Compiled by Adam Gaffin

" 'Everybody says words different,' said Ivy. 'Arkansas folks says 'em different, and Oklahomy folks says 'em different. And we seen a lady from Massachusetts, an' she said 'em different of all. Couldn't hardly make out what she was sayin'!' "
-- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, 1939.

"Boston State-House is the Hub of the Solar System. You couldn't pry that out of a Boston man if you had the tire of all creation straightened out for a crow-bar."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, 1858.

Everybody knows about pahking cahs in Hahvihd Yahd, but there's a lot more to Boston English than that, despite what Hollywood would have you believe. We have our own way of pronouncing other words, our own vocabulary, even a unique grammatical construct. Journey outside the usual tourist haunts, and you just might need a guide to understand the locals...

Click on any of the following to learn more about the unique brand of English spoken in the Hub of the Universe.

Pronunciation It'll take a lot moah than dropping your ahs to talk like a native.

Vocabulary
One could compose entire sentences that would make no sense to the uninitiated (the guide starts with A-B; follow the links up at the top for more words).

Place names
The pronunciation of local town names often bears little resemblance to their spelling.

Thanks to the dozens of people who've contributed, and everybody who's sent me nice notes. You are all wicked awesome!

Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Ad:

Comments

By eeka
Fri, 11/28/2008 - 8:58pm

(These are some words I've picked up working with toddlers and their families in Boston. I'm including expressions I've heard from at least three families who I don't believe know each other.)

Fresh: Used by Bostonians, particularly white folks in Southie and Dorchester, to mean any undesired behavior on the part of a child. (As opposed to only designating sassy or smart-ass behavior as it does in most other places.) "You better stop being fresh, young man!" Sometimes "freshy" is used with particularly young tots: "You stop being freshy and hold Mommy's hand when I ask you to."

Tubby: Bathing, when talking to a young child, or about a young child. "Hi, we're going to be a little bit late, because Peter just finished taking a tubby." "Peter, it's time for you to come in here for your tubby."

Piggies: Toes. While conducting developmental assessments on toddlers, I've literally had dozens of parents who, when we ask the toddler if they can point to various body parts, explain that "we always call them piggies, so you gotta ask where your PIGGIES are!"

By chrissy
Wed, 02/25/2009 - 10:29am

I grew up in Roslindale and I recently had a baby. I'm guilty of all of the above. So funny, I never would have guessed that those words link me to my Boston heritage!
Thanks

By pepper
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 10:21pm

my sister moved to Florida and people have made a very big deal about her accent. She tells them to hold their tongue in their fingers and it will come out sounding Boston. If you're ever looking for a good laugh, give it a try. Make them try different positions. It is very funny. These are not stupid people, just curious and maybe a little gullible.

By Tim
Fri, 12/06/2013 - 3:21pm

Agreed

By pepper
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 9:56pm

Attila the Hun was not German. Germany did not even exist until the 1800's. Atilla was born in Hungary and was a scourge to the Roman empire. I'm pretty sure all of us Bostonians are not mistaken about words we grew up with. However, I have lived in many states and countries and the piggies going to market is ubiquitous. But I haven't seen anybody use hoodsie here. A hoodsie cup is a small ice cream cup and sometimes used to describe a girl from the hood who has given a taste to everyone.

By Hoobie
Sun, 02/10/2019 - 1:22pm

Hi Pepper:
Did you ever use "hoobie" to describe a rock about the size of your fist? I used it in upstate New York when I was working at Cornell and my friends laughed. Some of them started calling me "Hoobie."

By Andy from Dot
Sat, 05/09/2020 - 5:32pm

Grew up in Dot, never heard a rock described as a "hoobie". Did, however, hear of a rather large, uh, marijuana cigarette given that descriptor. "We're gonna hit the packy then come home and roll up a couple hoobies."

By Lisa LeBlanc
Fri, 04/22/2022 - 10:06am

I was Born and raised In Massachusetts and this article gave me a few good chuckles. Hoobie in particular as I'm quite familiar with the term. It's origins come from Doobie as in a "normal", not to be confused with a Pinna, sized Jibba or Joint. The Hoobie was a Pauhty Sized Jibba /Joint or Huge ass Doobie. Keep in mind This all preceded the Blunt craze.

By NWBL
Thu, 01/24/2013 - 10:04pm

I nevah heard hun either unless it was from a waitress asking me "what'll yah have, hun?"

By jonesee33
Fri, 02/01/2013 - 8:50pm

Raised in Mattapan in the 60's. We used the word "hun" all the time as a verb - a substitute for hog. Love this website, btw! Brings me right back to my Boston roots - keep up the good work!

By anon
Mon, 04/15/2013 - 1:40pm

I was born and raised in East Boston. When I was a kid in the late 60's, early 70's, we always used the word "hun" for somebody who didn't pass the ball. maybe kids stopped using it after that. I lived on Wordsworth street.

