MD11Fr8Dog

Live the sequel, bid the B777!

AFW_MD11

So, then wouldn't they be LD's?

Haywood JB

JJ,

That was a good belly laugh! Thanks, I needed that WD!

OBTW, how's your puppy?

Jetjok

Thanks for asking. Yesterday she underwent her 5th surgery since June. It's a long and involved story, one that I won't bore you with, but the bottom line is that she had this one done at Tuft's University animal hospital, outside of WorcHHester, Mass, and hopefully she'll be home this weekend. The recovery takes about 16 weeks, with daily physical therapy and range of motion exercises. In about 8 weeks, she'll be allowed to do hydrotherapy, where she's in a very large tank, that's then filled with water and she walks on an under-water treadmill. That's the one that will allow her to regain her strength in that left hind leg. Finally, it's a good thing that I'm wealthy, because so far we're into this thing for over 12 grand. It's ok though because she's the best dog on the planet.

W0XOFF

DAMN! I HATE it when even a 'pretend' New Englander can't get this stuff right!

Sure people from Worcester talk funny. People from Mississippi talk funny. So do Minnesotans, Oregonians and New Yorkers. Especially New Yorkers. The bigger question is why does Worcester have a lake, a village, college and an avenue named Quinsigamond, but they're scattered around the city like leaves in the fall?

No, it doesn't make sense unless you know that the community was called Quinsigamond long before it was called Worcester. It's an Indian word that means: "Boy, do these folks talk strange." If you're a newcomer and you find the local language throws you for a loop, we've assembled a handy guide. Before we get to that, let's start with how not to pronounce Worcester.

Don't make it three syllables. Just forget that first E is even there. And never, never, never put an H in the middle of Worcester. People will make fun of you. So, how do you correctly pronounce Worcester to make people think you've been shopping at Spag's on Saturdays and going to Water Street on Sunday mornings your whole life?

You've dropped the first E and boiled it down to two syllables. Now eliminate both R's. While you're at it, better get that C out of there. Make the remaining sort of an AH and turn the O into a U. Wuss-tah. It doesn't rhyme with sister or rooster. The first syllable rhymes with puss. Go ahead and say it. Wuss-tah. Now you're almost ready to walk into a spa in the village and order a regular coffee and maybe a couple of tonics and a grinder or club. One more thing. Always include your state as part of your hometown, as in: "I'm from Wusstahmass." Confused? The following guide to the peculiarities of the Central MA dialect should help:

Boston Turnpike - Route 9 east of Worcester

Bubblah - Water fountain

Candlepin Bowlin' - Invented in Worcester in 1880 by Justin P. White, and a far superior game to Ten Pin, a form of bowling known locally simply as "big balls."

Cellah - Basement

Club sandwich - Italian sub

Dine-ah - Good food cheap, but it's only a diner if it was made by Worcester Lunch Car Co.

Dinnah - Lunch

Elastic - Rubber band

Frappe - Ice cream, milk and flavored syrup. (A milkshake leaves out the ice cream.)

Grindah - Sub sandwich

Jimmies - Chocolate sprinkles

The Lake - Quinsigamond

Package Store - Place to buy beer and liquor Packy - Shorthand for package store

Parlor - Living room

Piazza - Porch

Pricker, Pricker Bush - A burr or other vegetation that grows on a bush and sticks to your clothing. Some use the same word for any bush with thorns.

The Pike - The Mass. Pike

Regular coffee - Fully caffeinated with cream and sugar.

Spa - A corner store with soda fountain

Square - All rotaries are squares, but not all squares are rotaries

Three-deckah - Not a sandwich, but a house with three floors, big apartments, hundreds of stairs and nowhere close to enough parking.

Tonic - Soda (of any flavor or brand)

Wormtown - Slang for Worcester

How to say it:
Auburn - AW-bin
Aunt - AHnt
Berlin - BURL-in
Clinton - Klint'n
Ha'past - 30 minutes after the hour, as in: "we're gonna eat lunch at ha'past 12"

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchaugagoggchaubunagungamaugg- Wep-stah Lake

Leicester - Less-tah

Leominster - Lemon-stah

Millbury - Mill-bree

New York - NooYawk (Rhymes with talk)

Northboro - Nohth-bro (also, West-bro, South-bro and Marl-bro)

Petersham - Peters-am

Pizza - Pete-zer

Shrewsbury - SHOES-bree

Southbridge - Sowt-bridge

Tatnuck - Tatnick

Westminster - West-minstah

With - Witch, as in: "Who ya got witch ya", or "I'll be witch ya in a minute." (Alternate pronunciation: Wit. "I'll be right wit ya.")
You think of Philadelphia as the Midwest.

You think it's your God-given right to cut someone off in traffic.

You think there are only 25 letters in the alphabet (no R's).

You think three straight days of 90+ temperatures is a heat wave.

All your pets are named after Celtics or Bruins.

You refer to 6 inches of snow as a "dusting."

Just hearing the words "New York" puts you in an angry mood.

You don't think you have an attitude.

You always 'bang a left' as soon as the light turns green, and oncoming traffic always expects it.

Everything in town is "a five minute walk."

When out of town, you think the natives of the area are all whacked.

You still can't bear to watch highlights from game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

You have no idea what the word compromise means.

You believe using your turn signal is a sign of weakness.

You don't realize that you walk and talk twice as fast as everyone else.

You're anal, neurotic, pessimistic and stubborn.

You think if someone is nice to you, they must want something or are from out of town.

Your favorite adjective is "wicked."

You think 63-degree ocean water is warm.

You think the Kennedy's are misunderstood.

