Word: accents
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Such forced linguistic assimilation at Harvard is still commonplace. While there are certainly undergraduates and faculty members from locales such as Medford, where the Boston accent is de rigueur, I have yet to hear the hub’s trademark non-rhoticity on campus. This does not mean that everyone strives to sound like Tom Brokaw...
...Certain accents are widespread. Posh Queen’s English of the Eton or Cambridge variety is so familiar as to sound humdrum. Such accents, however, are all linked by a common denominator: a decidedly non-plebian heritage. By contrast, the Boston accent has a distinctly blue-collar identity...
...other universities, the Boston accent is not simply a reflection of one’s upbringing, but a symbol of Boston pride. My next-door neighbor, a current sophomore at Northeastern University, never had a Boston accent growing up. Peculiarly, he affected one during his freshman year in college. According to him, this linguistic metamorphosis was inspired by a desire to prove to his classmates that he is a local...
...contrast, while Harvard has been a Boston institution since its Puritan beginnings, the local accent has never caught on here. Instead, Harvard has historically embraced the more decadent, waspish ethos of the Boston Brahmin elite. We live in a land of regattas and finals clubs—far more John Forbes Kerry than Will Hunting. If there is an accent that has defined Harvard over the years, it is one of haughty pretension that characterizes the sermons of Reverend Peter J. Gomes...
...such disparate treatment? Harrington’s working class roots, Irish heritage, and heavy accent make him a consummate insider to whom the establishment is sympathetic. Kraft, on the other hand, grew up sans accent in a chic Boston suburb...