Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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and Finally . . . T Feud For ThoughT the language barri-ah IN 21ST-CENTURY BOSTON, IS THERE ANY PLACE FOR THE HOMETOWN ACCENT? WROR'S LAUREN BECKHAM FALCONE SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THE PROS AND CONS OF THE BROAD A. o embrace the "R" or the "Ah?" That is the question—at least for someone born in or around Boston. As a child, you may not even hear it, but there comes a point in every Bostonian's life when that accent singles you out. I learned early on it could be used against you. My mother took me to a TV commercial casting call when I was five years old. I was summoned into an office. An older woman sat behind the desk. She asked a few questions. I answered. Then my mother and I were back out on Newbury Street, headed for home. Years later my mother told me, "She said you sounded too Boston." Translation? I may have looked like Cindy Brady, but I had a voice like a teamster from Lower Mills. I'm sure that wasn't the only thing that derailed my television career, but I got the message. So began "Operation Wicked Local: The Search for the Letter R." Oh, did I pronounce them. I over-pronounced them. But guess what? It took. I heard, "You don't sound like you're from Boston." Success! It felt like a well-earned compliment. Because who wants the sound of their voice to be reminiscent of someone screaming at the neighborhood kids from the porch of her triple deck-ah? In fact, there's a whole industry dedicated to sounding less like Melissa Leo in The Fighter and more like a newscaster on NPR. Enter Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker, a speech and communication specialist who also teaches a Boston accent reduction workshop at Boston Casting. "I help my clients tone it down when they are in a certain environment," she says. Her clients are often businesspeople, lawyers, and doctors. "There is nothing wrong with a Boston accent. It's simply a matter of how people want to present themselves, but the world at large has attitudes about a Boston accent, and some are negative." Yeah, no kidding. Ask anyone who has been on the receiving end of a tourist's "Do you pahk your caah in Hahvahd Yahd?" Which is why people will pay hundreds, even thousands, of dollars to get rid of or at least tone down the dialect. A one-day workshop costs just $149. But private classes—typically 12- to 20-week courses—can run up to $3,500. And though it's tough to lose, it's even trickier to learn (we're talking to you, Jon Hamm) because there are so many variations, says Michael J. Connolly, a linguistics professor at Boston College. "There's the Brahmin accent—think John F. Kennedy," Connolly says. "Then there's the Dorchester/South Boston/South-of-Boston accent, which is differ- ent from what I call the North End/Revere accent." While some want to train it away, not everyone is willing to let go of our, ahem, unique sound. Kennedy culti- vated his, trying to associate himself with Boston's elite Brahmins. Other politicians cling to the geographic loyalty and "of the people" mind-set an accent implies. "This is the way I speak. I don't want to be homogenous. And I would never want to hide that I'm from a certain area," says President of the Massachusetts Senate Therese Murray, who grew up in Dorchester. Murray says she's not certain if a Boston accent helps or hurts a political career in this town, but she's sure of one thing: "There is no 'R' in Dorchester." Still, you don't want it to get in the way of your message, Whittaker warns. "If people are thinking, Did he said 'corn' or 'con?' it can distract their attention from what you are really trying to say," she points out. "The trick is to turn it off in situations where you want to sound more pro- fessional, but turn it back on when you're with friends." A Boston accent is a linguistic security blanket, a familiar face, a sense of place, a reminder that you are— like it or not—from somewhere. And when you hear it, you know that you're home. BC 136 bostoncommon-magazine.com Wickedly Good Fun! illustration by daniel o'leary