Why is the Boston accent so darned difficult?

[xiphias]

It's well-known that good Boston accents in films are few and far between. When you list actors who can do it, you've got Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Seth McFarland, Dennis Leary. Even Eliza Dukshu is only okay. And they're all FROM Boston. Heck, I can't do a good Boston accent, and I've lived here my entire life.

It's easy to list movies with terrible Boston accents -- but are there any actors who can do good Boston accents who aren't from Boston?

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's easy to caricature (incorrectly)?

And of course there are a dozen "Boston" accents all next to each other, separated by a block or two in some places.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. It's because there isn't A Boston accent, there are many. And Eastern Massachusetts has many more, so you might get someone doing the Lowell "plazer" at the same time as the Norwood "bahthroom" and it doesn't sound natural.

I only sound like Boston on certain words when I'm a certain kind of tired or drunk, and I'm from here.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

I agree, there are a lot of boston area accents, and boston accents vary based on class as well as place.

[jazzfish]

Huh. Like "Southern," only for neighborhoods instead of states/regions.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yep. And sometimes even smaller-than neighborhood. Indeed, at one point, accents were distinct on a block-to-block level, in some areas