Many thanks everyone for watching. Don't know how this got so popular after sitting around for months, but it's a nice feeling. Hoping to get a sequel up by the end of the month but no promises.
I basically live in Stoneham (I live right on the Stoneham/Wakefield line so I do technically live in Wakefield despite not being able to get to my house without going into Stoneham and having Stoneham Water and Power) and when I was little I literally thought that Stone-m and Stone-ham were two different places! I knew how to say Stoneham but when ever I saw it on a sign I would say “Stone-ham” until one day I drove by the “Welcome to Stoneham” sign and did not read it Stone-ham for some reason (and said it like I knew how it was said) and suddenly I had an epfinany and realized that Stone-m and Stone-ham were the same place and I still wonder to this day why I some how did not realize that sooner or think it was weird that two towns (supposedly) right next to each other sounded so similarly! (I was like Seven when I finally figured it out!) 😂
Actually, this isn't completely accurate. People FROM Raynham will tell you it's Rain Ham, Worcester is Wista, Gloucester is Glosta and Medford is Medfa. That's how we really say it in Massachusetts.
scootrpy1 I will not apologize for not sounding like the fellas from Good Will Hunting or the guys who call into EEI to scream about the Sox year round. If it so offends you then you can go watch any of the other billions of hours on content on RUclips.
No he pronounced them right, it just depends where you live in Massachusetts. Not everyone in Mass has the same accent. I live in Mass and that's how I pronounce them, but if you go to Boston area that's how they say it. That's why the call it a Boston accent.
Nobody said they were how someone with a "Boston accent" would pronounce them. This is how people in those ACTUAL FREAKING TOWNS pronounce them. You're gonna tell me that someone who grew up in Worcester has a Boston accent and can't pronounce his own city name because YOU don't say it that way? 😂
I grew up in the Bridgewater-Raynham school district. Everyone I know who actually grew up in or currently lives in Raynham pronounces it "Rain-ham". It's "Rain-ham".
An Aussie here who got most of these right, based on the pronunciation of the English towns and cities, a couple of them were tricky though, I actually though Worcester was pronounced Warchester despite the fact I know that would be incorrect. Oh, and Aussie is pronounced "Ozzy" Cheers!!
"There is no HAM in the Commonwealth" is a false quote! You forgot about FramingHAM! The "ham" is pronounced phonetically with that one. :) (P.S. I'm from Massachusetts and I know what I'm talking about.)
Townships are similarly designed to the New England town in that both are civil divisions of the larger county. Even though there are no county governments in all three southern New England states they still exist as geographic entities not political ones. Townships in New Jersey(outside the region of New England) are almost like cities because they are led by a mayor and a "Township Council".
Right on, 100%. I was born and raised in METHUEN, and agree with all your recommendations. And yes, Methuen begins with METH, but the stress is on the THU: meh-THU-en, and not METH-u-en. And yes, there are many more: Leominster (LEM-inster) Quincy (QUIN-zy not QUIN-see) Waltham (WALL-tham, not WALL-th'm) Rowley (ROW rhymes with HOW, not with GO) Salisbury (SAUL's berry, not SAL-lis-berry) Athol (A-thawl, A as in apple, not A as in ape) Chelmsford (CHE(L)Mz-f'd -- natives tend to drop the L) Wenham (WENN-em, no ham) Wilbraham (WILL-bra-ham, YES ham)
Thank you for bringing up Rowley for me. Everybody forgets about our little town! Even some of the conductors on the T pronounce it row as in go in their ignorance. And whenever I introduce myself, even people from a couple towns over will think I’m saying Raleigh, like in North Carolina. Can’t catch a break here in the mahshes!
Live near the line of Haverhill and N.Andover. I'll never forget bringing a girl from San Diego up here and having her try and pronounce these names haha.
I went to school in Billerica - Shawsheen Valley Tech - and they actually had us learn the correct pronunciation of "Billerica" turning our freshmen orientation! Of course we were from Bedford (no OR)...
