海角大神

I鈥檝e heard it ever since I first came to Boston: a supposed of a 鈥渢rue鈥� Boston accent. As transcribed from the lips of one who has 鈥減assed鈥� (or is it 鈥渇ailed鈥�?) the test, it goes like this: 鈥淚 pahk my cah on Hahvahd Yahd.鈥� (Spell-checker is not happy with this.)

But doesn鈥檛 everyone in Boston know you 肠补苍鈥檛 park there? The 鈥淵ard鈥� is a walled-off pedestrian zone, with gates that sometimes close, as at a medieval European university. (I write as a townie often in search of a cross-campus shortcut.)

The Boston Globe, though, has lately shed light on this. Its makes perfect, forehead-slapping, why-didn鈥檛-I-get-this-before? sense: The phrase refers to the time when incoming Harvard students 鈥減ahk鈥� their vehicles on, or in, the Yard as they move into their dorm rooms. They have 20 minutes.

Eric Randall, author of the Globe piece, writes: 鈥淗arvard Yard is mostly a vehicle-free zone, yet the idea of 鈥榩ahk颅ing鈥� there is intimately associated with the Boston accent. Locals, especially those with strong accents, know well how often outsiders ask to hear the phrase repeated back, unaware that it means nothing to anyone familiar with Cambridge鈥檚 parking options.鈥�

This 鈥渁ccent test鈥� has annoyed Bostonians for decades. Linguist Ben Zimmer has found a written reference to the 鈥淔amous Harvard Accent Test鈥� from 1946.聽

If it was famous then, it obviously goes back even further. Earlier generations of freshmen, though, unburdened by mini-fridges, might have arrived by train and taxi.聽

But however far back the 鈥渁ccent test鈥� goes, the dropped r鈥檚 draw my own (native Midwestern) ears in two different directions, which I鈥檒l describe as 鈥淜atharine Hepburn鈥� and 鈥淢BTA train driver.鈥� Hepburn鈥檚 dropped r鈥檚 were different from those of a certain kind of train driver whose station announcements had me, as a newcomer, scouring the subway map in search of 鈥淥llington鈥� (Arlington) and 鈥淟eech-Me-Ah鈥� (Lechmere).

Mr. Randall writes: 鈥淗arvard ... once had its own dialect, distinct from the Boston accent.... Like the Boston accent, it was distinguished by the dropping of the 鈥榬.鈥� In 1940, an English professor classified it as the result of mixing accents from New England prep schoolers, Greater Boston Irish-Americans, and Midwesterners. The result ... made the speaker sound vaguely British. (Think Franklin Roosevelt or Katharine Hepburn.)鈥�

He continues: 鈥淗ow [the 鈥渁ccent test鈥漖 moved from marking the Harvard accent to the Boston accent is less clear. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy鈥檚 association with both Harvard and Boston, and his famous accent, appears to have blurred the lines between the two dialects, which may have helped.鈥�

He marshals a quote from author Kurt Vonnegut: 鈥淭his accent of Kennedy鈥檚 is described as a Harvard accent. It isn鈥檛 at all; it鈥檚 an Irish, middle-class, Boston accent, which was charming too. People loved to hear him talk.鈥�

I鈥檓 not sure the question is settled, but this feels like progress. Meanwhile, I鈥檓 parking my car at home, and walking.聽