Boston is the birthplace of American Independence so how fitting that I write this piece as the Fouth of July nears closer. I could go on and on about how this place and that place is the kewlest thing to check out in Boston, but that's why they create travel websites, so you can zoom to whatever area you want to explore and take it from there. If you had told me years ago that I would someday leave California and fall in love with the Boston area and make it my home, I would've told you that you were 2 sandwiches shy of a picnic basket. But, it's true, I can't imagine living anywhere else, unless of course, the right guy came along and he lived elsewhere or if that rare group of friends that us single folks consider family said to me "We love you and we want you to consider coming here to live" - unless one of those two scenarioes would take place, I think it's pretty safe to say I will reside in Beantown indefinitely.
Based on my semi-excessive use of the Trenchmouth Dialect in my posts, one wouldn't think that I know a whole helluva lot about the English language but it was one of my majors in college and I guess when it really boils down to it, I just happen to be one of those warped individuals who feels that profanity does have it's place in the English vernacular, depending on how you articulate it into a sentence and/or exclamation phrase. This, of course, depends on what type of writing you are doing as well - in a personal blog, it has it's place; in a professional setting such as a newspaper or newsmagazine, then that's quite a horse of an entirely different color. Be that as it may, let us proceed onward to the subject material of this piece.....
On the issue of dialect, I've read in many different English language guides over the years that people speak differently in every region of the world because sometimes they get too comfortable with the syntax of their own language and "get lazy" with it. That might have a teeny tiny shredd of validation in the academic sense; but, I disagree with this concept for the most part because quite frankly, I think it's too broad and general of a statement to make regarding regional dialects and/or accents. Plus, it sounds downright judgemental if you ask me and I don't like that one bit. Regardless of the reason, depending on where you live across this great land of ours, you are gonna hear people talk differently no matter where you go.
When I make comparisons in this piece, it's not going to be from the angle of correct English versus Boston's regional dialect, but rather from comparing the dialect or way people spoke in the various places where I spent most of my childhood in the Midwestern US states to the Boston way of speaking, or as us transplants sometimes refer to it as "Bostonspeak." Before I provide any specific examples of these comparisons, a couple of things. The best way to describe Bostonspeak to a general audience is that it is somewhat similiar to the strong, guttural accent of the New Yorkers, only not as intense and not as abrupt. The main difference between those two areas, as well as the simplest way to classify it is this - it's more or less a matter of how the Bostonians pronounce certain letters in their words. Grammatically, I think it's the way they slur those letters as well. I will provide a couple of sentence and individual word examples, using the average Midwest example followed by the same sentences/words in Bostonspeak. Hopefully you will find these examples interesting, and perhaps even a bit entertaining.
Midwest: When you go to the market to pick up some carrots, will you please park the car by Harvard? And then when you get home will you please put the carrots on the card table? Thanks.
Bostonspeak: When you go to the mahket to pick up some cahhots will you please pahk the cah by Hahvad? And then when you get home will you please put the cahhots on the cahd table? Tanks.
I am not making fun of the way the Bostonians speak but that truly is the best way to describe it. The difference in the way they speak is rather simple - they subsitute the letter "R" with the letter "H" and then in certain words where there is an "H" they leave it out- Thanks and Thank you always turn into Tanks and Tank you. Yes, in some cases the way they speak can sound very humorous but over the years, I have actually fallen in love with it. Yet another truth - when you do live in a certain area, you do begin to speak like the natives, no shit. Some people say I still have a touch of the southern-sounding, western Ohio dialect, but I think I have lost most of that and do indeed sound like a Bostonian on certain words. As an example, I say the word "Sweetheart" they way they do, "Sweethaht" and sometimes I even spell it that way! In addition, rule of thumb is that the further you get away from the downtown Boston area and it's affluent neighborhoods such as Cambridge, Kenmore, Belmont, etc., the lighter the accent as well as the slur on certain letters.
An example of this would be people who live in the North Shore (with industrial revolution towns such as Quincy and Revere as well as Lynn, birthplace of the United States Navy) and South Shore (Scituate, Randolph, Taunton, etc.,) areas. People from both of those areas not only do speak the way most of America speaks but if they ran into anyone speaking Bostonspeak, they too wouldn't know at first what to make of it either.
Midwest: Help! There's a shark chasing me across the backyard!
Bostonspeak: 'elp! There's a shahk chasing me across the backyahd!
And it's not just in sentences either. Even the names of certain towns are not excluded from Bostonspeak.
Midwest:" Worcester" would be pronounced "Wore-Cester."
Bostonspeak:" Worcester" would be pronounced "Woo-Ster."
By the way, Worcester is Massachusett's second largest city in the state, second only to Boston itself. Speaking of which, there's another good example....
Midwest: "Boston" would be pronounced as "Boss-Tun."
Bostonspeak: "Boston" would be pronounced as "Bah-Stun."
And my personal favorite, only because I recommend everyone to go visit the Peabody Museum in downtown Salem, MA should they come here for a vacation....
Midwest: "Peabody" would be pronounced "Pee-Body."
Bostonspeak: "Peabody" would be pronounced "Pee-Ba-Dee."
Congratulations on earning your degrees in Bostonspeak. Keep in mind that it's not just the various dialects or accents that people use when they speak that makes their own region of the country unique, it's the combined flavors of the various cultures, the way their cities were built, the terrain of the land and yes, even the very air itself that make every location a different planet unto itself; and, 9 times out of 10, there is always something to be appreciated regardless of what area of Boston and/or Massachusetts that you choose to visit.
The concept of each destination being a different planet unto itself not only applies to Boston, Massachusetts but to the entire world. California itself is a good contrast to Massachusetts. There still is nothing better than a June evening's sunset in Northern California. The colors of the sky, the lapping waves of the Pacific Ocean against the rocks, the scents of the air - just the feel in the air of sucha night like that is unlike any other. The same is true of Boston. The sun setting over the backdrops of the Brownstone buildings, the clanking of Samuel Adams lager bottles as folks sit on their front stoops and listen to the current Red Sox game over at Fenway Park; and, my personal favorite - little 80 old ladies driving Camries and Hondas, wearing their bonnet-like hats and yelling out their windows as they speed towards Storrow Drive, "You crazy sonnuvabitch!! Get the hell out of my way!!" Ah, life just doesn't get any better than that....thank you for reading.
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