line: Metro New Yorkers tend to say they stand line, whereas most other New York State and American English speakers tend to stand in line. : the small front staircase or steps up to a building (from the Dutch word "") punchball and stickball: street variants of baseball, suitable for smaller urban areas, in which a fist or stick substitutes for the bat and a rubber ball (a "Spaldeen") is used skel(l): a vagrant, beggar, or small-time street criminal s(c)hmuck: an insulting term for an unlikeable man (from Yiddish shmok: "penis") yous(e) (often ): the plural form of you, in addition to you guys or, possibly performatively, yous guys The word tends to be used as a synonym for "weak", "someone unwilling or unable to defend himself" or perhaps "loser", though it appears to descend from an outdated New York African-American English meaning of male receptive participant in anal sex. Conversational styles New York City speakers have some unique conversational styles. Linguistics professor Deborah Tannen notes in a New York Times article it has "an emphasis to involve the other person, rather than being considerate. It would be asking questions as a show of interest in the other person, whereas in other parts of [the] country, people don't ask because it might put the person on the spot." Metro New Yorkers "stand closer, talk louder, and leave shorter pauses between exchanges," Tannen said. "I call it 'cooperative overlap'. It's a way of showing interest and enthusiasm, but it's often mistaken for interrupting by people from elsewhere in the country." On the other hand, linguist William Labov demurs, "there's nothing known to linguists about 'normal New York City conversation'". Notable speakers The accent has a strong presence in media; pioneer variationist sociolinguist William Labov describes it as the most recognizable variety of North American English. The following famous people are native New York City area speakers, demonstrating typical features of the accent. Bella Abzug Eric Adams Danny Aiello Alan Alda Woody Allen Jack Armstrong (basketball) Mel Brooks James Caan James Cagney Mariah Carey George Carlin Andrew Dice Clay Michael Cohen Howard Cosell Mario Cuomo Tony Curtis Larry David Rodney Dangerfield Tony Danza Dead End Kids Billy Donovan Robert De Niro Alan Dershowitz Kevin Dobson Fran Drescher Jimmy Durante Anthony Fauci Mike Francesa John Garfield Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rudy Giuliani Whoopi Goldberg Gilbert Gottfried Buddy Hackett Judd Hirsch Meir Kahane Wendy Kaufman