![]() | This redirect does not require a rating on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Basically, I find it hard to believe that the upper-class Boston Brahmin accent and the upper-class New York accent are more closely related to each other than to the working-class accents of the same cities; this is contrary to what sociolinguists know about upper-class speech in American English. It reads like it was written by someone who is unaware of the differences between New York and Boston accents and just grouped them together because they share one salient upperclass feature (non-rhoticity). For instance, New York has never had the cot-caught merger and even educated Eastern Massachusetts speakers have possessed the merger for many decades. It is also notable that none of the individuals mentioned in the article as exemplars of the "Boston Brahmin" accent are from Boston. Moreover "clipped manner of speaking" and "drawling of both vowels and consonants" are both hopelessly vague as attempted descriptions of an accent. AJD 06:58, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
I notice that the internal link in this article for "Locust Valley Lockjaw" leads right back to this same article -- is that intentional?
-- Skb8721 02:29, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
"Locust Valley Lockjaw" is mentioned in The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille on page 32 of 634; that was how I found this article. I don't know whether such a citation belongs in here because it's not a scholarly work of linguistics, but perhaps that's not a good criterion; it is a novel (atypical for DeMille) that has been explicitly compared to Tom Wolfe's work exactly because of its quality as reportage, and much of the best psychology and sociology is found in literature. I'm not sure how to insert such a citation into the main article; it should not be positioned as one would position an academic reference, because people use those for research to which this reference would not contribute. But this kind of reference is essential in an article whose content is threatened by the Wikipedian deletomaniacs whose activities remind me most of PKing; so putting it in Discussion seems like a reasonable strategy.
76.28.193.251 20:11, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
I never realized there was a name for this accent! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.186.232.27 ( talk) 02:18, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
If Stewie Griffin (a Family Guy character voiced by Seth MacFarlane) indeed has a Boston Brahmin accent, then surely by now he has outstripped Mr. Feeny in pop culture significance. Cromulent Kwyjibo ( talk) 15:59, 23 June 2008 (UTC)
What about Frasier Crane? It might not be the textbook definition, but it's closer to how contemporary Brahmins actually speak. After all, he is a Bostonian/Cantabridgian transplanted in Seattle. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MP808 ( talk • contribs) 06:13, 5 August 2016 (UTC)
If we're including the NYC-area upper crust in this discussion -- and we should be -- this article should be changed to "Yankee accent" or something similar. - House of Scandal ( talk) 17:12, 4 July 2008 (UTC)
Both the non-Boston related material and the move request have been removed. - House of Scandal ( talk) 05:48, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
Speaking as a native of New England, I have to say that the character on Gilligan's Island is a "lockjaw" candidate, from NYC environs (LI or CT, most likely), rather than Brahmin. He is listed as a resident of Newport RI in the TV series ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurston_Howell,_III), but Newport is the haven of the top .2% richest from all over the northeast. M*A*S*H did a great job of nailing the regional/class sound of Boston, but a sensitive ear will contrast them. Howell is snooty NY-ish. Note: NY is not New England. Shava23 ( talk) 05:46, 10 May 2009 (UTC)
Citing the M*A*S*H character Charles Winchester's accent as an example of the Boston Brahmin accent is like citing Inspector Clouseau for a French accent or Manuel of "Fawlty Towers" for a Spanish accent. Grossly innacurate caricatures, all of them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.154.228.182 ( talk) 03:07, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
Most of the examples in this article (including past revisions) contain wildly inappropriate examples. Almost all of them have been fictional characters, with accents that are grossly inaccurate caricatures of the accent (e.g. television's Winchester on M*A*S*H or Quimby on The Simpsons), fictional characters with some completely different accent (e.g. Stewie Griffin on Family Guy), or examples of other similiar but distinct accents, like the "Long Island Lockjaw" or "North Atlantic" accents, or various accents from England.
We need actual examples of the Boston Brahmin accent, not other accents (e.g. not Franklin Roosevelt), not exaggerated fictional characters. Not Katherine Hepburn. (She may be an unsuitable example for any accent, because her spastic dysphonia could be mistaken for her accent). Maybe George Plimpton, who was born in New York but studied at Harvard. Maybe 1970's John Kerry (his accent has changed quite a but since he testified before Congress). Definitely John F. Kennedy, or perhaps Ted Kennedy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.68.134.1 ( talk) 14:54, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
I've to object to the inclusion of T. S. Eliot. Eliot was born in Missouri, not New England and his accent (as heard in T. S. Eliot reading "The Waste Land", for example) is clearly early-20th RP. 130.225.244.206 ( talk) 17:46, 24 October 2012 (UTC)
William F. Buckley Jr. was neither born, bred, nor educated in Boston, and the article cited as so-called evidence that he spoke with a Brahmin accent notes as much. I am therefore deleting him from the list. 98.14.84.183 ( talk) 22:32, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
Note that John Thompson was the first Constable and Magistrate of Plymouth Co. and founded other townships in the southern New England area, such as Halifax, Middleborough (Middleboro) and Plymton, Massachusetts. Note that John Thompson was the first Constable and Magistrate of Plymouth Co. and founded other townships in the southern New England area, such as Halifax, Middleborough (Middleboro) and Plymton, Massachusetts.
The mayor from the Simpsons should be on this list. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.51.58.33 ( talk) 14:41, 18 July 2014 (UTC)