This troper, being a native Midwesterner whose accent is about as close to American Standard Pronunciation as you can get, ran into a comically large number of accent-related difficulties upon moving to Boston. A few of the more amusing errors I encountered included mishearing "heart surgery" as "hot surgery", becoming hopelessly lost on the T, and suffering no end of amusing incidents related to the identities of such common items as "puffers" (asthma medication inhalers), "johnnies" (patient examination gowns) and "bubblers" (water fountains). When I went back for a visit a few years ago, I warned my Bostonian friends that they'd have to speak slowly and clearly to me for about 24 hours while I regained my "Boston ears."

This troper moved from the Boston area to the Midwest herself, and lost people when she asked where a bubbler was, asked a customer at the store she worked at what tonic he wanted to buy (she thought he meant soda, he meant tonic water), and asking for jimmies on her ice cream. She still insists she is not the one with the accent. And it is not funny to ask her to say the trope name.

Soda? You mean pop?

This troper moved to the People's Republic of Camberville (Cambridge/Somerville) for college, and while most native Bostonians she's met talk with only a slight accent, she has a friend who has commonly been described as "speaking with a bawston accent so think it sounds fake". So, not *only* the Kennedys use that.

This troper was born and bred in eastern Massachusetts, and knows about two people with this accent. What's up with that?

This troper once had a math teacher who spoke like this. He often had to repeat himself to make himself understood.

This troper's school had a history teacher/golf coach who talked like this. Considering that her school has students from all over the world, and you can't walk through the halls without catching bits of conversations in Korean/Chinese/German/French/etc, you'd think that his accent wouldn't be too out-of-place. You'd be ''wrong.''

This troper lives in Southern Massachusetts and doesn't have much of an accent, but picks on her French teacher whenever she utters something like "quatah". But really, compared to my extended family's southern accents, the Boston accent is nothing. (unless you want to be a douche and write with the accent).

This troper lives a few train stops away from the heart of Boston and knows maybe three people with the accent. I for one don't understand it at all.

YourMileageMayVary, of course. This Bostonian troper knows people with accents so thick it's distracting.

This troper was rather disappointed after a trip to Boston (for an event sponsored by Hahvahd, no less) The only place I could hear the Bostonian accent I had expected was in the obvious tourist traps and in barely heard curses on the subway. Every one else seemed to have a bland accent, except for Little Italy.

You mean the North End, right? Little Italy is in New York. (Noo Yawk?)

This tropah's grandmuthah immigrated from France to Boston as a child and learned to speak English in Southie. Try to imagine a combination of Julia Child, Jacques Cousteau, and some guy named Murph and you've got my grandmother's accent. My own Boston accent isn't quite as strong but it still comes at the profound annoyance of my Canuck wife.

Not a tale, just a "fun fact": it's illegal to park one's car in Harvard Yard. It's private property. :P

This troper is from Delaware, but had an art teacher who was from Boston, and could easily understand her. It was funny how she would drop the Rs in "car" and "cartoon", though. To the above claims of not hearing the accent, if you're raised in a given area, you're going to have trouble hearing the native accent there. (Example: Troper's lived in both Delaware and Maryland, and while in southern Maryland, he only heard a couple old people speak with Tidewater accents; everyone else sounded like just regular Mid-Atlantic or Newscaster English to him.)

This troper is British, and can never quite understand why her American friends are all so amused at the Boston accent.

Being a Bostonian born and raised, this troper is partly amused and partly irritated when she goes to other parts of the country and people are shocked that she doesn't have a Boston accent. She has encountered some people who do, but can't recall any she knows personally.

I have a similar case to yours, but from a different location: despite growing up on the South Carolina coast, I've been told I sound like I'm from Ohio ("Newscaster" accent or lack thereof.) I also lapse into moderate to severe SesquipedalianLoquaciousness on occasion, and that seldom ameliorates the above impression.

This troper was born and raised in Massachusetts, and yes still has people in Boston ask her where she's visiting from, due to having a generic American/Newscaster accent. Also, when dating a New Yorker she disappointed his friends by not dropping her 'r's in the trope name.

This troper, born in Salem, admits to having a mild Boston Accent; to the extent that he feels he sounds like a pirate when he actually ''does'' pronounce his "ar's" or "er's." Not to mention he thinks his "or's" sound rather..odd as well, when pronounced properly, at least.

Mom once took her car to a mechanic who ''MUST'' have worked for Click and Clack at some point. His accent was far worse than Tom and Ray put together!

See, this troper never realized they had accents until others bitched about it.

I don't have an accent unless you count quiet mumbling that tends to be more of an elongated groan with changing pitch depending on the word, syllables, tone, and mood. Hence why I prefer text.

The guy who paints this troper's dad's house is REALLY Bostonian, and this troper's sister has needed a translation more than once.

This troper lives in Maine, the northern half of which speaks like this all the time, is the living embodiment (I can haz spellcheck?) of trope.

Since RI is covered in this trope, ThisTroper needs to share this bastard child of the Brooklyn and Boston accents known as the Rhode Island or Fall River accent. This is the accent you hear Jerry Remy or Emeril Lagasse speak in. Her parents have it pretty bad. When her dad gets mad he ends up saying his t's like d's as in "I DOLD YOU THREE DIMES!" and her mom sometimes will pronounce a few things funny in some standards. Meanwhile, ThisTroper grew up in the southern part of RI and doesn't have one as bad but does say a few things funny like "thought" (and other -ought words), "candidate", and a few town names.

Not New England, but this troper feels it needs mention. The New Zealand acccent. While this troper can't identify it well, due to having relatives over the ditch, it gets joked about frequently in Australia.

This South African troper would like to point out to everyone, the the stereotypical "Seth Effrikan" accent is practically non-existent in South Africa. I've never quite understood where people came up with the idea that we speak like that...

Utterly averted with this troper. No-one has ever misunderstood me due to my accent because I don't have one. Nervous mumbling is another thing entirely. For some reason people expect me to have an Australian accent just because I've lived in Brisbane my whole life. I'm a blank slate. People read whatever accent they will into me. Americans read English, British read American, Australians read English or American. Unfortunately, putting on even the simplest accents is a no-can-do, which is something I envy in others.

One of my friends moved from Boston to Michigan, but his accent isn't that noticeable... except for certain words. We called him out when he pronounced "tour" like "tore". Over a year and a half later, we're still arguing about it. Hilarious. Oh wait. 'Ilarious.

Azreal doesn't normally have the accent despite growing up in Boston...after a couple drinks though...wicked pissah dude!

This troper is from Michigan and doesn't think she has much of an accent at all, but she thinks these kinds of accents are really attractive.

This troper was born in Boston and lived in plymouth (yes, the one with the rock) for 5 years before moving to Florida. Mom's from Pittsfield (western mass) and Plymouth, Dad's from Andover. I have no pronounced Bostonian or New England accent (though it does come out in my "ar's". Unfortunately I now live in Atlanta and find myself picking up the local accent. Going from something that sounds vaguely New Englandish to unvaguely Southern in the same sentence is... interesting.

T.T. and her father once went to a restaurant--in their native part of the US, Southern Arizona--for some breakfast. The waiter who came to serve us looked like a fairly normal college kid... and had a New England accent almost too thick to be believed. He said that a lot of people seemed to really love it, but, given the general uniformity of Southwest accents, it's not surprising we like seeing things shaken up once in a while.

This troper, who has lived in and around Boston her whole life, has only a mild accent that rarely gets commented on when at home. However, as soon as she ventures out of state she gets plenty of people asking her if she can "PAHK YA CAH IN HAHVAHD YAHD" among other things.