I lived in Massachusetts (Worcester (Whoo stir)) since I knew how to talk. Boston slang is very simple. The "barrel" is a trash can because in Boston, the trash cans look like barrels. Most of it is inspired by Irish Englandish town names. In my opinion, all Spanish names are at least 10x harder to pronounce. I actually live in Shrewsbury (Shoes Berry) and If you stay here for a while, everything makes sense.
I didn't even know how to pronounce some of these and I have lived in Massachusetts all my life. yes we exist down here in Southeastern Massachusetts (Fall River, Seekonk, Dartmouth etc).
The only thing I would say is that there actually are "-ham"'s in MA that are pronounced like ham (Eastham). -ham and -tham towns are all messed up...see: wal-THAM east-HAM WREN-tham CHAT-ham we just can't make up our minds.
@@teenagerinsac As a spritely young 68 year old from WAL-tham, I can tell you that everybody who lives here says WAL-tham unless they just came from out of the area an hour ago. Then they quickly learn that it it is WAL-tham MA USA as opposed to Wal-thum in England.
My friend was at work and got a call from some insurance people down in Atlanta. Woman on the phone was pronouncing it pea-bod-y in a thick southern accent. Pretty sure she even put the accent on the bod. My friend had absolutely no idea what she was saying for a solid three minutes
Hahaha it's really funny for a foreigner like me. And I live in Boston, and more than once I've had problems with the pronunciation of those town names.
All these people trying to say they know about Massachusetts though. Worcester is woosta and shrewsbury is pronounced shrewsbury. We don't neglect r's or ah's unless they're alone or at the end of a word
Framingham has a ham... No one pronounces it Framingum. Don't make blanket statements unless you're 100% certain it's accurate. Otherwise I enjoyed the video.
GREAT - and I would stress that "Hingham" is "Hingum", not "Hing Ham", and Fall River definitely has no 'r' on the end "Fawriva", and Taunton - well, ,let's get all Indian on you and pronounce it correctly "Tah'n" (there being that 'click' where the apostrophe is). Oh! Assonet! (I once had a visitor ask where "Ass-o-net" was. When we picked ourselves up off the floor we realized where he meant. For your next video!~
I guess the last 28 years I spent growing up in Massachusetts was all just an incorrect dream... I hate when people says “this is how people from Massachusetts say it”, because 99% of the time, no, that’s not how people from “Massachusetts” say it, that’s how people from SOUTHIE say it. And this video is no exception. Granted people from Southie think that the entire state of Massachusetts and Southie are one in the same, because people from Southie think they’re the center of the universe, but still....
@@CashCatMoney I live here in Springfield (011108) and have been told for the last 30 years the "l" is silent. I guess you can say they want to get the "L" out of Holyoke.
You would be completely lost in Uk especially in scotland ireland etc they have crazy pronunciations like wheest its english like but completely different pronunciations and meanings
I hear people butcher Natick on a regular basis. It's Naydick, not Nah-tick. And Framingham has a distinct ham in it as well. How about Canton? Norwood? The list goes on and on...
Billerica, named for Billericay, Essex, England. Anglican pronunciation Bill-er-rick-ah. Remember the rules of the English Language. Words with ar; er; ir; or & ur in them are pronounced like the letter R. Billerica was a hot bed of anti British sediment during the revolution, so we changed the pronunciation from Bill-er-rick-ah to Bill-rick-ah
most of these are simply the English pronunciations - the phonetic butchering started long ago in Britain. Leominster is now down to two syllables in England (Lemster).
Many thanks everyone for watching. Don't know how this got so popular after sitting around for months, but it's a nice feeling. Hoping to get a sequel up by the end of the month but no promises.
My suggestion: Groton. Grow-ton (not) and Grawtn (the one syllable thing).
Uml Coms I dunno about you, but I saw Grawtn and I'm from Mass
Should add Concord too. Too many people think it's pronounced like the airplane.
You dont know shit.no Worcester???plus you pronounce everthing.
@@ryanholland7368 thank you for your comment.
The more I think about it, the more I love about living in MA!
Everything is illegal in Massachusetts.
@@btm380 Sept weed
The more I think about it, the more I hate about living in MA!
