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Boston Talk to English Translation Quiz

Can you translate these phrases written by a New Englander into English?
These phrases are not necessarily exclusive to Boston
Quiz by WolfCam
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Last updated: May 26, 2020
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First submittedApril 16, 2020
Times taken12,314
Average score71.4%
Rating4.29
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1. A wicked nor'easter over the bridge
The devil
Someone from New York living in Boston
A blizzard on Cape Cod
A crazy European
2. Jimmies on the Hoodsie
Ice cream with sprinkles
A flurry in summer
Leaves changing color
Rowers on the Charles River
3. Take the Pike not the T
Live in the city not the country
Drive, don't take the train
Care for yourself before helping others
Go with your gut
4. A Fluffernutter
A peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich
A Vermonter
Someone who makes no sense
A soft-shelled lobster
5. American Chop Suey
Modern art
Something which is done better in Boston than anywhere else
A Chinese restaurant
A pasta dish with beef and tomatoes
6. The B's are at the Gahden
The Boston Bruins have a game tonight
Winter is over
There are whales off of Cape Cod
There are a lot of Bostonians in the Common
7. A frickin' chowdahead
A police officer
An idiot
A great white shark
A fisherman
8. Tonic and Grindas
Wine and beer
Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard
Soda and sandwiches
Women and men
9. Give me Foddy for Dunks
I need money for coffee
I'm paying for the food
Be quiet
Do me a favor
10. P-Town
Providence
Plymouth
Provincetown
Portland
11. Leaf-Peepahs
People who hike the Appalachian Trail
Cardinals (sometimes also robins)
Sudden thunderstorms
Tourists who ogle fall foliage
12. Going on a Packie Run
Buying Beer
Running the Boston Marathon
Going to a football game
Vacationing on the Cape
13. Candlepin in the Hub
A three-point shot in basketball
Having a conversation with drinks
Going bowling in Boston
Setting a lobster trap
14. Bang a u'ey
Get arrested
Turn around
Hit a home run
Go on a date
+14
Level 89
Apr 17, 2020
People from Boston are the leaf peepers.

It's people cruising around the countryside looking at the fall colors. Not many people cruise around the packed city of Boston to look at canvases of foliage.

+1
Level 74
Apr 19, 2020
Yeah, pretty much. Anyone who goes to rural New England for foliage season may be a leaf peeper, but especially if you're from Boston and New York, and only venture west of Cambridge once every October.
+4
Level 77
Sep 18, 2020
New York is west of Cambridge...
+3
Level 69
Apr 21, 2020
Having gone to college and then lived for 11 yeahs in Bahstun, I can also confirm that leaf peeping is specifically about viewing fall foliage. However, I have never heard locals referred to as leaf peepers – only tourists (and not necessarily from New York).

Great quiz! Probably my easiest 100% yet!

+9
Level 75
Apr 17, 2020
I love how you worded the title. Essentially you are saying that Bostoners don't speak in English.
+17
Level 81
Apr 17, 2020
/r/thatsthejoke
+2
Level 88
Apr 20, 2020
Is it really a joke?
+2
Level 69
Apr 21, 2020
/r/whoosh
+9
Level 16
May 28, 2020
r/ihavereddit
+5
Level 52
Jan 2, 2021
r/idonthavereddit
+6
Level 73
Apr 17, 2020
This was harder for me than the British and Australian idiom quizzes. Apparently I will need a translation book if I ever visit Boston.
+8
Level 74
Apr 19, 2020
You won't run across too many people here who speak quite this extreme a version unless you ride the T (MBTA public transit). I am convinced that strength of accent is one of the hiring criteria to operate a bus or subway

!

+5
Level 69
Apr 21, 2020
… or go to the North End, or Southie, or Cambridge, or Dorchester, or the North Shore, or… ;-)
+21
Level 66
Apr 18, 2020
Fun Fact: The majority of Bostonians speak only in Patriots references and Mark Wahlberg quotes.
+3
Level 75
Apr 19, 2020
#12 sounds racists - I've just looked up the US meaning and apparently it means a package store over there but in the UK it is a derogatory way to refer to a Pakistani, or a corner shop run by a South Asian
+5
Level 66
Apr 19, 2020
I just looked it up, and while they are pronounced the same, the slur you are referring to is spelled differently than I've spelled it here.
+2
Level 75
Apr 25, 2020
Yes it is spelled differently, and I'm not suggesting that you intended any offence, but it does sound racist to my ear.

