by Patricia Cunningham

Created on: January 29, 2009   Last Updated: February 02, 2009

So you want to talk like a Bostonian huh? It is an interesting accent. Being married to a Bostonian has taught me the ins and outs of this accent. It is fun to listen to and sometimes baffling.
To the untrained ear, a Boston accent sounds similar to a New York City accent. (But don't say that to a Bostonian! They resent being compared in any way to their sports team rivals down the coast in New York.) There are differences in the two accents. Here are a few observations and general rules to follow to sound like you've spent your entire life in Boston:

1. Drop the "er" sound when it comes at the end of a word and replace it with "uh" making it rhyme with "duh". Example: "horror" becomes "horruh". Give it a try with words like reminder, tender, and breaker. The new sound at the end of the word isn't an "ah" sound. Again, It's an "uh" sound that rhymes with "duh". So you have "reminduh", "tenduh", and "breakuh". Try this entire sentence. (Remember, the "uh" sound only replaces an "er" ending to a word.) "Hey Mister, could you pass the pepper?" The sentence sounds like "Hey Mistuh, could you pass the peppuh?"

2. When a word ends in "r" but does not have a specific "er" sound, leave the vowel before the "r" hanging and leave the "r" off. Words like "your", "before", hour" become "yaw", "befaw", "owuh".

2. Words with an "er" sound elsewhere in a word remain as is. "Earth" stays "earth". "Terminate" sounds as is. Strange huh? It's not that Bostonians can't pronounce the "er" sound. They say it the same as anyone else in parts of a word other than an ending.

3. Many words that end with a vowel sound take on an extra "er". So, words like pizza, idea, bra, spa sound like "pizzer", "idee-er", "brar" and "spar". It's rather random. Some words get that "er" sound and others don't. My husband says "karma" properly, but "pizzer" is his standard pronunciation of "pizza". Play with words with a hanging vowel sound at the end of them. Some words sound silly with an extra 'er" sound where it's not needed, but that's how it is spoken in Boston.

4. Listen to folks that were born and raised in Boston. A great example would be Ted Kennedy or Boston sports announcers. They have typical Boston accents.

5. Get your geography straight! Medord is "Medfid", Peabody is "Peebidee", Concord is "Conkid".

6. The short "o" sound in words like sock is pronounced "aw". So it's "Red Sawks" and "pawm pawms".

7. Lastly, if you want to baffle people born anywhere BUT Boston, use words like "tonic" instead of pop or soda, "bubbla" (bubbler) for water fountain, "hodog" for hot dog, "pidada" for potato, "rotary" instead of a traffic circle and "barrel" for garbage can.

You'll have this fun accent mastered in no time. Now try saying "Oscar Meyer Weiner". It's sure to bring a wicked smile to your face!

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