Lake, The

i'm a newtonite born and bred and i've known "the lake" as crystal lake in newton centre! who the hell calls a village a lake? crystal lake is "the lake"!

Mush, you obviously went to Newton South. Crystal Lake is "a lake." Only nonantum is "The Lake." Having lifeguarded many summers at Crystal Lake and ordered thousands of wings from West Street Bar and Grill, I am quite sure about the distinction between the two.

I agree with sickie that sami was clearly a Newton South grad and surprisingly ignorant of Newton's other half.Ever heard of mush?? Mush

Any of you divia mushes or bree know where mandi-ki can get a history of Lake language? I was born there and was told that it came from "carny talk". That might have been an overchay because I was just a chabby then. Now I have a quistia little givel and I want her to get the right education.

people don't even know about The Lake, the neighborhood I'm from. kids in Newton hear the Lake language and imitate it. The Lake practically isn't even part of Newton, nothing like Newton South. It's the only real neighborhood in Newton.

Mush,The corner of Watertown St. and Adams St. is the heart of "The Lake". If you have any doubts, ask anyone at the West St. Grill and Tap. "The Lake" refers to Silver Lake that used to be off of Adams St. Hence business names like Silver Lake Liquors located in, you got it, "the lake".

It's wicked quista to hear you Divia Mushes talking about givel.I myself jalled many a Corey after leaving "The Place" after hours.As a former Mush from West Newton who hung around with all the Mushes and Mushettes from the Lake in the old Newton North High School(Remember "The Wall"outside the Caf,or the Tunnels under the road?I was an Irish kid from up on Adams Ave but a lot of my friends were the Italian kids from "The Lake"Who can forget standing by the Wall when a Quista Givel would walk by and we all would shout"Minkya"

i graduated in 99'where did the lake talk originate from? I think it rocks anyways. i heard it originated from the italian immigrants who settled there. can someone make like a dictionary or somethin?

mush, nonantum has always been the lake. crystal lake was always just crystal lake and still is. ill catch u divias at store 24

Having grown up in Newton, I was always curious where the term expression "divia mush" came from (among other lake-isms). Anyway, I happened to be poking through a Romanes word list (Romanes being the language of the Romani, aka gypsies) and I found that "Moosh" means man. Certainly nothing conclusive, but it makes the "carny speak" theory a bit more intriguing.

emily's a bit too smart. stay out of the lake

One time I took a friend from Newton South to Watertown St. in "the lake" to get something and they he felt like he was on a field trip. They really don't pay much attention to the other side of the tracks--that means you SamiGotta go hang with Charlie Maley--see ya later

Emily is way smarter than most pre-1990 Day Jr. High grads, but she's close to right...Anglo-Romani (sp?) is the actual language, and in the early 20th century, it seeped into the neighborhood (maybe the Carnies in Hawthorn Park every July brought it?). I remember hanging out under the willow trees at the actual lake back in the day, and I also painted the exterior of the whole block from Swartz's down to Silver LAKE Electronics in 1986. So there - you freakin' divyas.

I am another pre-1990's Day grad and you are right. My dad was a Lakey and I have also lived there. Everyone pokes fun at the residents, but it is the last true neighborhood left in Newton and I loved living there. It was not called carney language, but it is considered gypsy language. In fact, about a year ago, I was speaking to a half-Italian not from the area and I happened to say the word "divia". His eyes grew wide as he exclaimed, "Oh my God! Are you gypsy?!". I responded, "Well, that's what my father used to call me when he was disgusted with my behavior." True story

.....and a little more info. Silver Lake was down the Lake and was filled in. That is why there are all those little "summer cottages" down there that are now full time residences. They were the summer hang out for the Bostonians. You will find the same phenomena is other surrounding towns like Wayland and Natick around Lake Coch. Sami really needs to cross Comm Ave. to the other side of the tracks once in a while

I'm from Newton and now live in northern california. I check boston common at work all the time to get home sick. Anyway - this brought me right back to my days at north and passing through the adams (blue)and beils (dark green) lockers where the lake was spoken. My friend from high school who also lives out here and i say divia and mush though no one outhere has any clue what we're talking about. I still say wicked all the time which gets me made fun of but i refuse to say "hella"

Crystal Lake as "the lake?" Mush, I went to South and even I don't think I've ever heard someone make that mistake.

What's up, Mush!

I typed in "The Lake" in google and this came up. This is so quista. Sickie I dont know if "Sami" is even a Mush, Wouldnt a mush spell it Samy or Sammy?Might be a gival and a quista one at that. I knew a guy who had a few pages of definitions but you have to prove your from the North side not the south side to know where hes at.