I guess it's due to different cultures having their own parlance and I'm not saying that it necessarily should be changed, just making you aware in case you want to consider changing it

+5
Level 78
Aug 25, 2020
It isn't racist unless you want it to be. Keep it in, it's not racist.
+10
Level 89
Apr 20, 2020
I'm wondering how much his friend wants to go to the booze store if he wants $40 for coffee.
+5
Level 67
May 26, 2020
The average American racist is not intelligent enough to discern among different nationalities in the Arab world. They just use the same catch-alls racisms for everybody.
+15
Level ∞
May 26, 2020
Unlike those discerning racists in other countries?
+1
Level 61
May 26, 2020
there are differences?
+5
Level 67
May 26, 2020
I mean, if they have a slur specific to Pakistanis, instead of just lumping them all together, then they're at least a bit more discerning than the people who wanted to depose Saddam Hussein in response to 9/11.
+5
Level 89
Oct 24, 2021
And you don't know Pakistani are not Arabs, so....
+5
Level 85
Apr 20, 2020
Grew up in Boston, but left 14 years ago, so I'm glad I still got 100% after all these years.
+2
Level 63
May 26, 2020
so they do actually talk like this?
+3
Level 38
May 26, 2020
Yes and no. A lot of these are either combinations of local slang words, or brands turned into generics. For example, "over the bridge" doesn't mean "Cape Cod" regardless of context. It might be used in a conversation that is already in some way about the Cape, as in "Yeah, Charlie moved over the bridge after he retired." "Wicked" in this context would mean "serious," though I've rarely heard people combine with the the already serious "nor'easter," a nationally used name for the weather phenomenon. "Jimmies" are a word for sprinkles in New England. "Hoodsie" comes from Hood Ice Cream, an ice cream company based in Boston (like Atlantans use "coke" to mean "soda," even when not Coca Cola). AFAIK, "Take the pike not the T" is a not a universal way to say "drive, don't take the train" regardless of route. It is a combo of "take the Massachusetts Turnpike (since it is an option for your route)" and "don't take the 'T,'" which is the name of Boston's train system.
+6
Level 73
Apr 21, 2020
Two things: 1) leaf peepahs view foliage in the fall. Nothing to do with New Yorkahs in New England. 2) If yah gonna have a picture of a bridge at the top due to the first question, can it at least be the Sagamore or Bourne Bridges (the two that go to the Cape) and not the Zakim over the Chahles?
+7
Level ∞
Apr 21, 2020
Your suggestions have been adopted due to correct phrasing and pronunciation.
+5
Level 66
May 26, 2020
TIL American chop suey isn't found outside of Boston.
+3
Level 74
May 26, 2020
Not sure if I should be proud or disappointed after getting 12 right. I think it was watching COPS back in the 90s where I learned I should pahk the cah outside the apahtment.
+2
Level 67
May 26, 2020
10/14, only because some of the stuff said is still used by many people in Philly, also I had a teacher from Boston. I still love how people get mad at me for using the word "Jimmies".
+2
Level 60
May 26, 2020
12/14, not bad for a Southerner! This was almost like a foreign language to me...
+3
Level 65
May 26, 2020
I impressed myself with 9/14. Really not bad for a Zimbabwean. There were some things that I got because it was close to slang I know, there were some that I should have got P-town, and there were a whole load of lucky guesses.
+2
Level 73
May 26, 2020
Wow I was terrible at that lol. Luckily I'm not from New England so that's nice
+3
Level 68
May 26, 2020
What a fun idea for a quiz. It would be fun to do more of these for different regions. (I can't make one, though. I'm from Oregon, and we don't seem to have a lot of local slang/accents.)
+3
Level 81
May 27, 2020
I was surprised about grinders as that is usually western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Try this quiz for sandwich names in different regions.

https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/172295/names-for-submarines-sandwiches-in-the-us

+4
Level 57
May 27, 2020
No Aussie is going to get "bang a u'ey" wrong.
+2
Level 77
May 28, 2020
Haha yep.
+1
Level 73
Jul 16, 2021
My mom says "u'ey" too and she's from Chicago. Must be more universal than we think.
+1
Level 49
Nov 28, 2023
I say it from Minnesota. And so do a lot of people I know.
+1
Level 83
Feb 19, 2024
"u'ey" is also quite common in the UK
+3
Level 77
May 28, 2020
12/14. Been to Boston only once but as an Aussie it actually was similar enough logic wise to translate it as our slang is equally as hard to understand.
+4
Level 66
May 28, 2020
Here is one for Pittsburgh.
+3
Level 67
Apr 21, 2021
I was looking for this.
+2
Level 56
Aug 24, 2020
I didn't understood the quiz, can someone explain me? Maybe I am too eastern to understand...
+1
Level 71
Jul 25, 2023
These are idioms used in the Boston area; the quiz is asking for their equivalent in plain (more widely-spoken) English.
+2
Level 83
Nov 5, 2020
I say 'do a u-ey' as well and I'm from England - never knew it was a Bostonism
+3
Level 90
Jan 25, 2021
You don't put marshmallows on a fluffernutter. That would be sick. A fluffernutter is peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff (marshmallow creme) and is one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity and accomplishment.
+1
Level 73
Jun 6, 2021
Well... I'm definitely a Floridian. I got 5/14, and they were practically all guesses.
+1
Level 44
Dec 21, 2021
Don't live near there, but ski where they do, and I've heard most of this in the lift line. Only missed p-town.
+1
Level 66
May 13, 2023
I hope globalization doesn't end things like this. What a fun heritage these people have worked to create. Hope it remains that way.
+1
Level 66
Aug 17, 2023
From Connecticut, so a lot of these are the same. But it helps to have some friends from Mass too