"These clayums were dug this mawhning. Just boil them in theyah own juice. They'll be wicked good," said the 70-year-old, grizzled lobsterman who had just sold us 5 pounds of freshly dug clams from a little shack on the back of his property.
"I'll be right theyah," screeched a woman from a second-floor window, when we rang a bell to register for a campsite. A few minutes later, she yelled, "I'm right heeyah." Coming into view, she apologized for her delay. "I was in the showah. I still need to fix my hayah." Telling us which site was ours, she said, "You can pahk your van right ovah theyah."
As we travel through New Hampshire and Maine, Lynn and I are always so delighted to hear the New England accents. We can't get enough of it, engaging native speakers in extended conversations whenever we can.
"That'll be one lawbstah stew and one chowdah," said the waitress when she took our order. "And do you want any beeyah to go with that?" Of course we did. With that accent, how could we say no?
We knew we'd love the foliage, the beautiful coastline, and the quaint villages with their white homes and steepled churches in New England. But, we'd forgotten how much we would enjoy hearing local people talk.
Or, is that pronounced "tahk?"
The woman who changed the oil in our van asked, "Five quahts? Shoowah, deah."
Even the emergency signs on the road have an accent. "Make yah ma proud," said the flashing sign on the freeway, followed by "wear yah seat belts."
The woman who changed the oil in our van asked, "Five quahts? Shoowah, deah."
Even the emergency signs on the road have an accent. "Make yah ma proud," said the flashing sign on the freeway, followed by "wear yah seat belts."
And those r's that seem to disappear. Well, they sometimes reappear in the strangest places. One of Lynn's students, Marcia Abbott, was referred to as Mash-uh-rabbit.
Or a seminary student who lived next door to us in married-student housing told us that he was taking a course: "The Church in the Morden Age." Nope, that's not a typo. The r just migrated.
The New England accent is starting to grow on us. Ahs move. In other cases, consonants simply just disappeah. And vowels nevah sound like we expect.
Take the town neah wheyah we ah staying. It's not "Gloucester," it's
The New England accent is starting to grow on us. Ahs move. In other cases, consonants simply just disappeah. And vowels nevah sound like we expect.
Take the town neah wheyah we ah staying. It's not "Gloucester," it's
These wonderful New England accents. They ah just wicked good.
But accents are not the only wicked good thing in New England.
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