You're all DOVILE

I always that it was "jaw like a divia" but then I also thought the Beetles wrote a song called "Paperbag Ricer" . . . I suppose it all boils down to usage. Anyone remember hangin' out behind the Paramount? or settin' pins at Hunneywell or Ace's? or sitting for two hours a day doin' nothin but looking at the Jethro Spot in Mr Warrener's shop class? or mushin' trolleys or cars? (the verb "mush" . . .) I know the noun "mush" was used to address friend and foe alike as far from the Lake as Oak Square, possibly like "cousin" is used in the middle east; I could never figure out what Newton had against Everet. . .

My grandparents on both sides came from The Lake, two Irish families, interestingly. My dad's family moved to Brighton, but my mother lived up the Lake all her life and graduated from Newton High in the late-1920's. When I got my first pair of ice skates at age 5, in 1955, my father and I walked over to the lake between Adams St. and Nevada from my grandmother's house on Bridge St. so I could try them out. (She lived right next to the "Santa Claus" park at Bridge and Watertown.) Therefore, I remember "The Lake" as an actual body of water, marshy and small, that froze in the winter, obviously, and was enjoyed by the locals. Co-incidently, when I became a third grade teacher in Newton in 1975, I was assigned to the Carr School on Nevada Street where, by then, "the Lake" had dried up. I wound up teaching the grandchildren of families whose last names I remembered from a lifetime of stories about the Italian, Irish, and French-Canadian friends of my mother and her siblings from their years "up the Lake." Did any of you guys from the Lake go to Carr School? I have only fond memories of you. My five years at Carr, until it closed in 1980, were some of the best years of my life, mostly because the people of the Lake were so friendly and kind. (I'm the teacher who had the big moustache. Still have it, by the way.)

Please, mush! I grew up in New'in Cawna ('cause the T is silent) & went to Lincoln Eliot & Day. I didn't even know there was an actual Lake (Crystal) in New'in till I was in high school. I remember "divvya" as being a word you could use as an adjective or just kind of an exclamation: if someone did something stupid, you said, "Divvya, mush"; something cool, you said, "Aw, quistya, mush." Yo, mush, please, mush, etc.

My great grandparents came from Italy straight to the Lake. So my entire family is from there and many still reside there. I recently moved from Quirk Court off Adams across from the 'Sons' where I rented a small house. My wife and kids and I are in Kentucky now and I am in culture shock. I'll bet I was the first person to ever call someone a mush while in the comomwealth of Kentucky... I'm so homesick I got a job in an Italian restaurant to stop from going divya.

The dialect from The lake lives on.Most unique place in America.

Oh my head.......I can't believe you scrubs are all talkin' about the Lake, and NO ONE mentions the Pellegrinis?....Fats Pellegrini is who started painting the fire hydrants and the friccin' traffic , double yellow, line things..or whateva(SHUDDUP!)... red green and white. Leon and Larry were the brawlinest baddasses in Newton North......the storys about keggahs in Cabot Park would, within a week, sound like a friggin' episode of the A-Team...Unreal.....Bunny's Mahket Ruuuules, mush...

Anybody go to Franklin?

Mush, the Lake is the capital of Newton and will always be. If you people from South Newton want to try and take that away, your in for a rough night.

All you "Mushes" and "Jivils" coy the moy, stop jallin ya corey and get over to the West Street Grill for a Quistia or Divia Steak and cheese, "Fat Burger" or "Mush" Burger.www.weststreetgrilltap.comGod Bless "Fat" we miss you.

Please mush, Newdon north class of 79 here, da lake is da lake... Crystal lake is for doodah rich folks from South. Don't make me come down there and go divia on you mush. Long live the NNHS "offices"

Kind of off the subject I am a 1980 graduate of NNHS and I was in Adams house and it was dark green. Either they changed things around or Bibbo is color blind..."da lake" was/is certainly unique...fond memories

The good ol' Lake. It's basically full of a bunch of old losers and people who can't seem to understand they graduated from high school YEARS ago. Get a life people, the lake sucks, has sucked, and ALWAYS will suck. Hey you guys know there is a whole world out there, and it's round?

I love it. I live in Pasadena and to come to a board like this and seeing so many Massholes ripping into each other like somebody cutting off Chevy Nova on Route 9 with a n '84 Monte Carlo brings me a little tear of joy. Now lets all go egg the Green Line and call it a night with a Cabot's shake.

