“A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner”

New York speech (or “New Yorkese”) is, perhaps, not perfect English. “A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner” is a popular quote from comedian Jackie Mason. The Mason quote was printed in The New Yorker in 1988 and has been included in several books about New York City quotations.
 
   
Wikipedia: jackie Mason
Jackie Mason (born June 9, 1931) is an American stand-up comedian and film and television actor. He is ranked #63 on Comedy Central’s 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all-time.
   
Goolge Books
The New Yorker
Volume 64, Issues 29-37
1988
Pg. 57:
Nor is he (Jackie Mason—ed.) given to one-liners, although small jokes pop irrepressibly out of him when he is at ease offstage: “A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner.”
 
Google Books
The Fourth—and by Far the Most Recent—637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said
By Robert Byrne
New York, NY: Atheneum
1990
Pg. ?:
474
A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner.
Jackie Mason
 
Google Books
New York:
The Big Apple Quote Book
By Bob Blaisdell
Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
2011
Pg. 170:
A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner. —Jackie Mason
 
Google Books
The Little Red Book of New York Wisdom
By Former Mayor Ed Koch, with Gregg Stebben and Jason Katzman
New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing
2011
Pg. 183:
A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner.
JACKIE MASON
 
NY Daily Quote
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Good English
“A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner.”
Jackie Mason, quoted in New York: Capital of Photography