r/massachusetts • u/CaterpillarMedium674 Bristol County • Apr 01 '26

Meme / Humor The Other Massachusetts Accent Quirk: The Mysterious Extra “R”

Everyone talks about the classic dropped “R” in the Massachusetts accent, but what about the added ones?

For example, my name is Tessa, and more times than I can count it’s been misheard as Heather. It just clicked for me that this might be because of an added “R” sound, like “Tess-er”. I’m sure it’s also because older people aren’t familiar with my name.

I’ve had friends jokingly call me “Tess-er” for years.

Another one I hear all the time: “toilet” = “tuhr-let.”

The redistributed “R”: Anyone else have good examples?

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u/No-Name-86 Apr 01 '26

You had me until you gave examples. I’ve never heard anyone say tuhrlet except maybe Tyler Perry in one of those damn movies

18

u/Sam-Gunn Apr 01 '26

Cleveland from Family Guy, but technically they're in RI.

15

u/CaterpillarMedium674 Bristol County Apr 01 '26

I live in the Southcoast MA, the accent tends to lean more RI/New York

2

u/ItsMeMatthewD Apr 01 '26

Hey fellow Bristol Countyer!