National Blog Posting Month

Alas...

...I do not love rotaries or eating lobster, and as far as the Red Sox are concerned I am such a nerd that I feel really, really smart just for knowing what sport they play. (Hockey, right? Kidding. I know it's football.) I also pronounce all my Rs quite clearly and never insert extra syllables around them.

But here I am in Massachusetts. What choice have I but to join if you'll have me?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by BipolarLawyerCook on October 10, 2007 at 1:08pm: Well, there are lots of other qualifications-- like, if you know what a spa is, or if your response to whether you need anything else at a store or restaurant is that you're "all set." Or maybe you're just a jerky driver.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sara on October 10, 2007 at 1:11pm: Yay! I'm a totally jerky driver! (I believe the term is "Masshole."); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Leslie Poston on October 22, 2007 at 8:37pm: I am a transplant to this foreign land of NH from Santa Barbara California. 7 years later I still connive to get honey (a native of Mass) to move back home. I also do not love rotaries, snow, lobstah (allergic), deciphering the R Free language, icy roads, bugs or driving in Bahstahn ... ;); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by BipolarLawyerCook on October 24, 2007 at 4:07pm: Leslie, the problem is you're living in New Hampshire. If you lived in Mass., or Boston, then it'd all be OK. ; ) (Sez a total Mass-snob-- though parts of Maine are also cool.); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by omly on November 2, 2007 at 10:37am: We aren't R Free. You are totally allowed to put the ones you drop into otherwise R free words. :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jenny on October 23, 2007 at 10:55am: Massholes are definitely in!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by tracy ducasse on November 1, 2007 at 7:29pm: often people from massachusetts believe they don't drop there R's or add syllables.
but soon you'll be doing it just like the rest of us.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike Carvin on November 2, 2007 at 11:08am: I've lived in Mass. since 1989 - transplanted from upstate New York. My wife (also from upstate NY) can't stand that I can turn the accent on and off at will.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sara on November 3, 2007 at 9:51am: Tracy, you make an excellent point.

Still, after 12 years here, I do believe my Rs remain intact. It's my flat As that have been murdered by exposure. "Sandwich" has been transformed into "see-ann-witch."

Sad. We catch ourselves at this, my true love and I, and then we spend a few moments doing rehabilitative therapy. "Saaaaaaaaaan-d-witch," we say to each other, calmly and slowly. "Saaaaaaaaaaan-d-witch."

Nevertheless, I have friends in California who claim they can no longer understand (unnersteeann) me when I speak to them on the phone. Thank goodness for e-mail.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by BipolarLawyerCook on November 7, 2007 at 5:10pm: WFNX in Boston ran a radio spot-- I forget the whole thing, but the joke was that it was a course in non-regional American English for New Englanders. Everything was fine until they had to practice saying "Pepperidge Farm."
The chorus? "Pepp-ridge FAAAHHHMMMM." I practically rearended someone the first time I heard it, I was laughing so hard.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sara on November 8, 2007 at 8:29am: That was unfair. Now I want cookies. ;); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by BipolarLawyerCook on November 8, 2007 at 3:24pm: Well, are you a Milano, a Brussels, a Chessmen, or a Gingerman kinda gal?; ▶ Reply to This