I basically live in Stoneham (I live right on the Stoneham/Wakefield line so I do technically live in Wakefield despite not being able to get to my house without going into Stoneham and having Stoneham Water and Power) and when I was little I literally thought that Stone-m and Stone-ham were two different places! I knew how to say Stoneham but when ever I saw it on a sign I would say “Stone-ham” until one day I drove by the “Welcome to Stoneham” sign and did not read it Stone-ham for some reason (and said it like I knew how it was said) and suddenly I had an epfinany and realized that Stone-m and Stone-ham were the same place and I still wonder to this day why I some how did not realize that sooner or think it was weird that two towns (supposedly) right next to each other sounded so similarly! (I was like Seven when I finally figured it out!) 😂
Actually, this isn't completely accurate. People FROM Raynham will tell you it's Rain Ham, Worcester is Wista, Gloucester is Glosta and Medford is Medfa. That's how we really say it in Massachusetts.
I so totally agree !!! This guys a jackass. He pronounces a wicked lot of R's where we don't use them.
scootrpy1
I will not apologize for not sounding like the fellas from Good Will Hunting or the guys who call into EEI to scream about the Sox year round. If it so offends you then you can go watch any of the other billions of hours on content on RUclips.
No he pronounced them right, it just depends where you live in Massachusetts. Not everyone in Mass has the same accent. I live in Mass and that's how I pronounce them, but if you go to Boston area that's how they say it. That's why the call it a Boston accent.
Nobody said they were how someone with a "Boston accent" would pronounce them. This is how people in those ACTUAL FREAKING TOWNS pronounce them. You're gonna tell me that someone who grew up in Worcester has a Boston accent and can't pronounce his own city name because YOU don't say it that way? 😂
yes
Rowdy - Gloucester boy, been on the West Coast for 35 years. Thanks for starting my day with a HUGE laugh!!
YOU MISSED LEICESTER!!! pronounced "Lester"'
THANK YOU
Thank you
“Lie-Chester” is an abominable pronunciation
Contrary to what the narrator of this video states there IS a 'Ham in Massachusetts, and that would be FRAMINGHAM, a.k.a. "THE Ham"!
Isn't it more "Framing-um"?
Not in all the years I ever lived there!
Pinky McFlowers no lol? ham is heard
If you were in England (whence the name), it would be Framing-um.
Heyyy I live there
I love this video! Marlborough is a big one people all the time say ma-R-lborrow when we pronounce it mahbro
One thing....there are places in MA that pronounce the "Ham"....like Waltham.
+LarryLansdown Actually, they don't- they say Walth-um :)
I've never heard anyone call it Walth-um. I lived there for 1 year.
+LarryLansdown You will
Yep, it's pronounced "Wall-tham" like it rhymes with "Sam". BTW, you live in Waltham? My condolences! :P
Cyan Glaciertooth lol
Quincy? Come on! It's Kwin-Zee!
Cool. Yeah.
True
Quincy is pronounced the same as the term for a peritonsillar abscess. 😂
As it says on the wall of the 99 restaurant in Quincy
I grew up in the Bridgewater-Raynham school district. Everyone I know who actually grew up in or currently lives in Raynham pronounces it "Rain-ham". It's "Rain-ham".
I think it depends on where in Mass you're from. My grandparents are from inner Boston and they always pronounce Raynham like "Rain-um"
If you live in Raynham you said rain ham but if you live in another town you say rain um.
The old Raynham Park radio ads pronounced it rainum.
how about Chelmsford? no "L" "O" or "R" here! Chemsfid.
An Aussie here who got most of these right, based on the pronunciation of the English towns and cities, a couple of them were tricky though, I actually though Worcester was pronounced Warchester despite the fact I know that would be incorrect. Oh, and Aussie is pronounced "Ozzy" Cheers!!
"There is no HAM in the Commonwealth" is a false quote! You forgot about FramingHAM! The "ham" is pronounced phonetically with that one. :) (P.S. I'm from Massachusetts and I know what I'm talking about.)
I feel like in Waltham its more of a TH sound, like Walth-am, not Walt-ham. Or is it Walth-ham.
that's why Framingham is called the "ham"
Tyler Wesson definitely Wall-tham.
