Boston slang
Encyclopedia : B : BO : BOS : Boston slang
Boston slang consists of words and phrases of slang originating from Boston. Though most often used in Boston, the slang can also be heard in other cities of Massachusetts or even other New England states, though not always as frequently. Some terms are less commonly heard outside of the Boston area than others; some are not used at all outside of Boston.
Contents
Slang terms
A
- ABI - American Born Irish; someone of Irish descent born in the United States who enthusiastically admires Ireland and Irish culture.
- alls - common substitute for "all that." ("Alls I know," "alls I want," etc.)
B
- bagged - arrested; "He got bagged for a DUI."; (Driving Under the Influence)
- ...as/like balls - used to exaggerate a statement, often about the weather; can be used both positively and negatively ("The Red Sox played like balls today" or "It's warm as balls in here")
- bang - to make a left turn (often, "bang a left"; also used often as "bang a U-ie" - make a U turn); sometimes used interchangeably with hang
- barney - a Harvard student or graduate (used by working class residents of Somerville), apparently in reference to trolley barns near the university. The term is rarely used today; now yuppie is used as a desciption of almost all outsiders, including college students, professors and men wearing expensive suits.
- barrel - trash can
- The Basement - Filene's Basement, a department store in Downtown Crossing
- bazo - a drunkard; used mostly in South Boston (rare)
- Beacon Hill - the Massachusetts government, particularly the State legislature
- Beantown - Boston (seldom used by Bostonians)
- The 'Berry (or the 'Burry) - Roxbury
- Big Dig - the Central Artery Tunnel Project
- The Bob Loboat - The Boston Harbor Island Ferry that docks in Rowes Wharf
- bobos - Cheap no-name sneakers.
- BoSox - See Sox (Seldom used within New England, national slang to differentiate from the ChiSox, or White Sox of Chicago)
- Brahmin - Boston Brahmin
- breakdown lane - right margin or shoulder on highways used for broken down vehicles. Cars can drive in the breakdown lane at certain hours on some Massachusetts highways.
- Da Broons - Reference to the Boston Bruins, also often called The B's.
- bubbler [pron. bubblah] - water fountain
- bulkhead - outdoor entrance to the basement
C
- calm your liver - chill out (uncommon)
- The Cape - Cape Cod
- Children's - Children's Hospital Boston
- chowdah [chowder] - New England clam chowder, or occasionally fish chowder. Never, never, the Manhattan variety of clam chowder.
- chowderhead (sometimes chowdahead) - stupid person
- Chuck Rivah - the Charles River
- cleanser - dry cleaner; used more often in the names of dry cleaning shops than in actual speech
- Comm Ave - Commonwealth Avenue
- The Combat Zone - the red light district of Boston that used to exist between Downtown Crossing and Chinatown
- The Common - Boston Common
- Cow Hampshire - derogatory term for New Hampshire
- cruiser [pron. crew-zah] - a police car
- Curse of the Bambino - see article
D
- decked - adj., dressed nicely ("decked out"); past tense verb, punched
- directional - noun., turn signal
- Dot - Dorchester, MA.
- Dot Ave - Dorchester Avenue
- down cellar (pronounced "down sellah") - refers to a basement
- Down East - A section of the Maine coast that is actually north of Boston
- d-tech - An undercover police car
- dust - drug most commonly used in the 80's, rare nowadays.
E
- Eastie - East Boston.
- elastic - rubber band
F
- FBI - Foreign Born Irish; someone born in Ireland; an Irish immigrant
- the flat of the Hill - the portion of Beacon Hill between Charles Street and Storrow Drive
- frappe [pron. frap] - a milkshake; the term milkshake has a separate use (see below)
G
- The Gahden - a reference to the Boston Garden or the TD Banknorth Garden, home of the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins
- greenie - an urban empty lot overgrown with weeds.
- grinder [pron. "grind-ah"] - a submarine sandwich, more often called a sub. Some insist that a grinder is toasted, while a sub is not.
- The Gator - Mike Greenwell, former Left Fielder for the Red Sox who resides in Southwest Florida
H
- hang - to make a right turn (often, "hang a right"); sometimes used interchangeably with bang
- Hell - MIT, particularly to its students
- hibo [pron. "high-bow"] - the Ancient Order of Hibernians; a member of the AOH; its meeting hall
- the Hill - Beacon Hill
- Hoodsie (1) - A small cup of vanilla and chocolate ice-cream from the HP Hood Company. Eaten with a thin wooden spoon that comes with the Hoodsie.
