Is there a dialect where older men refer to themselves as あたし?


I remember reading that there is a dialect in which older men refer to
themselves as あたし. It didn't have a feminine connotation, it may have even
been a bit rough.

I think I read it on Wikipedia, but being as I can't find it now, I wonder if
it was a prank edit. I'm also pretty sure it was a Honshu dialect.




Looks like the reason I couldn't find it was because someone recently rewrote
the Tokyo dialect article on Wikipedia (by chance the [old
page](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tokyo_dialect&oldid=420269742#Shitamatachi_dialect)
was still cached and served to me!). It said, "Atashi is a feminine first
person in standard Japanese, but in Shitamachi dialect, it is often used by
both men and women."

Sorry if I threw anyone off by limiting it to older men. I think my brain just
associates Shitamachi with older people (maybe because of
[this](http://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E6%B1%9F%E6%88%B8%E8%A8%80%E8%91%89&oldid=37694691#.E7.8F.BE.E4.BB.A3)).

I also found this [goo question](http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/4479107.html)
which was answered with 「あたし」は男女問わず東京弁です。特に男が使うのが下町の特徴です。 (Forgive the
translation: Tokyo-ben's atashi isn't connected to gender. In particular, it's
a trait of the Shitamachi men who use it.)

Unfortunately, the Wiki wasn't well sourced, and well the goo site isn't
definitive either.

By the way, I found a few links that agree with what YOU said about being used
by rakugo professionals.




I never heard that あたし is used as _regional_ dialect, but old men from Rakugo-
ka ([落語家](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%90%BD%E8%AA%9E%E5%AE%B6)) sometimes
use it. If I remember correctly, Hayashiya Kikuou
([林家木久扇](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9E%97%E5%AE%B6%E6%9C%A8%E4%B9%85%E6%89%87))
from Shou-ten ([笑点](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%91%E7%82%B9)) uses it.

Note: rakugo-ka are a group of people who do
[rakugo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakugo), a kind of comedian talk show.
One of the definitions at the [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/dialect) dictionary mentions "dialect" as "a variety of
a language used by the members of a group", so that could be a kind of
dialect. But the Japanese Wikipedia definition of dialect,
[方言](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%B9%E8%A8%80), only mentioned regional
dialect as dialect. (I didn't read the details of it, so I could be wrong.)

