A funny thread----Boston'isms (how much, movies, law)

[CityGirl52]

It's definitely NOT a bad or horrible thing to have a Boston accent, want to know why? NOW Hollywood tries to emulate it and they just don't GET it quite right! Although Ben did a great job in Gone Baby Gone with the actors and their Bahston accents!

Found some more "good ones" used a lot in Boston...

Bubbler or Water bubbler — 'drinking fountain'
Bang a Uey — To take a U-turn
Cleansers — 'cleaners (mostly on signage)'
Digger — (sounds like digga) an extreme trip, usually involves falling flat on one's face; "He took a digga on the sidewalk."
Dooryard — the front yard or driveway area
Down cellar — 'in the basement'
Everywheres — 'everywhere' (I first heard that in the North End!)
Hopper (sounds like hoppa) — toilet or toilet seat; "He can't talk now, he's onna hoppa."
Hosie — To call dibs on something. I hosie a window. (Called when someone is going to have to sit in the middle seat of the car!)
Hoodsie — 1. A small cup of ice cream, the kind that comes with a flat wooden spoon (from HP Hood, the dairy that sells them.) 2. Also used as a pejorative term for young teenage girls between 13-15 used the same as "an immature twerp".
Into town — 'into Boston' (similar to New Yorkers' use of "the City")
Johnny — a medical gown worn by patients for examinations
Parlor — 'living room', 'family room'
Pisser (sounds like pissah though)-Good, great. Also an affectionate term for someone who does something mischievous (i.e. "Sean is such a pissah, he invited us to a party and then charges us to get in!") Also, the cliché term "wicked pissah" is selectively used in Boston, though is becoming a little archaic lately.
Puffer — hand-held asthma inhaler
Regular coffee — 'coffee with milk (or cream) and usually two spoonfuls of sugar'
Rotary — 'traffic circle or roundabout'
The Statie or Staties — The State Police
Time — 'a party', e.g., "My old friends are having a "time": down at the "KofC" Also it refers to a wake, believe it or not!
Town club or sports club - This is when Boston surburbia was all woods and farms, men would gather there for deer hunting expeditions evidently. When the land was then subdivided into Levitt houses and McMansions, these "clubs" became places where the aging ex-hunters would gather to escape their wives and get drunk. It's also called the "club" or the "lodge" !
The Pike — term commonly used by Bostonians when referring to the Massachusetts Turnpike
Can't forget THIS one..."The T" — Public transportation in the Metro Boston area. Refers to the subway, the streetcar, the ferry, and the bus.
OR this one..."Triple decka" — or more commonly three decka, a three-story, three-family home with one unit built on top of the other.
YES this one too! "Wicked" — which is 'very'; alternatively 'wicked' may also indicate approval or become a universal descriptor, e.g., "That chowdah was wicked good."

[holden125]

Originally Posted by mobster75

So what's the deal w/ the packie? Why the heck is it called "the package store"?

It was called the package store because they sell "packaged goods," or sealed liquor to take off-site, as opposed to a bar where you get it in a glass and drink it right there.

Nothing wrong with the accent....

[twistedsista1]

Don't forget "dungarees" (dungareez). We nevah wore "jeans" in Quinzee.

[Phouchg]

Originally Posted by Valerie C

It WAS snowing wicked hard in Haverhill yesterday, and in Londonderry NH too. Good to see you here Phouchg Did Acadia mention city-data to you? In any case, glad you came aboard!!

Ok, keeping on topic...

It's not a trash can, it's a barrel

They're not suckers, they're lollypops

They're not tennis shoes, they're sneakers

Naah, found it myself when doing a google search on "Napoli's Pizza" (yes, I was jonesing a couple of slices of that unique pizza).

back to the topic at hand:

Here's another one - If you tell somebody here in SoCal you joined AAA, they will just look at you and say "huh?" - you have to tell them you joined "The Auto Club"!

And if a store fails, they don't have a "Going Out Of Business" sale - they have a "Quitting Business" sale.


An interesting thing about Boston is how pervasive culture associated with the Catholic Church is. Terms like "CCD" and "K of C" and the "BVM" among many others are well known by most Massachusetts people. Here in So Cal the population is much more religiously diverse, so if you leave work for Ash Wednesday, it is a substantial thing because it is not well known. Most Catholics in So Cal are Mexican, so Catholic culture is more strongly associated with Mexican culture. I know the city I live in (Redlands, about 70,000 people) has mostly Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists, so those churches culture is much more well known. In Redlands there is one small Catholic Parish, but 7 Mormon wards (congregations), a Mormon temple, and 3 Seventh-day Adventists churches (and is next city over to Loma Linda, whose population is 70% SDA, and is one of the few cities in the country to have SUNDAY mail delivery instead of Saturday since SDAs consider Saturday the Sabbath)...but I digress...

