Yup, I was born in Boston. My mother was born in Boston. Her mother was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts. When I spent time in Austin, Texas, folks there thought I had an accent. Me? An accent?
Well, back in the day when I was growing up, I became familiar with some quaint sayings that seemed “local” to my ears. For example, when people greeted each other with “ Hi, how ah ya?” The response varied from: Fine and dandy, to fit as a fiddle, to fair to middlin’.
When in Austin, when asked “How are you”, I politely answered, “Fine thank you.” No give-away-accent there. I had already stopped offering to drive my ‘ kah when sharing rides. I began saying “ I’ll be happy to drive everybody in my automobile.” No more asking me to repeat the word car…just to hear my accent. So, when I responded that I was fine, thank you and asked in return, “and how are you?” I didn’t get a response about how the arthritis was not as bad or the sciatica, like my peers in the Worcester Senior Center. I got a wonderful, benign smile, and a brief response. “I’m blessed.” Now that’s a piece of Texas I’ve adopted. No concern about accent. Just a beautiful awareness of how very true the answer is for me.
Gems and Jewels 