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Old 08-11-2010, 06:04 PM
 
Location: Newton, Mass.
2,954 posts, read 12,266,371 times
Reputation: 1511

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Quote:
Originally Posted by sambo2929 View Post
But who wants to live in Boston if they cant enjoy alot of the things the city has to offer?
This is confusing 2 different things.

It's not about wanting to live in Boston. It's about whether of people of lower income levels DO live in Boston. And lots of them do. Some happily, others would rather leave but they're still here. So it is a true statement that you will encounter people of many different income levels.

That's not the same thing as saying it's the best relocation choice for someone whose income is modest but who really wants to live comfortably.

Why would people with low incomes stay? Many of them have lived in Boston their whole lives, everyone they know is here, etc. Or they're immigrants who decided to come to Boston. Or people who think there's enough free stuff to make it enjoyable, or who have some good reason to struggle here. I've lived in Boston, New York and DC on some pretty tiny budgets. There definitely were places my budget would have gone farther, but I didn't want to live there.
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Old 08-29-2010, 07:19 AM
 
Location: Behind You!
1,949 posts, read 4,398,644 times
Reputation: 2761
Plain and Simple...Born and Raised. In a REAL Boston neighborhood. No Downtown, No Allston, No Brighton. Sorry to the FEW who are from there and some how held on. People that transplant in always move either downtown or into college areas with NO Natives. They'll live there 4 years and never see whats it's like to live in Boston. There's WAY more to Boston than A/B/Downtown.
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Old 08-30-2010, 09:52 AM
 
Location: Newton, Mass.
2,954 posts, read 12,266,371 times
Reputation: 1511
Quote:
Originally Posted by snatale1 View Post
Plain and Simple...Born and Raised. In a REAL Boston neighborhood. No Downtown, No Allston, No Brighton. Sorry to the FEW who are from there and some how held on. People that transplant in always move either downtown or into college areas with NO Natives. They'll live there 4 years and never see whats it's like to live in Boston. There's WAY more to Boston than A/B/Downtown.
I guess they're the FEW you were referring to, but I know a number of people who've spent their whole lives in Brighton Center. They're definitely Bostonian. Away from Comm Av. Brighton doesn't have that many transplants or students.
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Old 08-30-2010, 09:57 AM
 
158 posts, read 544,064 times
Reputation: 211
Car. Everyone drops the "R". Its just that the low pitched "cah" (rhymes with ma) is so prevelent its hardly noticed, as opposed to the more high pitched "cah" that is usually mimiced (think Cliff Claven).
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Old 08-30-2010, 10:07 AM
 
Location: a bar
2,710 posts, read 6,075,552 times
Reputation: 2945
Quote:
Originally Posted by lukec View Post
Car. Everyone drops the "R". Its just that the low pitched "cah" (rhymes with ma) is so prevelent its hardly noticed, as opposed to the more high pitched "cah" that is usually mimiced (think Cliff Claven).
Thanks pal. And that's Clavin, with an i.
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Old 08-31-2010, 11:56 AM
 
Location: SoCal
2,261 posts, read 7,207,448 times
Reputation: 960
I'm sure I've posted this before, but I watched Cheers for YEARS without realizing that Cliff Clavin's accent was supposed to be a Boston accent.

It's hysterical, don't get me wrong... but it's not a Boston accent, heh. It's what people who aren't from Boston do when they're trying to do a Boston accent.

Like my husband, for example.

His "Boston accent" cracks me up. And he ends every sentence with the word "Chappaquiddick" when he's doing it.

Kind of like the Kennedy accent. The only ones who sound like that are the Kennedy's, themselves!
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Old 08-31-2010, 12:48 PM
 
Location: Dorchester
2,605 posts, read 4,827,182 times
Reputation: 1090
You have to remember when Boston was a regional city with little international cache.
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Old 08-31-2010, 03:55 PM
 
4,423 posts, read 7,332,386 times
Reputation: 10934
Quote:
Originally Posted by shiraziman View Post
What local experience or "thing" is it that makes a person a "Bostonian"?
Is it riding the T?
Eating breakfast lunch and dinner at Dunkin Donuts?
Being a lawyer?
Going to Harvard?
Pronouncing "car" as "cah"?

So, how do you define a Bostonian in a simple stereotype?
If you need to post this then you're not 'THERE' yet, not even close.
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Old 09-01-2010, 12:55 AM
 
5,816 posts, read 15,850,434 times
Reputation: 4734
Quote:
Originally Posted by readymade View Post
I'm sure I've posted this before, but I watched Cheers for YEARS without realizing that Cliff Clavin's accent was supposed to be a Boston accent.

It's hysterical, don't get me wrong... but it's not a Boston accent, heh. It's what people who aren't from Boston do when they're trying to do a Boston accent.

Like my husband, for example.

His "Boston accent" cracks me up. And he ends every sentence with the word "Chappaquiddick" when he's doing it.

Kind of like the Kennedy accent. The only ones who sound like that are the Kennedy's, themselves!

Judging by how bad--sometimes laughably bad--many "Boston accents" are in movies and television shows, I'm guessing that it's an especially difficult accent to get right if it's something you're trying to imitate, and not your native speech pattern. Most people trying to imitate the accent seem to limit their attempts to the most obvious feature, the dropped R's, and don't get the nuances very well. Jumping back to the subject of actors' botched attempts at a Boston accent, I think one of the worst I've heard was Kevin Costner's accent in Thirteen Days.
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Old 09-01-2010, 11:08 AM
 
7,235 posts, read 7,003,761 times
Reputation: 12265
Quote:
Originally Posted by teachertype View Post

I agree with NG184 about the team sports fanaticism being suburban. A Bostonian might be more attuned to hurling or camogie, and know their museums and libraries. Many have an intimate personal relationship to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, certain individual paintings or collections in the MFA, and the Busch Reisinger or Fogg in Cambridge, and have favorite trees at the Arnold Arboretum.


That sounds more class-specific, not urban vs suburban.
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