- hoodsie (2) - In neighborhoods such as South Boston and Dorchester it refers to a precocious minor female who tries to appear older or wants to date older teenage boys or young men. The term is considered derogatory: "He'll get bagged if he keeps dating that hoodsie." Popular knowledge tells that the expression comes from the idea that the small cup a Hoodsie ice cream treat comes in is the same size as the bra cup of a hoodsie.
- hook - used interchaneably with hang; ("hook a right")
- hi hosey - to claim ownership of something; ("Hi hosey the front seat.")
- The Hub - Boston; shortened from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.'s phrase The Hub of the Solar System (often misremembered as Universe) (seldom used in conversation, but seen often in writing and advertisements, e.g. in the Boston Globe)
I
- the Irish Riviera - the South Shore coastal suburbs to the southeast of Boston such as Quincy and Weymouth
J
- The Jetties - refers to Jetties Beach in Nantucket
- JP - Jamaica Plain
- Jew Hill Ave - derogatory term used for Blue Hill Ave in Mattapan. Comes from a time when Mattapan was a mostly Jewish neighborhood.
L
- lace curtain Irish - a person of Irish descent who is moving up the social ladder; ("After they moved to the Point, they became lace curtain Irish.")
- the Law School - Harvard Law School
- the Leather District - the neighborhood surrounding South Street in Boston
- "Let's go, Southie, let's go!" Rallying cry for South Boston High School, used by anti-integration activists during the Boston busing crisis
- "Light dawns on Marblehead" - used when a dense person finally realizes something. Also any variation such as, Dawn breaks on Marblehead.
- "like a bastard" - an excess of something ("It's raining like a bastard outside.")
- the Lower End - that part of South Boston around the Broadway MBTA station
M
- Maine-iac - derogatory term for Maine driver or resident, on par with Masshole
- Man's Greatest Hospital - Massachusetts General Hospital (alternatively, the medical-industrial complex)
- Mass Ave - Massachusetts Avenue
- Massholes - derogatory term for residents of Massachusetts, especially of Boston drivers (popular in New Hampshire).
- Me'fah or Med'fah - Medford, Massachusetts; an exageratted pronunciation of the way the city's name is supposed to sound when it's pronounced by its residents; even if no one in Medford pronounces it that way, people living in Greater Boston will refer to the city by that name. Residents generally pronounce it "Med'fid".
- milkshake - milk mixed with flavored syrup; differs from frappe by not including ice cream
- The Mother Church - First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston
N
- "No suh!" [No sir, compare "no sirree"] - "No way!". The appropriate response is "Ya huh!"
O
- The Orange Dinosaur - big orange dinosaur on Rt. 1 Saugus
P
- packie (also package store) - liquor store
- Pats - the New England Patriots
- the People's Republic - Cambridge (alternatively, seven square miles surrounded by reality)
- The Pike - the Massachusetts Turnpike, also the Mass Pike
- pissa (1) - cool, good: "You hit the Lottery? That's pissa man."; less commonly it can be used instead of pissed to mean drunk: "I had ten beers last night. I was wicked pissa!"
- pissa! (2) - used as an exclamation when something goes wrong: "Oh pissa!", he shouted as his car keys fell down the storm drain.
- the Point - the City Point area of South Boston
- pol(s) - politician(s), political operative,
- Portugie - derogatory term for someone of Portuguese ancestry or origin
- P-town - Provincetown, Massachusetts
- Red Sox Nation - the collective group of Sox fans that span the US and beyond. Red Sox Nation is seen in the immense crowds of Sox fans that gather even at visiting parks.
- re-re- an idiot ("He's a wicked re-re."). A derogatory variation on "retarded". Most people from Mass generally say "retahded" more often that "re-re".
- Retarded (pronounced retahdid) Used to describe something out of the ordinary, though not always in a negative sense, "That car is retarded." aptly describes a Ferrari.
