A funny thread----Boston'isms (New Bedford, Foxborough, Bedford: home, rooftop, cabinet)

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

I'm baffled when people say "Southie or "Eastie" or even "Dot" for Dorchester or Dorchester Avenue and Street.

It sounds so...ghetto. At least to me.

Whaaaat? I love “Dot” as a nickname.

And at least among the people I knew in highschool (BPS in the 2000-2010s), there was absolutely no socio-economic factor in whether we used nicknames for neighborhoods or not. Btw, you missed “Westie” as a name for West Roxbury.

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

I spoke to one or two young females recently about it in my Uber who've just moved to East Boston....and they don't say "Eastie." They say "East Boston."

They may not be from the city/state. Eastie is becoming trendier as a place to live.

[bostonguy1960]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

Southie/Eastie/Dot are now "Ghetto" slang? Nothing in Boston is "Ghetto" in any regard.

Southie/Eastie/Dot are dubbed by people from the city. I say Southie and Eastie, not Dot. Southie is said by almost everyone I know.

I knew "ghetto" would trigger some or all readers. And yes, I fully understand why.

I didn't grow up in the region but have lived here decades. So I never really heard those terms regularly if at all with people I was around regularly upon arriving. Maybe they were from elsewhere also.

My sister-in-law's mother is from Dorchester. I'll ask her if she used "Dot" then and even now. When I've discussed her local roots with her, I've never heard her say "Dot."

Yes, I'm aware of the term "Dot Rats" for certain locals there.

...

By the way, I was called out on C-D in the past for calling the people in a certain area "ghetto." Yes, that's hate speech nowadays, but I'm sure some or many here may have uttered it in that way if they're truthful. The poster warned me how areas, not people, are to be called "a ghetto.'

And it's ironic if I seem elitist here, as I've lived in rooming houses for over 26 years now, and studios and roomies prior -- and have driven a cab and now Uber for years.

...

I also don't like Jersey for New Jersey or Philly for Philadelphia. Seems trashy. Spent my adolescence in that pocket; maybe if I had grown up there from the start, I'd lovingly use those nicknames.

Oh, and regarding "ghetto," a poster here ten years ago, a visitor, didn't like our North End, and called the neighborhood and the people walking around (and maybe even the residents?) "ghetto." I still recall that comment! Maybe they'd refrain in our current culture now from calling anyone or even any place "ghetto"?

[bostonguy1960]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

Whaaaat? I love “Dot” as a nickname.

And at least among the people I knew in highschool (BPS in the 2000-2010s), there was absolutely no socio-economic factor in whether we used nicknames for neighborhoods or not. Btw, you missed “Westie” as a name for West Roxbury.



They may not be from the city/state. Eastie is becoming trendier as a place to live.

Oh, that's right about "Westie." Is it really that prevalent and entrenched, or again maybe used primarily by older folks?

Oh, I certainly realize East Boston is becoming trendy. Many of my Uber passengers who live there are young and trendy, and lots of Suffolk University students live there now, as it takes them to the Bowdoin blue line stop on Beacon Hill.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

I'm baffled when people say "Southie or "Eastie" or even "Dot" for Dorchester or Dorchester Avenue and Street.


It sounds so...ghetto. At least to me.

Didn't grow up here but arrived in 1978.

Or is it generally just the old timers in those neighborhoods uttering this, not the newcomers or younger generations (of all races and cultures)?

I spoke to one or two young females recently about it in my Uber who've just moved to East Boston....and they don't say "Eastie." They say "East Boston."

Is "Rozzie" (sp?) popular with the newer or younger residents in Roslindale? Just the old timers? Or was it just certain residents years ago, or even now, who'd use "Rozzie"?


Is it perhaps socioeconomic regarding who uses these nicknames?

Because these places were all ghetto until very recently? That should be obvious. It started onin the working classes and then some of them leveled up and became introduced to the masses. Recently they've become cutsie endearing terms to more money buyers or people seeking "authentic" Boston culture.

My guess is these terms became popular as neighborhood became more racially or ethnically divided and the city became rougher yet more modern in the 1970s. People began to really take neighborhood pride to an extreme. The modernization of the city ad move from its Puritan roots, influx of immigrants and blacks, middle class flight, and social anomie of the 1970s probably resulted in these names so they might have been just getting solidified when you arrived.

West Roxbury South Boston and East Boston High have always just been called "Eastie Westie and Southie (High") by Bostonians for as long as i've been alive. Only people not from the City of Boston really say "South Boston" "East Boston" or "West Roxbury". Unless they're being formal or serious.

Speaking as a young black person raised in Boston all the Boston in the 200s/2010s kids of all races use the nicknames-not the real names. Black kids might call Mattapan "the Pan" or roxbury "the 'Bury". I've also heard older white irish folks call it the Pan ort they might even insist on calling Mattapan "Dorchester". I learned it from people raised in the 1990s/1980s.

Rozzie is fairly common amongst everybody but Roslindale gets used just as much.

"Dot" is mostly a white thing. No black people call themselves Dot Rats-not any i've ever met or heard of. Although we do say Dot Ave.

"I'm from Roxbury, the Bury, but not the fruit yall, dont disrespect where I come from cause it brutal ('brute all'), hold my own in a zone thats neutral"

-I Got To Have It Ed OG, 1991

Most everyone from Jersey and Philly says Jersey and Philly .My wife is a young black woman from a nice suburban NJ town. Neither her or her friends ever say "New Jersey." Virtually no one says "Philadelphia" anymore regardless of class. If anything you're more likely to hear old people say "Philadelphia"

[GeePee]

ghet·to

/ˈɡedō/

noun
noun: ghetto; plural noun: ghettoes; plural noun: ghettos

a part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups.


Is exactly what those neighborhoods were.

[Boston Shudra]

Westie was ghetto?

People I know from Beacon Hill still say “Southie”. The place may have once been ghetto, but the name is more universal.

[BOS2IAD]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

They may not be from the city/state. Eastie is becoming trendier as a place to live.

Honestly, I never heard "Eastie". However, once my Dad told me that the Italian immigrants who moved to East Boston called it "East-ah Bost". Later on, when I was out on my own, I became friends with a woman whose father was born in Italy. She, herself, was born and raised in East Boston and told me that the older generation did call it "East-ah Bost". And all that time I had thought my Dad was joking

[ben young]

Half the Marines in the Corps are from the South ,the other half are from South Boston.....its true.

[GeePee]

Originally Posted by BOS2IAD

Honestly, I never heard "Eastie". However, once my Dad told me that the Italian immigrants who moved to East Boston called it "East-ah Bost". Later on, when I was out on my own, I became friends with a woman whose father was born in Italy. She, herself, was born and raised in East Boston and told me that the older generation did call it "East-ah Bost". And all that time I had thought my Dad was joking

Spot on. We used to go to Italian Mass in East Boston. It was one of the only ones left at the time. We spent a lot of time in East Boston, and have never heard it called Eastie. East-ah Bost is 100% accurate from Italian immigrants . As is Stop-ah Shop and New Hamsh.

[masssachoicetts]

Oh another one:

Bath, Half and ask pronounced as "Hah-f, Bah-th, and ahsk.