Good ol' Marc, it's easy to sit behind your key board and have BIG Cogliones, (is that a thong you're wearing)I bet if you were down the Lake your cogliones wouldn't be so big. The Lake is the only real neighborhood left in Newton, it is a great community that was built on hard work, honesty and respect. Some things you obviously need to learn more about.It's losers like you that made this round World what it is today. You probably don't even know your neighbors. So coy the moy, by the way did you even graduate High School ? And it's time to cut that mullet mush !

The Lake will always live on...All the young mushes coming up are keeping the traditions....myself i having been painting those street lines and hydrants for 10 years now!!!!!god bless the "fat" man!!!!

I remember the rest rooms in Brandon's were labeled "Jivels" and "Mushes". I can imagine an outsider that has to pee, wondering if they are a jivel or a mush.

Ever take someone from outside The Lake to Guiseppe's and watch the horror on their face as they got yelled at for asking for lettuce on thier sub ? Classic.

The Lake Baby. I grew up there. Fats used to steer the Madonna Parade (which was the reason the fire hydrants & lines were painted the colors of the Italian Flag) by my great grandmother's house when she was too old to leave the porch. Then he'd give all the kids fire crackers and jumping jacks. Fats was a good time.Anybody remember Giuseppe?s subs? D&A Pizza? Magni Bakery? I still haven't found a loaf of bread anywhere near as good as Magni's. I hear people still line up around the corner to get Antoine's canolis at the holidays.Questia mush.

I am also from a family that came directly to Newton from Italy and settled in Thompsonville to continue farming along Florence St and Dudley Rd. There were at least two Irish Traveller colonies in Newton at the turn of the last century. One in Nonantum (The Lake) and one in Newton Centre (Thompsonville.) They must have spoken in a version of the Patrin/Romany language where you can find the words mush, divja, etc. I have a little background on the Travellers, things that my parents told me, and I would like to hear more about the language and the people and compare. If you have parents and grandparents who lived in The Lake and T-ville in the late 1800's and early 1900's, please ask them about the gypsies and share your stories here.Regards,A Newton South grad who knows that Crystal is not The Lake.

To Grimace: THe restrooms in Brandon's were named jivels and mushes by my father, JA, who painted them on there when Brandon's was the Columbus Cafe, opened by my grandfather. The funny thing about that is I was just remembering how growing up we girls weren't allowed to go down the barroom because it was strictly for men (all the little old Italian men would be lined up at 8:00 am waiting for my father to open it up so they could get their glass of red wine). I recall that shortly before my father sold (or gave) the Columbus to Billy Brandon, he was trying to drum up business and we girls had him bring live bands in there (anyone remember playing?) and going in there on a Friday night for a beer was a big thrill for me, at 18 it was legal to drink then. Anyway, I was just trying to find the origin of the word "divia" when my brother sent me this link. Living in Denver now, this almost brings a tear of nostalgia to my eye. And frankly, the best thing Fats ever did was host the annual Xmas parties, giving away those huge bags of toys marked "boy" or "girl" (should have been "mushette" or "jivelette", huh?)

I threw together this little Lake dictionary for a friend from work who had just moved down there and had no clue what people were talking about.I'm interested to see what some of the other wordy types think about the spellings I've come up with, and please do let me know what else needs to go in there. Things like "minkya" aren't included as they are Italian, but not exclusively "Lake."Mush: (not what a dogsledder shouts, rhymes with ?push?) n. Dude, buddy.Ex: Hey, mush! Come here for a minute.Ex: He's a good mush.Divia: (alt spelling divya) - adj. crazy.Ex: You are a divia mush.n. crazy personEx: Hey, divia! Watch where you?re going!Ex: Mush, my boss went divia on me yesterday just because I was 5 minutes late!Overchey: - v. lie, fabricationEx: Don't overchey me. I know you were there.N. lie, fabricationEx: He's a good mush. Overchey! (i.e., he's not a good mush)Jivel: - n. WomanEx: Mush, who's that jivel think she is?Alt: JivellaQuisture: (sounds like kwishtya) - adj. AwesomeSpelling explanation: Think "posture" with a Boston accent.Ex: Mush, I don't know who that jivel is, but she?s got a quisture rack.Coy the moy - shut upEx: Mush, coy the moy, that jivel with the quisture rack is my girlfriend.Avray: Over thereEx: Mush, see the quisture jivel avray?Joll: V. StealEx: I just jolled a pack of gum from Fox?s.Cory: Male genitaliaEtymology: I suspect this comes from the word ?Quarry?Ex: ?Ow, my cory! (After getting hit by a ball)Ex: Mush, that jivel jolled my cory last weekend. (Note, it is unclear why joll is used here. It just is.)

