The regional accents of English language were, not that long ago, used in a simplistic way to categorize people in different social statuses. Cockney accent, for instance, is still related to London’s working class where many of today’s English slang expressions originated from.
The song “Let’s call the whole thing off” from the movie Shall we dance (1937), which was also reinterpreted by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong years later, portrays how pronunciation may evoke social distinctions and lead, in this case, to a break-up.
Taking the lyrics of this song as a reference, however, the word tomato pronounced in the American and British way (American accent was considered less refined in old times) has evolved into an idiom to express when something is not relevant, when it’s the same thing either way. Indeed, to-may-to, to-mah-to is the same word with the same meaning, leaving aside an insignificant variation.
Written by Ana Escaso Moreno
Communication Trainee at TermCoord
Journalist & Social Media manager