And Oakham
Wenham
How to pronounce Massachusetts town names with a Boston accent
1 bilricah
2 chicahpee
3 glostah
4. Haavril
5 leminstah
6 menthuen
7 peebudy
8 reeding
9 shitsuiate
10 stellahm
11 whenuhm
12 woostah
13 rahveah
13 mahblehead
14 fawl rivah
thanx
Swaumpskit
Methuen is pronounced mahtuin
Methuen is also called Lawrence with trees
Haavril is called Lawrence with hills
you got Reading wrong. instead of "reeding" it should be "reding"
I lived in Haverhill for quite a long time. From Springfield
WareHAM and EastHAM, but yeah, mostly right.
My favorite part is that EastHAM and Chatham (Chat’m) are one town apart.
Yes. Thanks.
Townships are similarly designed to the New England town in that both are civil divisions of the larger county. Even though there are no county governments in all three southern New England states they still exist as geographic entities not political ones. Townships in New Jersey(outside the region of New England) are almost like cities because they are led by a mayor and a "Township Council".
GREAT!! haha thanks for making this! haha! 2 yrs in Boston is ENOUGH for me….moving...
NOS4A2's "Have-Er-Hill" pronunciation in the audiobook brought me here. xC
Where was Quincy? Great video!
Right on, 100%. I was born and raised in METHUEN, and agree with all your recommendations. And yes, Methuen begins with METH, but the stress is on the THU: meh-THU-en, and not METH-u-en.
And yes, there are many more:
Leominster (LEM-inster)
Quincy (QUIN-zy not QUIN-see)
Waltham (WALL-tham, not WALL-th'm)
Rowley (ROW rhymes with HOW, not with GO)
Salisbury (SAUL's berry, not SAL-lis-berry)
Athol (A-thawl, A as in apple, not A as in ape)
Chelmsford (CHE(L)Mz-f'd -- natives tend to drop the L)
Wenham (WENN-em, no ham)
Wilbraham (WILL-bra-ham, YES ham)
Thank you for bringing up Rowley for me. Everybody forgets about our little town! Even some of the conductors on the T pronounce it row as in go in their ignorance. And whenever I introduce myself, even people from a couple towns over will think I’m saying Raleigh, like in North Carolina. Can’t catch a break here in the mahshes!
Born in WUH-STA and raised in Web-sta Mass!!
Methuen mention!
Live near the line of Haverhill and N.Andover. I'll never forget bringing a girl from San Diego up here and having her try and pronounce these names haha.
what about about Tewksbury?
I approve this message.
ANOTHER OBAMA OFFICIATE!
Hey, Duck boats are fun. I’m a native Bostonian and I go on duck tours....I mean you know....about once or twice per decade.....
Nailed it. I was looking for the whole diatribe about Concord though and didn't get one. :(
Why does everyone leave out Leicester?
Drew Anderson cuz Leicester sucks
How did Stoneham make the list and mefid didn't (actual spelling Medford)
What about Framingham? We say ham there.
Psh, what, no mention of Gahdna-hey? Where my Gardner at?
I went to school in Billerica - Shawsheen Valley Tech - and they actually had us learn the correct pronunciation of "Billerica" turning our freshmen orientation! Of course we were from Bedford (no OR)...
I lived in Massachusetts (Worcester (Whoo stir)) since I knew how to talk. Boston slang is very simple. The "barrel" is a trash can because in Boston, the trash cans look like barrels. Most of it is inspired by Irish Englandish town names. In my opinion, all Spanish names are at least 10x harder to pronounce. I actually live in Shrewsbury (Shoes Berry) and If you stay here for a while, everything makes sense.
Please don't reply to this comment.
Ok, I won't reply to this comment.
The reverse psychology was just too tempting.🎉
what is so hard with Billerica ( and for us folks that grew up there its bricca to us) look at the word and pronounce it folks BILL ER ICA
It's interesting that most of the towns are in Essex County. There is one I can think of that you missed though ... what about Leicester?
Leicester will be in the sequel. That was the first one I wrote down.
