i was explaining to a friend what the “boston accent” consists of, and i found it witty enough to share it with you all.

the boston accent can be defined by the following rules:

1. do not pronounce Rs, unless:
2. the R is between 2 vowel sounds that would otherwise be too difficult to pronounce without it, and:
3. in that case, attach the R to the second vowel sound instead of the first, plus:
4. inject Rs between 2 vowel sounds, or anywhere it would make a phrase easier to say.
5. plus, any soft “o” sound or “a” sound, becomes “aaaaaah”

how does it all come together?

examples:

“boston” is “baaaahston” (rule 5)
“park” is “paaaahk” (rules 1 & 5)
“car and truck” becomes “caaah rand truck” (see rules 2, 3, 5)
“pizza and coke” becomes “pizzaah rand coke” (rules 4, 5) although “coke” in this case might be replaced by “tonic” which in some neighborhoods, is used as a general reference to all carbonated beverages.

got it? now get outta heeah and go get me a papaah rand a beeah.

for further review, the stiffs at wikipedia have a scientific-like explanation of the boston accent.

Posted on May 18th, 2007 by mike
Filed under: lexicon, travel