By Bostonyearsold
Sun, 01/30/2022 - 8:04am

no idea. I've heard “ bogart” like to bogart a joint and not share. Not hun the ball or a hoodsie being a girl without giving a taste. It's a Bday party ice cream with a flat piece of wood to eat it with. I think hun as in hunnie. I am behind piggy and tubby!

By eekanotloggedin
Wed, 10/29/2014 - 1:59pm

Boston is the only place I've lived where many families use them exclusively, and also in somewhat formal speech and not with a child. Parents talking with a clinician about a behavior and referring to "after dinner he has a tubby, and when he's finished with the tubby, that's when we'll see it..." or "we brought her in for a rash on her piggies that wasn't clearing up." I think this is pretty regional to use them like this.

By Tim McCormack
Sat, 12/17/2016 - 4:40pm

We independently started saying "piggies" because of the "this little piggy" rhyme, but we're not from 'round here. Notably, we only use it as a joking thing; in Serious Mode we would always say "toes". Our kid knows both, though. :-)

By Meganparadise
Tue, 12/04/2012 - 1:12am

I don't know, this must be a northeastern thing cause I was born and raised in Queens, New York, and we say all of that.

By NWBL
Thu, 01/24/2013 - 10:06pm

Nevah heard tubbie. But what about "tonic" for soda?

By pepper
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 10:11pm

Said tonic all my life. Going to another state, they get very confused and think you want hair tonic. I guess they feel as confused as I do when I used to wait tables and people ordered grits. Grits? Say what? & in Canada napkins are called serviettes. A man asked for one once, I said I'm not sure if we have any. He thought I was being sarcastic. I thought he wanted a wet nap. I've never heard a clam called a quahog outside of Cape Cod or Family Guy but that show is set in RI not the Cape. Btw -upcape is the bottom of Cape Cod and down cape is the tip, like Ptown. It's a nautical thing.

By Sam
Thu, 10/06/2016 - 9:07pm

Quahogs are actually a separate species entirely from clams. Im from around there and I go quahoging all the time during the summer

By Chris Dowd
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 3:09am

Pogue me Hoin! Is that englisj enough? IAI!

By Tom Gartland
Sun, 05/24/2009 - 12:04am

I grew up in Dedham during the late 40s and 50s. I now live in the midwest (Illinois and Iowa) and have done so for the last 45 years. A couple of nights ago I was out with some friends and I offered to treat the group to some ice cream. As I did so a phrase my father used under similar circumstances popped into my head, "I'll shout" meaning he would buy. None of my friends, all native Iowans, had ever heard the word shout used in that way. It occurred to me that this usage may have been unique to the Boston area. He was raised in East Boston.

Tom Gartland
West Branch, Iowa

By pepper
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 10:26pm

Never heard of shout but a hoodsie with no jimmies is like a Boston politician with no mob connections.

By Mark
Sun, 02/22/2015 - 3:58pm

A Hoodsie doesn't come with jimmies! A Hoodsie is a pre-packed cup of ice cream that has a cardboard lid and comes with a flat wooden spoon, made by the H.P. Hood dairy, based out in Agawam (home of Riverside Park, now Six Flags). It's half chocolate, half vanilla, no toppings, and could (haven't checked recently) be bought singly at gas stations or in bags of a dozen at the supamahkit.

By W Rox girl
Thu, 11/21/2013 - 5:07pm

My Irish Grandmother used it (in W. Roxbury). Never heard it again until I met an Australian. To Shout..means to treat. It must be from the British Isles.

By anon
Sun, 05/25/2014 - 9:11pm

This is pretty common in New Zealand English, too. I'd never heard it before coming to NZ in the 90's, even in the six years I lived in Cambridge/Somerville.

By James Fleming
Fri, 07/18/2014 - 8:02am

Hi,

I grew up in Birmingham UK and the term 'shout' for ordering a drink at the bar is commonplace all over the UK. Typical usage would be 'whose shout is it?' when asking whose turn it is to buy a round of drinks. The reply might typically be ' it's my shout, I'll get them in next!'

Cheers!

By Dot Rat Anon
Wed, 07/31/2013 - 11:49am

Dot rat born and raised.

Squirrel is one syllable as far as I'm concerned.

By pepper
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 10:35pm

I don't understand the difference between your word pronunciations. Skwerl and skwirl look like they would be pronounced the same. I say skweral.

By Mark
Mon, 07/23/2012 - 7:30pm

Common Mistake for non-Bostonians. Mark is not "Mock" but rather
"Mahk". Party is not "potty" it's "pahtee". You are letting the New York accent infiltrate Bostonian!

By Bernice
Tue, 09/23/2014 - 11:52pm

I was born and raised in Boston and currently reside in Connecticut. People are constantly mocking my Boston accent, unfortunately they do a New York accent instead. I just tell them if they can't say it 'right' than they shouldn't say it at all. LoL

By pepper
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 10:52pm

Mahk missed the pahty. Probably wasn't invited because he buys the cheap beeah at the packy and eats all the Hamburg and Frankfurts. Grilling out in the yahd is a cook out, never a barbeque and not even a bahbahque and we serve mostly just cities in Germany. Hamburg and Frankfurts. Never hamburgers or hot dogs or Frankfurters, except in restaurants. Your mom made American Chop Suey with Hamburg. That's macaroni, Hamburg and some kind of spaghetti type sauce. It's poor white food. Or food for poor white people.

