New England Speak

I've talked about New Englanders and their accents … chowdah and lobstah, for example. Though I've been away for years and pretty much lost the accent, it's easy to slip back and every once in awhile I can hear David chuckle as I tell him I'm heading over to my “sista's” house. Beyond the accent, we also have our own vocabulary in this part of the country. Here are a few of my favorites.  

The package store … does not sell packages nor do they package up stuff for shipping. No, a package store is the local term for a liquor store and we sometimes refer to it as “the packie”.

How about a cabinet? Got you on this one, huh? In Rhode Island, a cabinet is another word for a frappe (silent “e”). What's a frappe, you ask? A frappe is a thick milkshake. Rhode Island also serves coffee milk: milk with coffee syrup, like chocolate milk.

We eat grinders instead of submarine sandwiches.

New Englanders love their clams. There are steamers (steamed clams) and quahogs (pronounced coh-hogs) which are super-large clams, used for clam cakes, chowdah and stuffed clams. Then there are littlenecks and cherrystones, tender little guys usually served raw with a horseradish-based cocktail sauce and lemon. And don't forget fried clams … only whole bellies, no strips! We wash it down with bee-ah or perhaps tonic. Tonic is soda elsewhere or any carbonated beverage and not necessarily Schweppes tonic water with quinine, although it could be.

If you're in a Dunkin Donuts aka Dunkies, the #1 donut shop in all of New England, and you order a regulah coffee, you'll get it with cream and two sugahs.

Wicked is a particularly well-used adjective here. It replaces “very”, but in a more emphatic way. I'm not sure if it's from our heritage of witchcraft in Salem or what, but things are “wicked awesome” or “wicked weird”, but rarely just wicked. Sometimes wicked is used in conjunction with frickin which is a more courteous way to say the “F” word, e.g. frickin' wicked.

Then there's a bubbler. You might know it as a water fountain or a drinking fountain elsewhere. Three deckers and triple deckers are better known as tenement houses or three-story apartment buildings in other areas of the country. The cellar (pronounced cellah) is known as the basement in other parts of the country. In fact, most times we don't even use “the”, we just say “I'll take it down cellah.”

Turnpike is another word for a toll road. The Mass Pike (aka Interstate 90), or simply The Pike, is probably the best known toll road in the area. Lots of toll roads in the East; not so many in the West.

Candlepin bowling allows you three tries to hit the ten narrow little pins at the end of the alley. It's the only kind of bowling I'd ever done until I moved to New York where they had the “big balls”, aka ten pin bowling. Nowadays, there's both here, as well as duckpin bowling.

If you ever plan to come to Boston, you might want to learn the language. Check out The Wicked Good Guide to Boston English.

Going to the Movies - "The Butler"

We saw a movie last night. Well, actually we went to a movie theater and watched a newly released movie on the big screen rather than sitting in Bea's apartment and watching something on HBO that we really weren't interested in or had seen before. I can't remember the last time we did this; it's been that long. First, we haven't had an evening to ourselves in ages. Second, we're too cheap to spend big bucks to go out to a movie. Third, there's never anything playing that we're interested in seeing. So, when we had a rare free evening and found ourselves just sitting around AND the local movie theater only charged $6.25 for a movie ticket and there was something of interest to watch … well, let's just say it didn't take us long to get our acts together and head out the door to the Sharon Cinema 8. Please note that our idea of a movie aboard Nine of Cups is usually sitting on the saloon settee about 24” from the laptop screen to watch a DVD or (dare we admit it?) perhaps a pirated movie of lesser quality. Either the audio or video are faulty or it's a movie we've watched several times before. It's still an enjoyable evening, but nothing like the real thing.

It might have been awhile, but it didn't take us long to get into the groove. “Two “senior” tickets for “The Butler”, please.” “Marcie, go order the mega-tub of popcorn!” Who needs dinner when there's movie popcorn and a liter of diet Coke to be had? We were in a nirvana-type state by the time the trailers began.

We watched “The Butler” with Forest Whitaker in the lead and Oprah Winfrey as his wife. Based on a true story, the hero, Cecil Gaines, is an apolitical black “domestic” who served several US Presidents in the White House as a butler. Cecil's son is a black political activist. The story follows Cecil's career as a butler through American racial turmoil during the civil rights movement from Eisenhower in the 1950's to Reagan.

We liked the movie, but this is by no means meant to be a movie review. Rather, it's a commentary on how something as simple as a night out together to watch a movie, munch popcorn, and hold hands in a dark movie theater can have such a wonderful effect on a couple's attitude. The fact that the movie was a good one was a bonus!

Going to Church

 

We are not a very religious crew, but that doesn't stop us from appreciating fine architecture when we see it. Churches, whether they be cathedrals or little country chapels, mosques or temples, are usually an opportunity to observe and gain an insight into the local people and culture. Though we might not attend services, we rarely miss a chance to wander around inside to take in the ornate grandeur or the quiet, serene simplicity that exists there.

In Peru, the cathedral in Arequipa was extraordinarily beautiful. In Lima, we visited the catacombs underneath the cathedral which were quite eerie. They've since collapsed, probably leaving those interred a bit more at peace.

The blue domes of the cathedral in Cuenca, Ecuador could be seen from miles away and visually enticed us into exploring the church.

The elaborate, decorative detail of some of the Argentinian cathedrals we saw were almost overwhelming at times.

Australia has its share of cathedrals as well. St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, for instance, was pretty impressive.

Even in the more isolated areas of the South Pacific like the Gambiers, there were several churches and even a cathedral. In this case, the cathedral was built with the blood and sweat of forced labor by an overzealous, psychotic missionary. It lies in disrepair now, declared unsafe with little hope of restoration.

Sometimes it's not the church itself that intrigues us, but the architectural elements employed in its building like arches, pinnacles, gargoyles and balconies.

Stained glass windows are always eye catchers like these at St. David's in Hobart, Tasmania.

Ornate altars, columns and ceilings catch our attention.

Have you ever read Sarum by Edward Rutherford? It's an historical novel that traces the building of the Salisbury Cathedral in England through the eyes of generations of families who were involved in building it and its fascinating.

Probably more to our liking, however, are the tiny country churches and chapels that we've seen in rural locations throughout the world. In these places, you can rest your spirit perhaps and contemplate life a bit more easily than the massive, echoing halls of the more grand structures.

The simple grace of 200-year-old white, clapboard Unitarian and Congregational churches on the commons area of little New England villages is always appealing.

Let's go back to that first sentence. “We're not a very religious crew.” That's not quite true. Gazing out at a star-filled sky or over a calm, blue ocean fills the soul. And then, of course, it depends on the weather. I remember a few times in the middle of Force 10 storms that I chatted quite incessantly with the guy upstairs in an attempt to get him to fix the weather. So I guess I'd say we're more situational, rainy day believers.