I forgot about those. Those Christmas party bags were the best! Every year you could count on a new hockey stick being in there, that was a great thing indeed when you were a kid.

Stearns Park(The Park),the Woods Joe Do,Cheif!,Salt and Peppah Shakah at the festival, Babe! not a chick Boys club camp get there early for stickball allison park 4 square champion, Christmas at Post 44 equals paperbags with hockey sticks... quistcha,I got all the chicks, yah overchay. No divia, Mingah I lie. Italian Ice from Ray's. Ms Capuzzo at LE. The Wall, The River(Charles) Tunnels not by Day, FA.I never considered cabot's park as part of the lake but I guess I except you guys because after Hawthorne park your it but you have got to have heard of Fats, Our Lady's(which is not in the lake) Ray's Deli, That crazy funeral parlor( The surname was M somethinanothah) on Watertown st.which imo is the end of the lake heading west.All Lakahs went to Lincoln Eliot,Day and NN. Bigelow kids are out.. Newton ctre kids...out. The lake...I tell my current friends about the place and they are in total dibelief. I say directional instead of turn signal, carriage instead shopping and thanks to the Lake I have the luxury of learning my vocabulary like mush and how ir was used still kills me.

It's nice to see "The Lake" lives on. It isn't (and will never be) as good as it used to be when I was growing up, but I still call it home and I'm proud to be a Mush.Nowhere else in Newton will you find the comraderie and culture that we have in The Lake.I can add a little more to the history of The Lake.Newton was originally named New Town, a part of Cambridge.Nonantum was named by it's native Indians.Nonantum was predominantly populated by Jewish imigrants in earlier years, hence the old synagogue.Then French and Irish imigrants, hence Shamrock street and Murphy court.Our Lady's Church architecture is French Gothic.So things change and people change but the history remains.Now my controversial statement:"The Lake is not Italian" The Lake is a group of good, middle class, hard working, decent people. Many are 1st 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants.The best people in The Lake where the people who came together to make it what it is,Anthony "Fat" Pellegrini and the whole gang, you are not forgotten.Long Live THE LAKE!

"The Lake" thats where I grew up. My whole family still lives there. And to all the people who have anything bad to say about"The Lake" and the people from "The Lake" #1 Your just jealous #2 You know what u can do.And to two of the best people you could ever meet, my Grandparents Anthony "Fat Pellegrini and Joanne C Pellegrini,it will neva be the same without you.~Arrivederci~

The Lake was Silver Lake... whats left of it is a small swamp you can see behind a fence from the parking lot kiddie corner to Nevada street and Watertown street. Cops chased some weirdo through there 2 years ago and he hid in the swamp as a helicopter circled the area, he reportedly ran through a nearby neighboring house before being caught by police. It was never announced what this guy actually did, if anyone knows please post it!Anyways, before any of this happened and before the lake washed up (which stories say was a man-made lake) it was actually big enough that residents had small boats they'd take out on it, and even row to eachothers houses for tea or food.What's the relevence of this ?Community-The population has grown so rapidly yet the sense of community is still rich in "The Lake" (nonantum), although many of the values may be perceived as highly conservative in this village, people are socially active much more-so than in many other citys. I think its great that so many people come together and can discuss all type of current issues. I wish other larger cities or even other villages of Newton can inherit this ideal. In addition there is much culture here in regards to both Italian and American history. If in town you may catch a parade, carnival or just get a great home-cooked meal and peruse various old and often historic photos showing the progession of development in the greater boston area.All in all, Nonantum is a fun part of my childhood history and I will always return there on occasion to remanaisce or visit family.Peace to Tony Circionne, Derek Cedrone and all the young bucks who left us at an early age, "only the good die young".

ahhh yes god ol good ol lake boy, defending what he percieves as people who act normal. I was just back there a few weeks ago and ran into a few guys I used to go to high school with at the D&D on Adams st, guess what they were still tlaking about only high school and hadn't done anything with their lives lol imagine that. Well I got back into my new mustang and laughed all the way back to DC. Don't worry though guys, someday maybe the 80's will be cool again

janine, the lake no matter what you might delude yourself to think it is, is nothing more than a black spot in newton. Try venturing away from the umbilical cord sometime, you might find that the sun shines elswhere also

My umbilical cord was cut along time ago, so don?t speak on things you know nothing about, especially THE LAKE.

Do you think Marc might have been picked on as a child? He sure acts like it! Whats the matter with you Marc, Why do you hate the lake so much? I wouldn't have that much to say about my worst enemy, if I had one. Do me a favor and don't come back to the lake again. We don't need your kind around here.