By Naomi Bigelow
Sun, 04/15/2018 - 11:48am

So my vocabulary, accent, and humo(u)r is a total hodgepodge; born and raised in the Big Mitten but also lived in NH, spent time in England, and have been lost several times in Boston. This site is a treasure for anyone who loves language and is trying to learn to speak correctly--wherever. As a young adult, I was accused of being from New England; as a transplant in NH, from England. Writing novels, I've had some real fun with accents, idioms, and regionalizations! The low point of my 'English' was when working as a receptionist in a NH medical facility, made an appointment for a Mrs. Clock...and when she came in could not find any Mrs. Clark on the appointment list for the day.

By wisconsinite
Sat, 11/24/2012 - 7:03pm

The term is used in Wisconsin too. It was in use prior to the 1930's. It heard it when I was growing up in the 1940's and still hear it today. I water fountain is what is in the center of a park and people throw coins into it. You drink from a bubbler.

By anon
Sat, 08/03/2013 - 11:10pm

I grew up in the 60's also, in West Roxbury, and our dress codes were either "rat" or "collegic". Funny, same city, different ways of saying things.

By Dorchester
Wed, 10/23/2013 - 12:29pm

Ummm, I remember going to the Oriental on Friday nights and there were the younger "Rats" and "Collegiates." The Collegiates wore those awful white sweaters with a blue band and a red band around the "v" neck. And white jeans. Some kids were called preppies. Clicks were the style groups like "What click are you?"
My Dorchester Rats wore the thigh length black leather coats. They didn't have greasy hair unless it got greasy working on cars. These were the older guys who many ended up in Nam. And everybody smoked.

By Joan Loouise
Wed, 09/17/2014 - 4:11pm

I remember Hup pass as in hip pass 3 meaning 3:30. My mother used it all the time. I grew up in West Roxbury. She grew up in Dorchester.

By anon
Thu, 12/11/2014 - 2:55pm

Very good

By Kelly
Fri, 10/09/2020 - 5:06pm

If you call the bathroom the basement or cellar then what do you call a basement; a dungeon, a cellar; a hole under the house?

By John Kavin
Tue, 12/16/2014 - 1:33am

Hi Karen, just read your comment while searching google for the Weld School. I ran into Bobbie MacDonald the other day and we where talking about the o!d days.
Were you a classmate?
John Kavin

[email protected]

By Shoosh
Thu, 08/30/2012 - 11:04pm

I remember asking the teacher in 3rd grade to go the basement at my school in Lowell, and she asked why I needed to go home. I don't think I ever used it again.

By Dave M
Wed, 01/09/2013 - 6:55am

Yep! In Tewksbury, at least in grade school in the early 70s, the school bathroom was definitely 'the basement'.

Some friends with panelling and furnitcha in the undaground pahta their homes had a finisht basemint, but we just hadda cella with the washa right next to the drya near the furnace and not too fah from the bulk-edd. We fancied ahs up some, tho. We hung a daht boa-d down theya.

By GDFL
Sun, 04/06/2014 - 9:14am

I didn't feel compelled to comment until I read this. It made me laugh out loud. So perfect.

By Maya
Sun, 12/22/2013 - 6:33pm

I grew up in Worcester. Any time we had to use the bathroom we'd raise our hands and ask to go to the basement. This was elementary school, after than we just asked for hall passes. I went to Kindergarten in 1969 at Dix Street, which burned down when I was in 1st grade. I then went to Elm Park and after that Nelson Place. So perhaps it is a combination of time and place? To this day when I hear basement I think bathroom.

By PBH
Tue, 01/27/2015 - 11:21am

I attended a school built in 1895, and the two toilet stalls (girls' and boys') were in the basement of the school, so maybe that's why the bathroom is called a basement.

As for basement/cellar, I always went "down cellar" to get something that was stored there. However, it's more complicated than that. The foundation under a house is a basement, but the space within the foundation is a cellar. Also, commercial buildings have basement space, but houses have cellar space.

By Johanna Steper
Thu, 05/05/2022 - 2:10pm

I was just looking up the use of "basement" for "bathroom". We did that in Warren County, New York also. I thought "bathroom" must be a slightly bad word, not good enough for school. No, the bathrooms were NOT in the basement. When I moved to central New York, I found that they used the term bathroom. But they said "crick", which I thought was hilarious.

By Mahree
Mon, 07/27/2020 - 8:56am

Sometimes embarrassed by my thick Boston accent, my ear never picked up how my speech was different than others. One day my son came home from school and I noticed he was pronouncing his “R”. And I thought, ‘that’s good, he’s being taught to speak correctly.’ But years later, he told me he wished he hadn’t lost the Boston accent. Recently while making a phone reservation, I was told I should be a speech coach for Boston movies. Guess I haven’t lost it and there is a job for everyone.

Pages