JFK (whose Boston accent was unlike any Bostonian you or I ever met) was often mocked for calling Castro's island "Cuber," but people didn't understand that it was Cuber only if followed by a vowel-starting word.

A good test is asking some to say "raw egg." If it comes out as "rawregg," then it's a serious Boston accent. (Boston accents can by hyper-regional, so "raw egg" does not totally disqualify one as having a genuine accent.)

JFK accent

By Scratchie on Wed, 04/08/2020 - 9:02am.

I agree that the Kennedy accent is not like the typical Boston/suburban accent, but you do find traces of it in the wild.

I have a good friend, native Cantabrigian, who says "idear" even though he doesn't have a noticeable accent in other ways.

I used to know a gentleman from the South Shore whose accent resembled the Kennedys', even though he was from a much more modest background.

I suspect that fifty or sixty years ago, that sort of accent was probably a lot more common.

Always good to know

By mg on Tue, 04/07/2020 - 6:16pm.

the conversion to Smoots. Thank you, Adam, for providing this public service.

You can always use Google ...

By adamg on Wed, 04/08/2020 - 1:45am.

Ask it "How many smoots in 2.5 miles" or "how many feet in 10 smoots" or whatever and you'll get an answer!

Or 1.1 Smoots, your choice

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