pahk.boston.gov is the URL (well, one of the URLs) for Boston's new pay-by-phone pahking app. From the people who brought you Wicked Free WiFi, and who no doubt will announce Spahkling Cleah Bubblas in city pahks this summer.
H/t Marilyn Moedinger.
OK, this is titled "Boston Directions," but anybody from West Roxbury (or Roslindale) will not only instantly know exactly which Dunkin' Donuts he's talking about, but know that the Dunkin' Donuts that nobody knows about is where the Krispy Kreme used to be.
Via Massachusetts Memes.
The US Attorney's office reports the indictment of two Revere men on extortion charges. The feds ID one of them as Anthony "Spucky" Spagnolo, 72, "the acting boss" of the "New England Family of La Cosa Nostra."
Only an old-time Bostonian would call himself Spucky, since the kids these days only know from sub rolls.
How many episodes do you think this TBS series about a Charlestown barbershop will last before it's canceled? But at least it answers the question of what happened to Norm from Cheers after he realized he had a drinking problem and joined AA.
Via Matt Perkins.
Peter Sipe, a sixth-grade teacher at Boston Collegiate Charter School in Dorchester, recounts how he uses copies of the Metro in the classroom, because it "teaches kids stuff they need to know." For example:
Several weeks ago a student raised her hand to ask what "the Hub" was. "Good question!" I replied, and put it to the class. No one knew. As it turned out, in all four of my classes, totaling about a hundred children, there were only a handful who could connect Boston to its nickname. Now, I - like many teachers, I suspect - have long grown used to my students’ lack of knowledge about the world. Still, this took me well aback. Our school is in Boston. All of our students live in Boston. Our school even has “Boston" in its name. As adjective or noun, "Hub" appears in pretty much each issue of the newspaper I bring in, and I've been bringing them in for years. So we did a quick primer on city nicknames: the Big Apple, Tinseltown, the Windy City, etc. Now we all know that Beantown is the Hub.
Editors at the New York Daily News labored hard over their cups of cawfee to come up with:
When I saw this photo by BU Police this morning, my first thought was something like, "Hah, if only - nice Photoshop job".
The mayor's office today announced a renamed and expanded wireless network which is aimed at providing free Internet access to residents and which could eventually wirelessly cover the city's 20 "Main Street" neighborhood commercial areas.
Already, an average of 9,800 people a day are using Wicked Free WiFi in Grove Hall, Mayor Walsh says.
By winning a race at Aqueduct today, Wicked Strong gets a spot in the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby.
H/t Flo Farrell.
Mike the Mad Biologist ponders days of yore, when most Englishmen and their Bostonian cousins would have rhotically parked their cars in Harvard Yard, if they'd had cars to park there.
Craigslist has numerous listings for items with draws in the Boston area, including:
The Globe analyzes Mahty Walsh's English. An interesting article, although I'd argue the author is wrong when he says Walsh has the strongest Boston accent of any Boston mayuh evah - it's not that Walsh is more Boston than Menino or White or Flynn, just that he's younger and that his speech patterns show that even Boston English changes.
Joshua Katz of the North Carolina State University Department of Statistics has put together some maps of American linguistic diversity, based on the typical answers to 120 questions about particular words. Take a look at this map, select Boston and then see if anything stands out.
His methodology has one flaw: It doesn't include tonic as a possibility for soft drinks.
Robert Corry moved away almost a decade ago and finds himself increasingly drawn to the accent he once rejected - even to the point of taunting his young son, who has a Philadelphia accent. Of course, he realizes that's mean:
So tonight, when everyone's asleep, I'm going to kneel down next to his crib and tell him that I love the way he speaks. I'll pat his sleeping head, blink away a tear and turn out the light.
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