[tamiznluv]

Pouch, my Aunt who grew up in Dawchester has lived in Redlands for most of her adult life. She's Baptist! She used to teach school there too. After her last big brother (my Dad) died, I tried and tried and tried to call her and sent the Redlands police to go check on her! Imagine her surprise when she arrived at the senior housing she lives in now to find a cop at her door! The cop stayed there ALL day waiting for her. I thought that was great and so "small town" acting of them! At 70K people I guess it in NOT so small, huhn?

[tamiznluv]

Everyone does NOT wear dungarees??? I did not know that! I've never carried a "purse" only to a fancy schmancy gala once! I always carry a pokkabook over my shoulder. Used to live in a tripledekah too. I am a member of my "club" but when I cash a check there I have to make it out to the "Lodge". One of my neighbors is a "Statie" . We had a wicked storm last night that sounded like a hurricane! I need to go to "Cumbies" (Cumberland Farms) to pick up some smokes now.

No, having a Boston or Massachusetts accent is not a bad thing! I think that no matter where we go (if we go!) in the country at least people understand us! I love to make fun of and with our "uniqueness" and apparently we ARE unique!

[badluck]

who played 'smeeah the queeaah' in school?

[puffle]

What dialect did the Boston accent actually come from? Was it the Irish or English, originally? It is so unique, the way North Dakota or Wisconsin takes after the original settlers accents too.

[CityGirl52]

Twistedsistah1, You never wore "jeans" either huh? I wore dungareez for years and years, now I wear the jeans, because one day my younger sistah stopped me in my tracks and said to me, "They're called JEANS now baby, they're JEANS; get with the program will you please!" So I stopped calling them
"dungies" a while ago (WHATEVER!!!)

Tamiznluv, I neva carried a "purse" either, I always carried a pocketbook (bag) over my shoulder too, and one of my friends from Bahston's older brother was a "statie" but he retired a few years ago; small world...

Badluck, never played that game. But I remember Rilevio, Buck Buck and Old Lady Witch Are You Coming Out Tonight games.

Puffle, I would think the dialect & accent was handed down from the Irish & also the Italians that lived in the City of Bahston? I could be wrong. It's definitely NOT the Brits! I'm sure they have their own various dialects and styles right in London alone and all their villages around their country!

Each generation here any way, more or less added their own style of the lingo to it all. Then as time marched on, from the early part of the 1900's it really stuck for a lot of people. I'll probably never lose my accent, although in the office where I work now? I try to be low key with it as much as I can and try not to over do it too much; especially talking on the telephone to clients and all that!! Oh brother, does it "tend" to come out then!

I think the 1st generation that came over from Ireland were pretty funny with their thick brogue's and accents! My grandparents on both sides came from County Cork and one time, my grandmother on my mothers side said to my grandfather; who was at the pub in town having a few pints, so in he walked and she stood at the top of the stairs and said to him, "Yes Johnny, you've arrived at your home at quarter past 1 in the morning, and this is the right home you're in, can't you see the Pope on the wall up here staring down at you now, trying to climb up those stairs?" One time we distinctly remember her at a wedding in town, because whenever she was at a large gathering like a wedding, she'd get that "Irish whisper" of hers going right in church or wherever we were and the whole place would hear her she was so loud. Like when the bride and groom walked up the aisle, she'd say (mind you it was REALLY LOUD, it was supposed to be a low whisper!) She's say, "Would you look at that now, she could put him in her pocket, he's so short now isn't he compared to "that one!" We used to kill ourselves laughing, she was just SO priceless! If some one was short, they'd get that type of comment thrown at them. If they were tall? They'd be as tall as a glass of water. Wherever that one came from, I'll never know! If a woman or a guy was "heavy"? She'd say look at the legs on "that one" would you now? Look at them, why they'd be able to kick start a jumbo jet with those legs!"

So each generation of course is different and now the neighborhoods have changed even more, but all for the better for every one to live there, IF they can afford it! I know that the Italians have their stories and boy do they ever have their stories because I heard a huge amount of them where a lot of my friends are Italian and can they talk all night long about their grandparents and parents coming over from Italy and what they'd say and do when they were here and what it was like for them through the years here! One of my friends husbands? You would be on the ground killing yourself laughing, with tears in your eyes from his many many stories, he's just absolutely hilarious when he gets going....

Good night!

[surfingatwork]

Originally Posted by badluck

who played 'smeeah the queeaah' in school?

four squares or box ball anyone? who played that in grade school? LOVED IT! I grew up calling Fanuel Hall, Quincy Market. Heck it wasn't until I started working in bawstin that i figured out they were one in the same. There is no such thing as the subway in the city it's the T.