[JViello]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I'm good friends with someone from Dedham and he very much says "Bahstin" and "cah" and "pahty". Perhaps you just don't notice it since you've lievd there for many years, but to someone from Connecticut with the standard accent (or rather, no accent at all), it's certainly noticeable.

Absolutely. Boston has one of the thickest accents in the nation. Akin to a deep hard Alabama accent as far as "thick".


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbK4cL3QSc0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_S43tPbouo


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9cKT3_85Q

New TOH BC3 Multiple Video Player

[Slipperman]

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_S43tPbouo"

i lived in Framingham for a while and this is so true. even the town names that end in 'ham' aren't consistent. on one hand you have Framingham and Bellingham where 'ham' is pronounced as you'd expect but then on the other you have Ashburnham, Chatham, Dedham where 'ham' is pronounced 'um'. although looking at the names, the pronunciation probably depends on the letter that appears just before the 'h'.

[mels]

Woburn and Leominster are my favorite Mass. towns to listen to people try to pronounce.

[andthentherewere3]

Originally Posted by rranger

Now people DO say "The Oiland" all the time (from personal experience)

I really notice both NY accents as well as Boston accents. Here in FFC we have so many NY transplants I hear it all the time. "Give me a coh-ul". (call) or they say "oiland". When my daughter was growing up she pronounced "boss" "boiss" once, and I said, "what!? It's boss", and she replied, but everyone else says "boiss!" LOL

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by andthentherewere3

I really notice both NY accents as well as Boston accents. Here in FFC we have so many NY transplants I hear it all the time. "Give me a coh-ul". (call) or they say "oiland". When my daughter was growing up she pronounced "boss" "boiss" once, and I said, "what!? It's boss", and she replied, but everyone else says "boiss!" LOL

This is so true. That's how it was when I was living in Shelton, and same thing in my parents community in Oxford - lots of NY accents. Southwestern CT is really inheriting the NY accent, like it or not.

[Yankeerose00]

There is a Boston accent and then there is the accent people use when they THINK they are mocking a Boston accent. THAT accent is always wrong.
I know living down south I used to cringe hearing someone think they were imitating Boston or New Jersey. So, so off it wasn't funny.

The word Boston itself is more of a Baw-stin sound. There is a distinct aw sound in there. Not as harsh as a NY accent, but a definite AW. Bawstin. Where when people think they are imitating the accent, it sounds more like Baaaahhhhston. Like a sheep saying Baaaaa. Very annoying!

And I've found with NY accents, switching the OI sound with the ER sound as in Long Oiland=Long Island and "terlet" for toilet seems more common with people over the age of 70. I haven't heard younger generations talk that way, though I'm sure they exist. I've just never heard the Archie Bunker accent on someone not on Social Security. I guess accents change over time.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by Yankeerose00

The word Boston itself is more of a Baw-stin sound. There is a distinct aw sound in there. Not as harsh as a NY accent, but a definite AW. Bawstin. Where when people think they are imitating the accent, it sounds more like Baaaahhhhston. Like a sheep saying Baaaaa. Very annoying!

I somewhat disagree. It's not "ba ba sheep" but the "aw" is more NY to me than anything. NY's would say it Bawstin. "Bahstin" with a light "ah" in there is how I've always known it. Have you never seen the shirts "Welcome to New England - begin dropping your R's as you go North"?

This video is pretty telling IMO.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbK4c...layer_embedded

New Jersyites just forget the H sometime. "Ey, dat thing is friggin UGE". LOL

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JViello

New Jersyites just forget the H sometime. "Ey, dat thing is friggin UGE". LOL

Sounds like de, uh, Nagatuk/Watabury accent (which is ironically similar to the Yonkers, New Rochelle and Riverdale accent).

[JViello]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Sounds like de, uh, Nagatuk/Watabury accent (which is ironically similar to the Yonkers, New Rochelle and Riverdale accent).

Must be something that follows the Metro North line.

"a, we give each udder terapy, you no what I'm sayin"?

[Yankeerose00]

The word Boston itself is more of a Baw-stin sound. There is a distinct aw sound in there. Not as harsh as a NY accent, but a definite AW. Bawstin. Where when people think they are imitating the accent, it sounds more like Baaaahhhhston. Like a sheep saying Baaaaa. Very annoying!
I somewhat disagree. It's not "ba ba sheep" but the "aw" is more NY to me than anything. NY's would say it Bawstin. "Bahstin" with a light "ah" in there is how I've always known it. Have you never seen the shirts "Welcome to New England - begin dropping your R's as you go North"?

I know exactly what you mean. I know it's not a hard AW sound like NJ/NY. It's so hard to write the exact sound. But for some reason when people not from the area try to imitate the accent, they get it so wrong. I'll say something about us going to Boston and hear "Oh Baaaaa-ston?" It's mostly been when I've come across people from the south or even mid Atlantic states. Not anyone from CT. Just a pet peeve of mine. Just like when people say Joisey.

When I lived in the south, many people swore that the NY/Boston accent sounded the same. If they heard it on TV, they couldn't tell the difference. I was like noooooo. How could anyone confuse the two? Totally different accents.