Pronounciation of Italian Dishes
I was told by an Italian man from Fort Lee, NJ, that to properly pronounce Italian foods, you should drop the final vowel.
Calamar
Manicot
etc.
A few years later I was talking to some other Italian people who had never heard of that, so I was probably learning "Italian with a New Jersey accent." As it turned out, that's how Tony Soprano, et al, talked. Probably is a Jersey (especiall NE Jersey) thing. I even heard one of them refer to his car as a "Maserat".
Could it be that calling sauce "gravy" also comes from Jersey?