A question I never thought to ask when you did that Q and A Thing for the SOS series: Does Levi have a jersey accent? For example, does he say "wa-ter" or "wourder"?

Here’s the thing about New Jersey: It’s divided into three regions, namely North, Central, and South. These regions are distinct not only geographically, but also culturally and socioeconomically.

The entire state of NJ is basically a suburb - North Jersey of New York City, South and parts of Central Jersey of Philadelphia. The accent you’re describing, in which “water” is pronounced as “wourder/wooter”, is actually a Philly accent that’s spread to parts of South/Central Jersey.

Nobody native to North Jersey would pronounce “water” that way! Most people in North Jersey have a “General American” accent by this point, but those who have a NJ accent borrow features from NYC rather than Philly. For example, rather than inserting or stressing “r” sounds, they’ll drop them: “water” becomes closer to “wahtah”.

Levi’s family is from North Jersey, so when the books refer to his mother Nancy having a NJ accent, they mean a North Jersey one. But Levi himself, like most North Jersey natives of his generation, has a General American accent.

This was an interesting question, thank you!

(Bona fides: My father’s entire family is from North Jersey; my mother’s family moved from Brooklyn to North Jersey halfway through her childhood, and her father still lives in the same house almost 50 years later; I was born in North Jersey and later went to high school there; I lived in Central Jersey for about a year after graduate school; and my mom’s family vacations in South Jersey every summer!)