Rowdy4324 you do realize That some town even one here in thei video does prounonce the ham dislike
I didn't even know how to pronounce some of these and I have lived in Massachusetts all my life.
yes we exist down here in Southeastern Massachusetts (Fall River, Seekonk, Dartmouth etc).
those towns are easy to say
Acushnet, Rehobeth, and Mattapoisett can be tough to figure out at first sight
Grest job. Liked this a lot.
Might want to add Tewksbury ;)
as a resident of woburn, it's "woo-burn" like woooohoooo!!! and i like to make an emphasis on the rn
What aboutCochituate? And there's always Revere (raviah)
I know Reading and Gloucester cause I'm from Philly and them towns are here too.
What about Amherst everyone says it wrong
Am-erst
I've only heard those two as "Where-um" and "Ashburnum".
-Grew up next to Lemminsta and goes to school on the border of Newtin and Bawstin
Raynum? Its RaynHAM. Guess you have to live there to know that.
Some town names that end in ham pronounce the ham. Like Petersham, Tyringham, and Framingham.
The only thing I would say is that there actually are "-ham"'s in MA that are pronounced like ham (Eastham). -ham and -tham towns are all messed up...see:
wal-THAM
east-HAM
WREN-tham
CHAT-ham
we just can't make up our minds.
+Brendan Hennessey Most towns with ham at the end DO say um, not HAM. The older and longer residents especially do.
@@teenagerinsac As a spritely young 68 year old from WAL-tham, I can tell you that everybody who lives here says WAL-tham unless they just came from out of the area an hour ago. Then they quickly learn that it it is WAL-tham MA USA as opposed to Wal-thum in England.
My student advisor thought I said PB, Massachusetts, when in actuality I said Peabody.
It's hard living in Tanner Town.
I can say enough how much I hate the way folks from Mass pronounce “Peabody”
My friend was at work and got a call from some insurance people down in Atlanta. Woman on the phone was pronouncing it pea-bod-y in a thick southern accent. Pretty sure she even put the accent on the bod. My friend had absolutely no idea what she was saying for a solid three minutes
Ah... the names we inherited from Merry Old England. My Town Weymouth celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2022.
Hahaha it's really funny for a foreigner like me. And I live in Boston, and more than once I've had problems with the pronunciation of those town names.
Strange thing. People know Worcestershire sauce-(Woostashire) but few can pronounce the city name, Worcester (Woosta)
Woburn is pronounced Woo-burn
Funny I’ve always pronounced it Woo-bin
I think Rick Flair had Something to do with it ! Wooooo Burn ! 😂
I used to live in “Summahvull”
Um actually in Raynham you do pronounce the ham
All these people trying to say they know about Massachusetts though. Worcester is woosta and shrewsbury is pronounced shrewsbury. We don't neglect r's or ah's unless they're alone or at the end of a word
Born and raised in Wista. Relatives in Shrews-bree. ;-)
xicota it is definitely Wista.
what about "Quinzee"???
What about Amherst?
I know I'm uh... about 5 years late but what's the song laying at the end? Sounds very familiar
You mean the one credited in big block type at the end of the video?
you left out the little town next to methuen, dracut out of stater say drakit lol
Can’t believe he didn’t mention Tewksbury
Framingham has a ham... No one pronounces it Framingum. Don't make blanket statements unless you're 100% certain it's accurate. Otherwise I enjoyed the video.
Do you live near Framingham? I do.
Add Bellingham
GREAT - and I would stress that "Hingham" is "Hingum", not "Hing Ham", and Fall River definitely has no 'r' on the end "Fawriva", and Taunton - well, ,let's get all Indian on you and pronounce it correctly "Tah'n" (there being that 'click' where the apostrophe is). Oh! Assonet! (I once had a visitor ask where "Ass-o-net" was. When we picked ourselves up off the floor we realized where he meant. For your next video!~
How 'bout Tewksbury?
Great video...for hams what about wareham and ashburnham?
I guess the last 28 years I spent growing up in Massachusetts was all just an incorrect dream...
I hate when people says “this is how people from Massachusetts say it”, because 99% of the time, no, that’s not how people from “Massachusetts” say it, that’s how people from SOUTHIE say it. And this video is no exception. Granted people from Southie think that the entire state of Massachusetts and Southie are one in the same, because people from Southie think they’re the center of the universe, but still....
