Back in August, a video of a botanist rescuing an abandoned coyote pup went viral. But some viewers were even more taken with his heavy Chicago accent than with his altruism. (“I’m not gonna f— with ya. Don’t worry abaht it. You’re not dat tough. Eyyy!”) It turns out the botanist, Joey Santore, an Italian American from La Grange, was actually laying it on a little thick.

“I grew up knowing guys like that,” Santore told Chicago magazine. “When I was a kid, a lot of my friends had dads like that.” Well, there are still folks like that around — folks who talk with the accent Santore was mimicking. A lot of them are Italian American. Some of them are from La Grange, or nearby.