WHEN WE SAY ________ WE MEAN...
Bizah – odd
Flahwiz - roses, etc.
Hahpahst - 30 minutes after the hour
Hahwahya? - how are you?
Khakis - what we staht the cah with
****ah – superb
Retahded – silly
Shewah - of course
Wikkid – extremely
Yiz - you, plural
Popcahn - popular snack

HOW WE'LL KNOW YOU WEREN'T BON HEAH:
You wear a Harvard sweatshirt.
You ask directions to "Cheers."
You order a grinder and a soda.
You follow soccer.
You eat at Durgin Park.
You pronounce it "Worchester" or Glouchester."
You call it "COPELY" square.

DEFINITIONS:
Frappes have ice cream; milk shakes don't.
If it's fizzy and flavored, it's tonic. Soda is club soda. . . .Pop is dad.
When we mean tonic WATER, we say tonic WATER.
The smallest beer is a pint.
Scrod is whatever they tell you it is, usually fish.
If you paid more than $6 a pound, you got scrod.
It's not a water fountain, it's a bubblah.
It's not a trash can, it's a barrel.
It's not a shopping cart, it's a carriage.
It's not a purse, it's a pockabook.
Brown bread comes in a can. You open both ends, push it out, heat it and; eat it with baked beans.
They're not franks, they're haht dahgs. Franks are money in France.

THINGS NOT TO DO:
Don't call it Beantown.
Don't pahk your cah in Hahvid Yahd. They'll tow it to Meffa (Medford)
or
Slumaville (Sommerville).
Don't swim in the Charles, no matter what Bill Weld tells you.
Don't sleep in the Common.
Don't wear orange in Southie on St. Patrick's Day.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
There are two State Houses, two City Halls, two courthouses and two Hancock buildings (one old, one new).
Route 128 is also I-95. It is also I-93.
It's the Sox, The Pats (or Patsies if they’re losing), the Seltz, and the Broons.
The underground train is not the subway. It's the T and it doesn’t run all night (fah chrysakes, this ain't Noo Yawk).

GETTING AROUND:

Pay no attention to the street names. There's no school on School Street, no court on Court Street, no dock on Dock Square, no water on Water Street.

Back Bay streets are in alphabetical odda. Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth. So are South Boston streets: A, B, C, D.

If the streets are named after trees (Walnut, Chestnut, Cedar), you’re on Beacon Hill. If they're named after poets you’re in Wellesley.

All avenues are properly referenced by their nicknames: Comm Ave, Mass Ave., and Dot Ave.

Dot is Dorchester, Rozzie Roslindale, JP is Jamaica Plain. Readville doesn’t exist.

THE NORTH-EAST-SOUTH-WEST THING:

Southie is South Boston. The South End is the South End.

Eastie is East Boston. The North End is east of the West End. The West End and Scollay Square are no more-a guy named Rappaport got rid of them one night.

The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury.

Due north of the center we find the South End. This is not to be confused with South Boston, which lies directly east from the South End. North of the South End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End. Backbay was filled in years ago.

BASIC RULES FOR DRIVING IN BOSTON

(Subject to change at any time): When on a one-way street, stay to the right to allow oncoming traffic to pass. Never, ever, stop for a pedestrian unless he flings himself under the wheels of your car.

The first parking space you see will be the last parking space you see. Grab it.

Double park in the North End of Boston, unless triple parking is available. Learn to swerve abruptly. Boston is the home of slalom driving, thanks to the Registry of Motor Vehicles, which puts potholes in key locations to test drivers' reflexes and keep them on their toes.

Never get in the way of a car that needs extensive bodywork.

Always look both ways when running a red light.

Honk your horn the instant the light changes.

Breakdown lanes are not for breaking down, but for speeding, especially during rush hour. Breakdown lanes may also end without warning causing traffic jams as people merge back in.

Never use directional signals when changing lanes. They only warn other drivers to speed up and not let you in.

Making eye contact revokes your right of way.

Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right.

Whenever possible, stop in the middle of a crosswalk to ensure inconveniencing as many pedestrians as possible.

And if a pedestrian ahead of you steps in the road, speed up loudly and chase him back up on the curb. Peds have no rights.

STILL GROUNDED

Are 50 lives more valuable the 300? Ask a family member before you answer.

Jetjok

WOXOFF,

Damn! After reading the first paragraph of your post, I went in and edited my spelling error and took out the "H". But when, 10 minutes later, I finished reading, I couldn't stand not giving you an "in", so I went back and changed it back. Sort of. Fun stuff, that. We've spent a little time, not in Worcester, but in North Grafton, and found the people to be nice, the drivers are non-confrontational, and the new shopping mall, is well thought out and very nice. That said, I still wouldn't give you a nickle for the Kennedy Clan, except of course, Maria Shriver, who, while a touch too thin for my taste, is still hot, hot, hot.

MX727

Ummm.....wouldn't that be Regulah coffee? What, you trying to get a visitah killt?

Oh, and you are wrong about the R's not being in the alphabet. How else you gonna order PizzeR.

skypine27

I don't mind whatsoever that the 777 will pay the same as the 300 because:

"It won't effect me."

(where have I heard that before)...

Dracma

Here is the argument I heard recently....................

The majority of us have sacrificed in our contract negotiations so that the ND's could get:
A pension multiplier
Better retiree health care in a few years
Five more years of a career, etc, etc.

Now we're supposed to flex some muscle so that the ND's can have a higher pay rate on the 777 that they're all going to bid?

Why don't we just save our efforts for ourselves when we're negotiating a new contract five years from now?

What do you all think?