liberterrorism t1_j6i9s8g wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in Advice for visiting beantown by [deleted]
It’s a bunch of corny media headlines are not indicative of how frequently actual people use it. How many NYC residents do you think refer to it “the Big Apple”? None, because that shit is for tourists.
magellanNH t1_j6ib1j9 wrote
That's really not how it used to be, but maybe it's because I'm old and the phrase has gone out of fashion. I'm telling you though, it was very commonly used back in the day.
If you listened to Boston talk radio, especially sports talk, you'd hear it repeatedly in everyday banter as a stand in for Boston. Of course, I haven't listened to the radio in like a decade so maybe it's totally different now.
Here's a transcript from a Cheers episode. I know it's just a TV show, but this feels really true to life to me, in terms of how the term was used by Bostonians in the 80s and 90s:
Stronkowski t1_j6igq8k wrote
You should really rethink your argument about modern language if it involves quoting something from 40 years ago.
[deleted] OP t1_j6ir40f wrote
[deleted]
liberterrorism t1_j6jmxrw wrote
You do know that Cheers is a fictional TV show created by Hollywood writers who aren’t from Boston? That’s like saying you know what the real NYC is like because you watched Friends.
magellanNH t1_j6jpe7h wrote
My point was that the scene does a good job of capturing the essence of how we used the term back then. Even having Cliff be the character that said it, and the way he said it, somehow seems right on the money for the times.
I think of it as vaguely lower-class speak or blue collar. It was especially common to use it when talking about Boston sports and Boston sports fans.
Again. The key point is that the term has a long and deep history in the culture and the idea that the term was recently conjured up by the tourist industry is just plain wrong.
Stronkowski t1_j6lrtx5 wrote
No one besides you is arguing about what people talked like in 1984.
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