-by Jon Cotton

The video below talks about the Boston way of speech.  We omit the letter “r” after a vowel.  The linguistic term “non-rhotic” is used, which means “non-r.”  If we don’t pronounce the letter “r” in the word “letter,” that’s because of our “non-rhotic accent.”

Having grown up in Boston, I have learned only little by little that certain of my language habits are native to here.  When most people talk about “bowling,” they mean the kind with the large ball, and holes you can put your fingers into.  Our style is called, as you may know, “candlepin” bowling, and was invented in Worcester.  In other places the word “frappe” is not used (for nonBostonians: “milk shake.”  But it’s actually a little thicker, it seems to me, than what we here at least call a “milk shake”).  Some of you remember Buzzy’s Roast Beef in Charles Circle.  I’ve heard some of you make jokes about it on your tours, as do many local comedians.  That way of making roast beef sandwiches is native to here, mostly to the north shore.  A “roast beef sandwich” elsewhere is … not as good.  In official documentation for automobiles, when blinkers are called “directionals,” that’s because apparently we’re the only ones who call them “blinkers.”  And the breakdown lane is called by other people the “shoulder.”  Rotaries are called “traffic circles” elsewhere.  I don’t think most of us call water fountains “bubblers” today, but we all know what is meant by the term.  Only we use the term “carriage” for a “shopping cart.”  We might get an ice cream cone with “jimmies,” but other people call them “chocolate sprinkles.”

Here’s one further tidbit not mentioned in the video.  It’s standard throughout English to express agreement with someone with the phrase “so do I.”  I might say “I love chocolate,” and you might say “So do I.”  But in Boston – or New England – we sometimes say “So don’t I.”  It’s subtle, but if you think about it carefully, “so don’t I” is logically awkward, strictly speaking.  But to us it seems transparent because it’s how we talk.  But no one else does.  So to others it can be confusing.

The blog Universal Hub has a discussion of Boston English.

Enjoy the video.