” was handled rather clumsily, I felt.
The Bunk/McNulty piece was not as bad as the first two, largely because the acting was better. But even so, there were false notes. Jimmy drinking through his first night in a new posting? Sorry, I don’t buy it. He drinks and doesn’t suck up to the bosses, but he’s not a complete political idiot, either.
What did you think?
They all sound very American, in my opinion. Aidan Gillen is the only one who has a little bit of a “tell,” I suppose you could call it – not so much his accent, but once in a while the emphasis or pace of his speech sounds like something I associate with Irish-Americans. Not so much Irish-Americans who have been here for generations, but the kind of Irish-Americans who grew up in real enclave communities with significant numbers of Irish accented speakers. Before I knew the actor was Irish, I kept forgetting the character’s name because I thought he was supposed to be representing an Irish-American council district.
Totally agree. **The Wire ** is the only reason we still pay for HBO (and when the newest/final season ends, so does our subscription). I’m thankful for writers, producers and directors who don’t stoop to trite plotlines, endings, and characters. Who respect us enough to challenge our attention span, our need for closure and neat endings, our assumptions about good guys and bad guys and social class and crime and “the system”.
I’m wrung out after each episode. And, I admit, I tape it and activate the closed captioning when I watch so I don’t miss a word. I’m smart, but not smart enough to get it all on a cold viewing. Yeah, it’s like watching a movie every episode. A fucking GOOD movie! Better than 90% of the crap in my Netflix queue.
Cheers to The Wire! And jeers to the fact that this is the final season–that I won’t get to watch McNulty, Bunk, Kima, Prop Joe, Avon, Bubs, Marlo, Omar, Concetti, Freamon, Daniels, Carver, and all the rest. Can’t pick a favorite actor, scene, character, episode or storyline. They are all exquisite.
You can hear Dominic West’s accent on the “a” sound in words like “can’t.” He says “cahn’t.” Doesn’t sound very Baltimore, anyway.
I agree about the OnDemand clips-- they were a bit clumsy. Michael K. Williams’ scar was acquired when he was a grown up, about 10 years ago, so it’s a lot more recent than portrayed in the short.
I think McNulty was drinking on the job as a way of impressing/getting to know Bunk. It turned out to be a very good plan of action, in this case. McNulty is pretty sharp about people, even though he doesn’t always put what he knows to the best use for his personal advancement. In this case, he did.
I’ve noticed some awkward pacing with his talking, too, but I’ve always attributed it to the Carcetti character. He knows all the right things to say, but he’s really tired of saying them, and so they’ve become rote with him. So they sound off.
But you’re probably right, it’s just his accent coming through. I didn’t know the actor was Irish.
Just watched The Odyssey special. It’ll be repeated several more times if you missed it. But if you’re new to The Wire, don’t watch it – major spoilers for two characters’ deaths.
There was some funny stuff. Dominic West says nah, the writing isn’t all that great – it’s the acting that makes the show so good. Several of the people interviewed commented on the fact that the show hasn’t won an Emmy for best drama, or for acting, directing, etc. It’s a puzzlement, isn’t it?
Some of the actors talked about their auditions. Lance Reddick auditioned for Bubbles!
Some scenes still shocked me, despite multiple viewings.
Hasn’t even been nominated, as far as I know.
I thought you guys might find this (long) New Yorker article interesting. It’s about the show’s creator and has some amusing anecdotes from the set.
(Apologies if someone already linked to it. I read through the entire thread and didn’t see a link.)
Apropos almost nothing - just spent a wonderful 2 hours with a great friend of mine who happens to be Australian, who has just finished watching (my) dvd’s of the 1st 3 series.
We spent the whole time talking about The Wire.
He talked a lot about what a treat it must be to play Omar, and about the frailties of all characters involved.
We both love Cutty - or Dennis Wise as british viewers will have no trouble recalling.
MiM