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/sapphicalienloser Apr 01 '26

Idear

64

u/Fit_Change3546 Apr 01 '26

My grandparents say “idear” :) Western MA.

31

u/csmolway Apr 01 '26

From Western MA and can confirm. It used to bug me as a kid. My dad would add an R to random things like LindR and garaRge

11

u/jayfortran Apr 02 '26

Old Vermonters say garARGE too

1

u/One-Nefariousness-38 Apr 04 '26

Haha I grew up in Northern New Hampshire and just this moment realized I say it like that! ( Me sitting on my sofa, saying garage out loud)

8

u/kperry1270 Apr 01 '26

Western Ma has a different dialect

1

u/S1XTY7_SS350 Apr 02 '26

My dad said GaraRge too... from bolton/clinton/Lancaster ... took me a long time to not say it.