Thankfully, I did not have to "bang a left" while visiting Boston this past week; I left all the driving to the expertise of the hacks (that way I didn't have to "pahk" a car either). I have no problem "hanging a left" or parking in Detroit but driving in Boston is a whole different animal.
Did I mention the dialect?
Here are some examples of phonetic differences between Boston and other American dialects from Boston English:
| Word |
Boston
|
Standard American
|
Northern Cities
|
| pack |
[æ]
|
[æ]
|
[eæ]
|
| cop |  | |
[a]
|
| dawn |  | | |
| load |
[o]
|
[ow]
|
[o]
|
| food |
[u]
|
[uw]
|
[u]
|
Word
|
Boston
|
Standard American
| |
Vowel lengthens, different quality
|
bar
|  |  |
burr
|  |  | |
/r/ replaced by schwa
|
bore
|  |  |
beer
|  |  | |
bear
|  |  |
Here is A Dialect Map of American English
The Boston English site also includes details about phonology and The Wicked Good Guide to Boston English includes information about the Boston lexicon.
It was a wonderful trip, no Boston Coolers to be found though.
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