Boston Customs

Aside from looking at maps and researching historical sights, there are a few extra things any visitor planning a trip to Boston should know. The accent is strong, as is the love for Beantown sports and Irish culture.  Understanding a few typical Boston customs will make your trip easier, not to mention more enjoyable!

How to Speak Bostonian

Bostonians have one of the most notorious accents in America. You may be tempted to ask a native Bostonian to say “park the car in Harvard yard,” which will make you seem like an annoying tourist. Instead, just listen to the way people speak, and you’ll find yourself catching on in no time.

It takes time to become familiar with a Boston accent, but it’s worth it. Having a handle on the locals’ version of English will make your trip much easier. The letter r goes a little haywire in Boston. Sometimes it becomes ah or aw. Park becomes pahk. Car becomes cah. Yard becomes yahd. Harvard becomes Hahvahd. The lettah r is softah than it is in most places and shows up in words where it doesn’t typically belong, such as when wash becomes warish, when idea becomes idear. Sometimes vowels become liquid and dissolve the r altogether, such as in the word wee id, which is spelled w-e-i-r-d, even in Massachusetts.

Words to Know

I know a Southie that took the pike to the cape during the nor’easter. He said it was wicked gonzo and that he’ll stick with the T from now on. 

Do not be alarmed if you hear words patterned in ways that you do not understand. Bostonians just use a lot of slang. A Southie is someone from Boston’s Southside neighborhood. The pike is short for the Massachusetts Turnpike, a toll road that spans across Boston east-west. While Massachusetts has a jagged seaside coast with lots of little inlets, bays, and capes, the cape always means Cape Cod. A nor’easter describes an Atlantic coastal storm where the winds originate from the northeast. Wicked is used in the region in the same way that the rest of the country uses very. Gonzo is the local word for crazy or bizarre. The T in Boston is the subway system.

Translation: “I know a person from the south side of Boston who drove on the toll road toward Cape Cod during that storm. He said it was very crazy and that he’ll stick with riding the subway from now on.” 

Irish Boston 

The largest ethnic group in Massachusetts is the Irish, whose immigration drove the expansion of Boston. According to the 2010 US census, 15.8% of the city’s population is of Irish descent and remains a destination city for today’s new Irish immigrants.

For a tour of the Irish’s history in Boston, take a walk on The Irish Heritage Trail. This trail is a series of landmarks throughout New England that are pieces of Irish American history and commemorate the story of the great waves of Irish immigration. The trail spans the state, however, 20 of the major sites are located in Boston, including the Rose Kennedy Garden, the Patrick Collins Memorial, the Boston Irish Famine Memorial, the John Boyle O’Reilly Statue, and the Boston Massacre Memorial. Some of the city’s major buildings are included along the trail, such as the Boston Public Library, Boston City Hall, the Massachusetts State House, and even Fenway Park. 

Every March, the city hosts the Irish Food & Culture Celebration, attracting Irish musicians and artists from around the world. The city is also home to dozens of Irish pubs and restaurants.

Food

Seafood is common throughout New England, but each area tends to have its own specialties. In Boston, that specialty is the lobster roll, which is a salad of shredded lobster meat, mayonnaise or butter, and chopped vegetables on a bread roll. Fried clams, fish and chips, steamed clams, and New England chowder are also local favorites. The restaurants in Boston are famous for their baked beans, which is where Boston earned the nickname, “Beantown.”

Boston is also home to the oldest restaurant in the United States, the Union Oyster House.

Book a Boston Hotel today!