I was on the phone with Michael Martins a month or two ago, and I told him I was practicing my Fall River accent. He said, "It won't do you any good unless you're heah." I thought a second and had to agree.
So we're talking, and we get to talking books. I don't remember what book. But I asked, "Is it hard cover?" He said, What? I said, "Is it hard cover?" And he said, Oh! Hahd covah!" And I said, "Yes, I'm sorry. I should have used my Fall Rivah accent!"
I was surprised to hear how the Fall River accent has some elements of the Noo Yawk City accent mixed in. The young man showing us through the Fall River Historical Society Museum almost sounded as if he was from Brooklyn.
Most people are surprised that I am from Fall River and NOT New York when they hear my Fall River distinct accent. But its not surprising really that Fall Riverite's have that touch of New York when you consider that for years it was the connecting end of the Fall River Line steamships to New York. The New York accent rubbed off and mingled with Fall River's own distinct New England accent. Mine really shows when I say awficer (officer) or cawfee (coffee).
In memory of....Laddie Miller, Royal Nelson and Donald Stewart, Lizzie Borden's dogs. "Sleeping Awhile."
Yes, sometimes I think someone in FR is from NY. I just love the FR accent.
The first time I went to FR, in like 1986, I wanted to see the FRHS as soon as we hit town. Our AAA book said we had an hour and a half till closing, and the next day it was closed. Trying to find it ourselves from this little map in a brochure produced no results. People were out and about, and Steve pulls up to this stop sign and says, "Ask that guy." I stuck my head out the window and said, 'Excuse me', and the guy came over. I'll never forget him. He was about 50, somewhat heavy, wearing a suit with no coat and had this big cigar. He looked like my Uncle Sal. He said sure he knew where the FRHS was.
When he started telling us, it was the first time I had heard a FR accent. And the last time I ever heard one this thick. I was ready for a JFK accent, but not for this. He gave us very thorough directions as we nodded our heads in the right spots, and we thanked him very much.
So we pull away from the stop sign, and Steve says, "Okay, where do we go?" And I said, "Didn't YOU pay attention?" Neither of us did, thinking the other did. I couldn't have written down what he said if I tried. So we went off, lost as ever.
We're driving around looking for 'Rock Street', hoping to get lucky. And suddenly we were back at that stop sign, and that guy was still there. We had no nerve to ask him again. There was no sneaking past him - we had this huge blue van. I just wanted to be swallowed by a hole. And we had to stop, because it was a stop sign. We made our stop brief, and that guy's face was a mixture of surprise and "Are they nuts?" I couldn't stop laughing.
By the grace of God or the spirit of Lizzie, we purely stumbled on it. It was 15 minutes till closing, and someone had just put up the 'Closed' sign. My husband said, 'Oh, it's too late.' I said, 'We'll see. They don't close till 5.' I went up and knocked and Florence Brigham came to the door. I recognized her from photos I'd seen. She said we wouldn't have time to see the whole house, and I said I only wanted to see the Lizzie Borden exhibit and said we were from Michigan. My husband said, 'They're closed!' Well, I'd believe that when Mrs. Brigham told me. She was so sweet. She let us in! And I was so thrilled to be there and to see her. She led us into the Borden room and was telling me a whole bunch of stuff, and Steve kept saying, 'Come on, dear. The lady wants to close.' Do all engineers inadvertently ruin people's lives? Well, I know he didn't mean to. I think to be a good engineer, God made him trade all his common sense in. (I'm kidding ... in a way. I'll just say all those jokes about engineers really ring a bell!)
Back then they had Lizzie's stool and meal bucket she used in the Taunton jail, and the only thing we were allowed to take photos of in that room were those. She let our little girl hold the pail and sit on the stool. It was the first time I ever saw the photos of the skulls. I was horrified at the size of the holes in them. I think they were in big frames up on the wall. She let me look in the gift shop too. Then she gave us a good map to Oak Grove and Maplecroft. I am so glad I got to meet her. She was so sweet, bless her heart. BTW, I don't remember her as having any accent.
how uncivilized.