- Rhodie - someone who is from Rhode Island
- The River - the Charles River
- Ros, Rozzie - Roslindale, MA
- Rox - Roxbury, MA
S
- Salt and Pepper Bridge - Longfellow Bridge
- sketchy - A term used, most often by teenagers, referring to something strange or off-color.
- skally - a driving cap or an ivy cap that has snap button front
- Slumerville - A derogatory term for Somerville, MA, referring to its working-class population. Now rarely used due to gentrification.
- Smells 'n' Bells - The Church of the Advent, an Anglo-Catholic parish on Beacon Hill noted for its high church liturgy
- smoot - a unit of measurement used to mark the length of the Harvard Bridge. Also used as a point of reference by MIT students; ("Are you past the 182 (smoot mark) yet?" "Nah, we're still in Hell.")
- SoBro - South Brookline
- So don't I - pleonasm [link] used to agree with a statement; a replacement for "me too"; ("I like the Red Sox." "So don't I.")
- Southie - South Boston; also used for residents of the area
- spa - neighborhood shop that sells groceries, soda fountain drinks, sandwiches (or other prepared food) and miscellaneous notions. Spas of this sort include the Hillside Spa Cardoza Brothers, on Hancock Street, or the Brookline Spa, in Brookline, MA.
- spuckie - submarine sandwich, or the bread it was made with. Rarely used anymore. Replaced by "sub".
- SoWa - the southern portion of Washington Street in Boston. A term created by the real estate industry and not used in common speech.
- Sox (also The Sox) - the Boston Red Sox; pronounced "socks" or "So-AX".
- The Square - Harvard Square
- statie - Massachusetts state trooper, or police officer
- superette - grocery store that is considerably smaller than a supermarket (seen on signage, but rarely used in conversation)
T
- The T - the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; also used for services run by the MBTA, particularly the Subway. Taken from the MBTA's logo, a block-letter T within a circle.
- Taxachusetts - derogatory political state title and comparative reference to the limited taxation of neighboring New Hampshire
- The Teddy or The Ted - The Ted Williams Tunnel
- time - A retirement or going away party; ("Did you hear Sully's retiring?" "Yeah, they're having a time for him down Florian Hall.") Also refers to political fundraisers.
- The Tip - The Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel
- tonic - soft drink (like "spuckie", an older term that has gradually been replaced); others insist it refers exclusively to seltzer water.
- tonic, boss o - a 2 liter bottle of soda or soft drink
- Tory Row - historic neighborhood of Cambridge, home to prominent British sympathizers before the American Revolution
- townie - In the strictest sense, a resident of Charlestown, Massachusetts; or more broadly someone from Somerville or South Boston or the other Irish-Catholic enclaves of Boston and surrounding areas. Also used as an adjective for the accent of those areas; or to describe a person who shares many characteristics with the residents of those areas. Occasionally, a person who was born/lived their life/died in the same town, village or 'burb. A resident of a college town who is not affiliated with the college (more used by non-local college students than by Boston area residents).
- triple decker - a three-story, three-family house, also called a "three decker".
- Triple Eagle - Someone who has graduated from Boston College High School, Boston College, and Boston College Law School. Taken from the fact that all three schools use the eagle as a mascot.
U
- "[Come] up the house"/"[Go] down the beach" - frequently the "to" is omitted - "Marie went the hospital".
- Upper Mass Ave - the stretch of Massachusetts Avenue that runs north from Harvard Square toward the town of Arlington
V
- The Ville - Slang term used for the city of Somerville.
- Villen - a resident of Somerville
- The Vineyard - Martha's Vineyard
W
- Westie - West Roxbury
- whip - to throw; "I whipped the ball at his head."
- whoopie pie - a pastry first sold commercially at the Berwick Cake Factory in Dudley Square, Roxbury
- wicked - very; or occasionally cool. Used indiscriminately, can modify anything (e.g.: "Wicked good." "Wicked bad." "Wicked boring.", etc.). Almost always used as an adverb, rather than an adjective; some Bostonians feel it is grammatically improper not to put an adjective or verb after "wicked".
- wicked pissa - awesome, very cool
Y
- Yaz - Carl Yastrezemski, long time left fielder for the Red Sox. Also "Yaz Bread" was a loaf of bread similar to Wonder Bread sold locally during Yaz' popularity.
- you's guys - Phrase meaning "all of you" or "you all"
See also
External links
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