“You know how some people say potato and some people say po-tott-oh?”

This came up last night when I went out to dinner with my friends Heather, Leah, and Tyler to P.F. Chang’s in the new section of the Natick Mall… I mean… Natick Collection. None of us even had potatoes, but we DID have lettuce wraps.

Our waitress had a slightly southern accent, and mentioned that she was a theater major, so we started joking that she uses a different accent each night… for practice.

We started discussing how Eastern Massachusetts accents are so different than Western Massachusetts accents. It really varies between “wickad pissah” vs. wicked pisser” here in our small state. People have different ideas/idears of what the true Masshole accent is.

Anyway, Leah started saying “You know how some people say potato and some people say po-tott-oh?” to which I chimed in, “yeah– and some say tomato and some say to-mott-oh?… What we should do, actually, is call off the whole thing.”

Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off was originally written by George and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film, Shall We Dance starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

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The song, of course, has been covered by musicians including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and countless others. One of mine and Jamie’s favorite renditions in the realm of songspeak history is Harry Connick Jr.’s version, where he actually pronounces/sings it as “tomayda and tomotta”… Actually, he even says, “you say tomayda… I say CREOLE!”. NOLA, represent, yo. His version was on the soundtrack to a more recent classic, When Harry Met Sally.

Tags: 30s movies, 30s music, ella fitzgerald, harry connick jr., let's call the whole thing off, louis armstrong, natick collection, natick mall, p.f. chang's, shall we dance, when harry met sally