A-B

Your uncle's wife.

Has nothing to do with Chinese food (then again, only in Boston did Chinese restaurants serve French rolls): Macaroni with hamburg, a little tomato sauce and a bit of onion and green pepper.

You can serve them mashed, or whipped or boiled.

In Cambridge, a Havihd student. In Sommaville, a Cambridge resident. Local speakers argue about its derivation: Some say its from "Bahnyahd," a derisive term for Hahvihd Yahd; others argue it comes from the old MBTA cah bahns just outside the Squayuh (the bahns went away when the Red Line was extended to Sommaville).

Eric Vroom recalls: "I can remember about ten years ago people in Somerville had bumper stickers and hats reading "NO BARNIES IN SOMERVILLE!!" And it just didn't mean Harvard students, it was any geek from Cambridge."

Meanwhile, R.D. McVout shows how to use the word as an adjective, in his contribution to a debate in the ne.food newsgroup about trendy restaurants in Somerville: "Why don't all of you terminally hip folks go and discover some other environment to befoul and bemoan? As a resident of Somerville, I'd be beside myself with glee if all of you Barney-assed pseudo-cognoscenti would climb into your Explorers and go back across the river where you obviously long to be."

A small hillside or river bank: "The best place to see a game at Fallon Field is on the bankin."

A school restroom, at least in the Stoughton area. Pete Costello recalls: "The lavatories in all the schools I went to grades 1-12 were called 'the basement,' even if they were not on the lowest floor of the school."

Massive project to build a new underground highway through the heart of the city while keeping the existing elevated Central Ahtery open during construction. Now covered by the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

It is the most expensive highway project in U.S. history - at a cost of more than $1 billion per mile. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank once said it would be cheaper to elevate the city than depress the ahtery. He also once answered the question "how do you depress the Central Artery?" by saying "Have Fred Salvucci talk to it." If you get that, you probably have more of an intimate knowledge of Dukakis-era politics than is good for you.

• Latest Big Dig news.

Old-style Red Line train.
Jeff Kline

Boat shoes, i.e., Keds.

To make tracks: "The cops came and we booked outta there!!" Sometimes, "book it."
Elizabeth Kelley

Game similar to punchball, except the ball had to first bounce in the "infield." Played with "pinkies" or "pimple balls" - soft, small, white balls.
Reuven Brauner

Female undergrament. "I have to buy a new brar, the straps on this one have had it".
Debra DeSando

That's a water fountain to you, bub.

Bizah note: People in Wisconsin also drink water from "bubblers."

311 complaint about a broken bubbler in Southie.

To steal: "I budged a bag of chips from the store."
The Burke Boys

A soft, fluffy roll, you know, like a Kaiser roll. Only in Boston are they sometimes served at Chinese restaurants.
Kelly Holmes

Grocery bag.

The police in West Roxbury.

Labor Day Weekend or Aug. 30/Sept. 1 if Labor Day comes late. The cornucopia of stuff, from appliances to furniture that magically appears on streets across the neighborhood as people move out (and in) of their apartments:

In need of a car if I'm going to do some serious Allstonmas/Mission Hill Xmas shopping.

-- James Peter.

Although named for Allston, it's also celebrated in other student-heavy neighborhoods, such as Brighton, Mission Hill, the Fenway and the North End.

Universal Hub's annual Allston Christmas coverage.