"Mystic River" was a good film, but the fake Boston accents suck

[Kathy in Cambridge]

It's playing on cable this month, and I seriously cringe when I hear Laura Linney's accent. x(

She ends up sounding like Nooo Yawk. It's almost distracting when she speaks her lines.

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

1. I thought Tim Robbins

was unintentionally hilarious in that movie.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

4. it's a good movie, but I keep focusing on how they mangle

the accent. you're right-unintentionally hilarious!

[sniffa]

2. forced boston accents never work

i can't do them for shit. :D

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. Me neithah!

:crazy:

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. No one evah gets Maine accents right eithah.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

10. You're right. They end up sounding like the Pepperidge Farm man.

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Tom Bosley. Worst accent evah.

[fudge stripe cookays]

14. I think the closest I heard anybody come to a decent one ...

was Kathy Bates in Delores Claiborne. She was better than most.

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[Kathy in Cambridge]

18. she was OK-but GreenPartyVoter is the expert. i can't do a Maine accent

"Cahn't get theah from heah"

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. I haven't seen that movie in years. But you are right I think she

did better justice to it than Tom. *l*

Still, I have yet to hear a Maine character say "Cappy dog" or "Chummy". I wonder why?


Some nice clips of Tim Sample here:
http://timsample.com/humorstore.html

[Kathy in Cambridge]

27. He really does have a Maine accent.

:-)

I couldn't reproduce that if I tried. :-)

[GreenPartyVoter]

33. Ayuh. He's a local yokel. :^) I've been to one of his shows. He's

very funny.

[fudge stripe cookays]

Ha ha!

We had a Maine-ah ride up to Iowa with us on our Dean bus last year, and I'd never heard such a strong accent in my life. We had such a great time making fun of each other.

Reprehensor was calling folks in other states before the elections, and being a Canadian, he didn't always know the pronunciations of some of the places. I helped him when I could, but I don't know them all either.

We still laugh at the folks who corrected him in Maine. It's not not Bang'er. It's Ban'GOR'.

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[GreenPartyVoter]

42. Yes, and it's Vye-enna, not Vee-enna *g*

[fudge stripe cookays]

44. Aha. Good to know. Thanks!

If you ever get to Austin, here's a primer for you.

Koenig- KAY-nig, not KOH-nig.
Manchaca- MAN'-CHACK'. not Man-chak'a
Manor- MAY-ner, not MAN-er
Burnet- (Just remember, it's Burn'it, dern it!) :-)

I'll probably think of more later.

Oh-- and remember. If you order a soda, it's a Coke. Then they ask you what kind. If you say pop, they'll brand you a foreigner (as if your accent probably isn't proof already!)

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[GreenPartyVoter]

47. *filing away for future reference* :^D

[yewberry]

15. Oooh, remember "Pet Sematary?"

The Maine accents in that were the worst!

Who was that, Jason Robards?

Yeesh.

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. Pet semetery II. Even "worser"... *lol*

[Lautremont]

59. Fred Gwynne - Herman Munster.

Robards probably would have done pretty well.

[Gormy Cuss]

29. Which one?

Don't we all say 'ayuh' at the end of every sentence?
:D :D

As someone who lived in a fast-talking part of the state it used to drive me nuts when people in other parts of the country would tell me I didn't sound like I was from Maine.

It was good training --I never noticed how fast people talk in Boston when I lived there.

[GreenPartyVoter]

39. Me, I get called on not having one because my folks were raised in

the mid-atlantic states. So I have a TV non-accent.

However, I have been putting on a Downeast accent for kicks often enough not that it's coming out accidentally. *l*

My FIL has a real Downeast accent. The number after six is sahven, his car has windshield wapers, and when he's tired of standing he'll sahddown. *g*

[Gormy Cuss]

3. Sean Penn had the best fake accent

because he didn't try at all.
Laura Linney on the other hand -- oh my WORD that was painful to hear.

That was a good film.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

6. Sean Penn sounded authentic-he spoke really fast too

which is typical Boston.

Laura Linney sounds like she's from Brooklyn.

