Fai-ah Cwommwent? 2

[SteveGlo]

From Metro (a free newspaper in the UK) advice to Brits visiting New England:

"To approximate Boston patois, insert a 'w' before most vowels, so Boston becomes Bwoston.

An 'r' ending word becomes ah, so rear becomes ree-ah

Wicked - a general intensifier
Pissah - someone/thing cool
Qwee-ah - means nuts rather than gay

(hence) 'Ah yah qwee-ah or wicked pissah?' translates as
'Are you out of your mind, or a jolly good chap?' "

No wonder they chucked all that tea into the water - speaking of which the same paper reports:

"It took the US 188 years to compensate Britain for the loss of 347 crates of tea in the Boston Tea Party.
...But it was nor until 1961 that US authorities handed over a cheque for £1.11 ($1.96) to cover the loss."

I wonder who got all that money?

 

[dgillz]

I disagree about the W before the vowels, at least not in all cases. They definitely do not pronounce it "Bwoston". However the "ah" comment is right on, as is "Qweeah".

I assume Pissah is supposed to mean Pissar, and that Wicked is supposed to be Icked. If so, these are two words I have never heard of in my life. If I am missing something here please educate me.

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[tsdragon]

Pissah" is probably supposed to mean "pisser" - as in "He's a real pisser." It's an old expression, and I don't know how it got to mean "cool".

"Wicked" hasn't been translated at all - it means "wicked". As in "Man, that's a wicked cool bike!" That word has been in use since at least the 60's.

I don't think that "Bwoston" is quite right. It's more like "Baahston".

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[SilentAiche]

New England dialects are indeed difficult. For example, they instinctively pronounce "Senator" as "Kennedy." No one knows why.

I recomend you come South for a visit. We'll gladly teach you about barbeque (pit-cooked pork with a vinegar-based sauce); ketchup in barbeque is, obviously, for commie wingnuts.

However, before you come, please be advised that you can't just hit somebody down here.

You have to "haul off" first. No one knows why.

Oh, and please ask for our iced tea.

Tim [smilie]

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[SamBones]

I used to work with some people who were born and raised in Boston, and we figured out how it really works. We dubbed the theory "Net Zero R" or "The Conservation of R".

The idea is that the letter R can float in a Bostonian's sentences, much like a free electron in a metal. BUT, the "R" level MUST be conserved.

For example, most "R"s that occur within, or at the end of a word are lost. This gives you sentences like "Pahk the cah in the yahd" (Park the car in the yard). This would seem to cause a net loss in "R"s.

This doesn't happen though. What happens is that these free "R"s (R-ions) collect at the end of any word ending in A. The R-ion alters the ending A to be an E as it attaches. This results in words such as "Bananer" (Banana), "Alasker" (Alaska), "Flahrider" (Florida), and "Liser" (Lisa).

The "R" within a word can be retained if it is surrounded by vowels. This gives words like "Mirrah" (Mirror) and "Jurah" (Juror).

We also noticed that there is a small net loss in energy as a Bostonian who lives away from Boston slowly loses the floating R phenomena over time (possibly due to the -a to -er conversion). The half life of the floating-R effect appears to be 10 to 20 years, depending on the individual. That is, the effect loses half it's strength every 10 to 20 years. It has also been noted that the effect can be recharged to full force with a visit back to Boston as brief as one week.

To summarize, even though a small amount of energy may be lost in the reaction, all "R"s that are lost within words eventually appear at the end of words ending in "A", giving a net zero loss in "R"s.

 

[grande]

Hey, you should come to Canada, eh. We could teach you all aboot our country. And if you bother us, we'll tell you to "Take off, eh!"

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

SamBones,

That was friggin' hilarious!

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[SilentAiche]

SamBones,

Too d#@m funny for words, bud!!

Tim

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[sleipnir214]

Outstanding, SamBones!

The same theory holds true for some Aussie and Kiwi accents, too.

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[Murgle]

Speekin azza Scouser, I doughno wha yez arawl gowin on abow' like. Allz I know is Iyad a quick shufty at dis thread, an' me an' me mates taught it woz dead funny, dyernoworrameanlike?

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