Saturday, January 09, 2010

The Dot chest

South Boston is called Southie.  East Boston is called Eastie.  Dorchester is just called Dot.  It's better than being called Dottie.

Roxbury and West Roxbury both end with the requisite '-ee' sound favored in local parlance for Boston's neighborhoods, but even West Roxbury is often shortened to just Westie when people talk about it, which isn't often where I live.  Roslindale is Rozzie in gossipy, street argot.

Hyde Park is just Hyde Park.  There's never really much need to refer to it.   It could be called Hydie.  Some people refer to that neighborhood's most prominent resident as Mayor Hyde, but he's more jackal [sic] than anything else.

Charlestown is Charlestown.  A place out of the way but so thoroughly Boston that it is often overlooked, taken for granted, the way Bunker Hill looks out over the North End, and the bridge that connects the two is inspired by the Bunker Hill Monument.  By the way, the North End is never called Northie.

Dorchester is referred to as Dot.  If you call it 'the' Dot, people will know you weren't born here.  They'll point and say, "Ha ha, he said the!"  It's like being caught with your fly down.  All you can do is shrug and say, "Yeah, I love the Dot."

When the Combat Zone was more than just two strip clubs appended to Chinatown, some wags thought Dorchester would be better referred to as Chestie.  A lot of professional dancers lived in the neighborhood.  Like Dottie, the alternative Chestie moniker never caught on.  It's just as well.  Professional dancers still make their home in Dorchester but nowadays they work for the Boston Ballet rather than for the Glass Slipper.  Calling these prima donnas chesty would be inaccurate, to say the least.    

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