[Gormy Cuss]

25. Maybe that's why I didn't hear an accent.

You saw it more recently so have a better memory of the specifics. Penn did speak quickly and he had the right body language for blue collar Boston. I honestly don't remember thinking he had any accent at all. That's good acting!

Laura Linney sounded like her mouth was full of marbles and razor blades. Honestly, the director should have told her to speak in her normal voice. Her voice is the lasting memory I have of that film.

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. They need to listen to owahs and owahs

of Cah Twalk on NPAhhh. You know....the guys who broadcast from Hahhvahd Sqyeeaah.

I met some really great booksellers at Fanueil Hall when I was there a few years ago. They made fun of my "ya'll", and so I did my Car Talk impression for them. They thought it was great.

Anybody wanting to learn Bostonian should do it.
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[Kathy in Cambridge]

9. Tom and Ray really do have the best accents

They're from Cambridge and have a specific intonation that is typical of their generation in my city. In the younger generations, it's a bit watered down. My family has been bringing our cars to their garage for years. They're just as funny in person.

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. I really wanted to find the Dewey Cheatem and Howe sign when I was there.

Is there actually one? Or was I just blind?

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[Kathy in Cambridge]

13. There's no Dewey, Cheatem and Howe sign-do you get the pun?

"Do we cheat 'em? And how!" :D

[sniffa]

17. kathy, that sign is there

or at Least was.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

21. Where? I must be blind.

Was it in the building above the old Wursthaus?

[sniffa]

24. that's what i'm picturing

it's either there, or right above (wordsworth? that yeLLow smart kids store). i know you can see the sign if you're standing right outside the news stand/ harvard coop.
but i think it was abvoe the tasty, beLow the wurst.

it's a smaLL (bLue?) neon sign in a window.

shit, this is kiLLing me now. x(

i think my dad might know better.

[Gormy Cuss]

26. It is or was on the upper floors of that flatiron building in the square

You're right, if you stand in front of out-of-town news or the coop and look up you'd see it.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

28. Gormy Cuss, if you've not been back in a while

Wordsworth is gone and the Wursthaus is now a Citizens Bank. You wouldn't recognize Hahvid Squayah. It's lost a lot of its uniqueness.

[Gormy Cuss]

38. Heard about Wordsworth, which to me is the death knell.

I haven't been to the square in about 3 years which is why I can't say for sure what's on the first floor of the click and clack building. I think sniffa's right that the children's annex of Wordsworth was there for a while and that the Dewey Cheatem & Howe sign was blue neon. It is that flatiron building and it's a bow window right at the narrow point.

People in SF are bitching about the same homogenization of the cool areas. Every neighborhood needs a GAP and a Starbucks, don't you think?
:o

[Kathy in Cambridge]

40. It makes me crazy-You should see Kenmore Square as an example of

'upscale-ization' and homogenization. It's totally lost its character. I knew when they demolished The Rat, it was the beginning of the end. :-(

[jonnyblitz]

48. whenever I think of Kenmore SQ i think of the demise of the Rat...

:(. they are going to close CBGB's also in NYC if they haven't already.:(

[Kathy in Cambridge]

50. Kenmore Square has a couple of ritzy hotels and restaurants now

Demolishing the Rat and CBGBs is demolishing historical/cultural landmarks. I think the landlord of CBGBs was going to build high-end condos there.

[fudge stripe cookays]

35. Fuck a doodle do.

I was IN the Co-op.

I told reprehensor I'd get him a picture, but I failed. :cry: I also failed to obtain a "Russ Feingold for President" sticker when I was up north last month.

I suck.
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[fudge stripe cookays]

20. I get the pun OK.

I just thought they might have had some fun and actually put a sign out for grins.

OK. I feel better. Just thought I was stupid and was just missing it.

The best part is hearing the new names they come up with at the end...like the Russian chaufeeur, Pickup Andropoff. :D

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[sniffa]

30. in case you missed it

the sign is there

[Kathy in Cambridge]

34. Now I'm going to have to walk over to the Square

I seriously can't picture it. I'll ask my dad where it is. Maybe I just never look up at the buildings because the people watching has always been so good there. :-)

[fudge stripe cookays]

41. Hey--

Take me a picture while you're there! :-)

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[Kathy in Cambridge]

43. See your PM

I will post it in the Lounge. :-)

[sniffa]

16. oh yeah, it's there

hahvahd squayah

[In_The_Wind]

19. I like the REAL Boston accents.

[graywarrior]

31. Best Boston accent in a movie was Anne Bancroft

in a movie called Malice with Nicole Kidman. Bancroft played someone from either Charlestown or Southie. It was very Boston.

