Customer Reviews

The Rhode Island Dictionary [ILLUSTRATED]

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Not only did I find this book hilarious, I also was impressed with it's acuracy. I spent 35 years trying to understand the local dialect. It's not so easyto understand why Worcester is pronounced "Woostah" or how words that end with an "r" sound like an "a" and words that have no "r" at the end sound as if they do. Not to mention words with "r's" in the middle such as park pronounced "pock". Great fun reading even if you haven't been there.

Originally from Rhode Island, this book hit it right on the spot. I bought it for relatives and friends to appreciate, while visiting, and hopefully take the "funny" accent with them.

This guide written by non-native (but long time resident) Mark Patinkin and illustrated by native son Don Bousquet is the definitive guide to the idiocyncracies of Rhode Island language usage and pronunciation. As a native speaker I can attest to its accuracy. It is extremely funny, especially for those familiar with the dialect -- we drop most of our "r's" -- our "cahs ahh pahked" only to inexplicably add them on to the end of words ending in a vowel -- you get the "idear". "Jeet?" is a question often asked by your mom. Our houses are "side by each" and we "close off" the lights. We're harmless when not behind the wheel of a "cah", though.