To many Americans, the Boston accent is as indiscernible as someone speaking English with a thick Scottish accent. Drop someone from Birmingham, Alabama onto a bar stool in South Boston and they’ll be fighting for their lives trying to keep up with the conversation.
The Boston accent was forged primarily by early settlers originating from Southeast England (East Anglia) who commonly drop the ‘r’ in words. Over time, as the city of Boston grew it took on a life of its own and the accent was seen as a status badge which led to many other early settlers/Americans in and around Boston adopting the accent and then it just grew from there.
Two Guys From Boston (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) On How To Pronounce Massachusetts Town Names
On the most recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy who born in Brooklyn and raised in Saugerties, NY and went to college in Albany but somehow has a strong Boston legacy thanks to starring in Fever Pitch, joined Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for a video on how to pronounce Massachusetts town and city names.
The video titled “Three Guys from Boston Say Every Town and City in Massachusetts” is thus a misnomer as Jimmy is not at all from Boston even if he has a spot-on Boston accent. But I digress……