Except Wareham. Where-Ham. There is no -um there.
+Wendl Ward How long have you been around? We certainly DON't say Ware Ham :) 56 yr old ex Bostonian here.
Are you SURE???? :) Wicked sure???
+teenagerinsac very.
Well, you listen to some older folks who are in their 60's and up- you will hear it pronounced Ware-um :)
+teenagerinsac they all said Wareham. guess we know different old people. lol
You completely forgot New Beffit and Fahaven.
The "h" is silent in Amherst. But it is fully pronounced in Wareham. The "l" is silent in Holyoke as well. It is pronounced Ho-yoke.
In Western Mass the "l" is pronounced in Holyoke.
Tiffany Tan
Agree. It's Hol-yoke, not Ho-yoke. Although, with the way Holyoke is going, Ho-yoke might not be a bad description....
We pronounced it Ware-em
@@nadinenc3097 I have a friend from East Wareham and she is adamant that the "h" is pronounced. But that was forty years ago.
@@CashCatMoney I live here in Springfield (011108) and have been told for the last 30 years the "l" is silent. I guess you can say they want to get the "L" out of Holyoke.
How about Miford - pronounced Milfed
So every town in mass has alternate pronunciations like every other word in the English language.
Where is Chelmsford? Isn’t that hard for u guys to say? Idk i live is MASSACHUSETTS so it just rolls off my tounge.
Elization it's near Tewksbury and Billerica
My home town.... Waltham.... should have made this list. It is NOT "WAL-thumb", as many who are unfamiliar with the town pronounce it.
Oh, and I live in Gloucester now LOL!
You would be completely lost in Uk especially in scotland ireland etc they have crazy pronunciations like wheest its english like but completely different pronunciations and meanings
You were doing so well till too got to raynham pronounce rain ham I live in Taunton
I live in Middleboro and we pronounce it "rainum" so I think it goes both ways
It seems to me that Charlestown people pronounce it more like Charleston. No?
Woah woah woah... Chicopee? Really? Not saying no, but I never even realized..
Summa-vul
Meh-fuh
Meh-fuh will always be the best pronunciation
I hear people butcher Natick on a regular basis. It's Naydick, not Nah-tick. And Framingham has a distinct ham in it as well. How about Canton? Norwood? The list goes on and on...
I was born in Norwood!! Aka Gnaw-wud. :D
You forgot Amherst..where only the h is silent
Swampskit?
You forgot Tewksbury
what about chumsford
What about Leicester?
What, no Barre?
And there is a ham in Petersham.
Wow my town was on the map in the beginning we're never on the map automatically I mean WOW
Worchestuhsheere sauce is my fahkin favrit! All day guy.
The "Ham" IS pronounced in Ashburnham!
They also say "chowdah" so...
That's just in Boston :p
NOBODY. NOBODY IN MAASACHUSETTS SAYS ASHBURNHAM..THEY SAY "ASH"..WHATEVER!
@@lindanorris2455 I am from MA and one of my friends from college is from Ashburnham
Worcester pronounced wist-er or if your more local wist-ah
Haverhill (Hell Town) in da house! nice to know I have been in every city mentioned here for one reason or another.
Needham was Need-em
As a new englander I have never once thought it was war chester, its just always been WUSTA to me.
Home sweet home!
I’m from Win-chen-don just north of Wista 😂😂😂
Love this
Billerica, named for Billericay, Essex, England.
Anglican pronunciation Bill-er-rick-ah. Remember the rules of the English Language. Words with ar; er; ir; or & ur in them are pronounced like the letter R.
Billerica was a hot bed of anti British sediment during the revolution, so we changed the pronunciation from Bill-er-rick-ah to Bill-rick-ah
My all time favorite is the city of Athol. Used correctly in a sentence it's " Man ,you drive like a Athol up here".
Sands of time Ha, funny
Many of these pronunciations are taken directly from the British.
go to the East Anglia area of England and you'll see hull, hingham, weymouth etc. They stole all the names from Ma towns!
most of these are simply the English pronunciations - the phonetic butchering started long ago in Britain. Leominster is now down to two syllables in England (Lemster).
Just trying to help and have fun.