Other than that, no one can pull off a Boston accent. I remember Holly Hunt in some flick called Go Around or something like that. It was awful.

[swag]

32. It was a corny groaner of a film. A hoot and howler.

I won't be paying money for any more of Clint Eastwood's confused moralistic twaddle.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

36. The book was a lot better

[graywarrior]

37. Dennis Lehane is an exceptional writer.

[Modem Butterfly]

45. It was great right up 'til the last fifteen minutes

Which absolutely blew chunks.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

46. Agreed.

[youspeakmylanguage]

55. Eastwood mangled the ending, which is actually good...(SPOILER WARNING)

...which doesn't make sense until you read the novel.

SPOILER WARNING!!!
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In the book, they make it clear that Jimmy decides in his head (while taking a shower) to return to a life of crime. He left "the life" when he left prison and became solely responsible for his "angel" of an oldest daughter, but now that she's dead he's ready to take his neighborhood back from the local hood (can't remember his name - the daughter's ex-boyfriend who was in jail on a DUI the night she was murdered) with the help of this brothers-in-law (the Savages).

Not only is he unrepentent for Dave's murder, but he decides to give up respectability completely and essentially become a gangster. He is completely corrupted while Sean is redeemed with the return of his wife.

Since you can't tell what he's thinking in the movie, this isn't clear AND you can't tell what he's thinking at the end when he faces Sean at the parade. They both seem to know they've become arch enemies, although Sean has no legal jurdisdiction over the neighborhood.

[Shell Beau]

49. That is how I feel about most imitations of southern accents.

They usually sound awful. I loved that movie BTW!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

51. It's hard to get Southern accents right because they are so regional

same thing up here. A Bostonian does not sound like someone from Southeastern Mass or Central Mass or Maine or Rhode Island.

Someone from Mississippi does not sound like someone from South Carolina. And even within the states, there are tons of different accents.

[Shell Beau]

52. That is the truth. It can vary from city to city.

[fudge stripe cookays]

53. Yep, Texas is a BIG example of that.

Bein' such a big state an all.

You've got the basic Texas Southern (from up and down the I-35 corridor, plain vanilla). You use ya'll and say "fixin to" with a twinge of southern.

You've got the Yesteryear Austin accent (basically a California way of speaking with a "ya'll" throwin in here or there. I have it, and constantly get told that I don't sound like I'm from Texas. I lived in Austin from 71-82, and then from 85-94.)

You've got the OBNOXIOUSLY annoying East Texas TWANG (that gets irritated...oops!... I mean imitated BADLY the most on TV). I can't listen to these people for longer than 20 minutes or I lose my marbles.

There's the relaxing and oh so polite West Texas drawl (my personal favorite). Listen to folks like Joe Ely or Radney Foster for an example.

There's the Valley Spanglish (Rio Grande Valley that is) that even some of the Anglos pick up in regular conversation. My mom's family lived down there for years, and it was interesting to watch the speech patterns and words amalgamate over time.

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[youspeakmylanguage]

56. Same in England...

...the Beatles made it pretty obvious that a Brit from Liverpool doesn't sound like a Brit from London.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

54. The awful boston accents were the best part of that horrible film

sad to say.

and on edit: at least I could laugh at that, and not at the fact that I wasted 10 dollars to see that load of dog-poo.

[unhappycamper]

57. Not trying to hijack your thread, but heah's a coupla fun links:

The Wicked Pissa Web site
http://home.earthlink.net/~lnkn/index.html

also has accent lessons for the retahded:
http://home.earthlink.net/~lnkn/accent.htm

[Kathy in Cambridge]

58. I've been to that site before. The wav files are a riot!

http://home.earthlink.net/~lnkn/retarded.wav

[leftofthedial]

60. I can hahdly tell what yahd they intend to pahk their cah in

half the time.