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B'daydas

You can serve them mashed, or whipped or boiled.

Comments

never never in my life have i heard anybody say B'Daydas, i speak fluent "boston english". and it is an insult that someone would think or say B'Daydas.ridiculous

theresa fanning on November 27, 2003 01:07 PM.

I've heard it said, usually by people from Southie. As for me (from Burlington), it comes out as pa-taa-tas

David Lockney on November 28, 2003 07:24 PM.

I've heard it. My dad says it. He grew up in Southie. I don't say it quite like that, but have heard it quite a bit.

RJT on January 8, 2004 02:01 PM.

My 9th grade teacher always said B'Daydas. I never asked where she was from, but since all my teachers have always been either "Pat O'Somethin" or "Margaret McWhosit" from Southie, it's a safe bet she was as well.

JR on February 24, 2004 06:06 PM.

I grew up in Randolph and Canton. My parents say it all the time, I usually say p'taytez though.

Chris Anderson on March 11, 2004 08:44 PM.

my grandmother grew up in Braintree and she always says P-day-daz

Schuyler on April 7, 2004 05:32 PM.

i, personally, have only heared this spoken by one person..my great aunt. she lives in the north end and she also pronounces "Spaghetti" as "Piss-sket-ee". i myself say "Pah-tay-taz"

Loopsie on May 12, 2004 07:23 PM.

im from southie and we dont say it

liz on June 6, 2004 06:30 PM.

Ive lived in Mass all my life, and have NEVER heard anyone pronounce potatoes like that.

Michelle on July 19, 2004 04:12 PM.

I thought I didnt use this but recently some one pointed it out to me when i was in oregon. I orderd mashed "bdadoes". i think us bostonians are just immune to it at this point so be dont pick up on it.

Jocelyn on August 9, 2004 08:32 AM.

I usually have heard it more like Pahdaydas or Pahdaydos. But the said part is, reading B'daydas outloud I knew what it was before reading the description.

Emily on August 14, 2004 07:19 PM.

I have heard every version of this. I grew up in Franklin, my mom is a Nooyohkha and always yelled at Me and my Sister for saying B'Daydas, P'Daydas or somtimes just Daydas. My step Dad is from Nohawood, my mother has been yelling at him for 20 years and he still says pass the B'Daydas.

Lauren on September 24, 2004 09:59 AM.

When we went to B.U. in the early 70's one of the cafeteria servers was named Al. Every night he stood with a large spoon full of mashed potatoes and would ask, "B'daydas?" Naturally he became known to us all as "B'dayda Al".

Chris on April 5, 2005 08:22 PM.

ive lived in mass my entire life..no one says potatoes like that!

heather on May 18, 2005 01:22 PM.

The B'dayda thing. Yeah its a Boston thing, I think it may just be in Dorchester & Southie though. Although, we do pronounce it P'daydas with a "P" not a "B". At least that's how my Nana always said it.

K. in Dorchester on May 24, 2005 03:38 PM.

this is absolutely rediculous. ive lived in boston my wholelofe and have never heard this.

northshoretim on May 27, 2005 07:41 PM.

Its not just dorchester or southie..hate to break it to you. my family says Puh-day-dez.

dan on May 27, 2005 09:34 PM.

I'm from Newton, which might as well be Chicago in many repects linguistically, but we say "B'daydas."

impropernewtonian on August 16, 2005 11:00 PM.

I'm from Newton, which might as well be Chicago linguistically in many respects, but we say "B'daydas" here.

impropernewtonian on August 16, 2005 11:04 PM.

My Grandmother says Badaydaz as well and shes from Worcester, she has the old school accent...

Kelli on August 30, 2005 01:07 AM.

the only person i ever heard say p'DAYduhz was from taunton and, of course, i couldn't understand what she was saying, so i had to ask. that was a good laugh.

choqokat on September 30, 2005 04:49 AM.

To the naysayers: I can affirm that this pronunciation is true, but it may be much more pronounced in seniors from Metro West Mass. than in people who come from Boston itself.

I am a professional editor and linguist who grew up in Michigan surrounded by people who speak with the classic flat Midwestern accent. I speak like that myself.

But even as a Midwestern child, I was fortunate to have an ear for the subtleties of American dialects. My mother is from Brighton, and every year growing up, I spent at least two weeks in the ancestral triple-decker on Mapleton St. in the warm summer evenings listening to my Lowell-born (1900) grandmother in the kitchen as she cooked .. yes, mashed b'taytahs.

As a 12-year-old from Michigan, I remember thinking her pronunciation of that word was incredibly odd. At that age, I could already completely accept and love the Boston "Ahz", but why start the word "potatoes" with a "B"?

I clearly remember asking her about it. She wasn't happy and actually told me to go outside.

Monya on December 2, 2005 09:09 PM.

I grew up in Hyde Park. And ever since I have left about 12 years ago. I still say B'daydas. Even my wife who is from New Bedford notices it.

Brian on January 14, 2006 10:05 AM.

I used to work at a restaurant on Cape Cod - Bob Briggs' Wee Packet - and old Bob, who had lived on the Cape his whole life, used to tell me to "go down cellah and get the b'daydahs." It's not quite Boston English, but it's Mass English....

Peter on January 25, 2006 09:32 AM.

It hurts the ears! The person I've heard pronounce "potatoes" like this is from the Winchendon/Garndener area, so I thought it was a west-central thing. I've never heard anyone else pronounce it like that, thank goodness.

Janet on January 27, 2006 01:41 PM.

my dad grew up in malden in the 60s and he and his brothers pronounce it exactly like that. we hate it!

amy on January 31, 2006 08:57 AM.

B'daydas are for sure a phenomenon, though in my experience it is folks from Southie, Quin-z and Doa-chesta and those environs who I have heard it from more often.

Nathan Deily on February 1, 2006 04:11 PM.

Both my auhnt from Newton and my grandmother from Brookline (on the other side of the family) say it too! I didn't notice until a few years ago on a trip home from NYC, where I live now. Just wanted to add to the affirmations...

Missy on February 6, 2006 05:49 PM.

No, it's not just Southie or Metro West--my Dad grew up on the Peabody/Lynn line in the Fifties and pronounces it like this.

Frank on February 21, 2006 11:41 AM.

While I left Union Sq. Somerville 40 years ago, I still occasionally say B'day-dahs. My wife who grew up in Arlington, still loves to correct me on this one. Of course, she says P'Tay-Tahs. Sounds like lyrics by the Gershwin brothers in our house.

Paul on February 27, 2006 12:47 PM.

My buddy's dad used to say b'daydas. he would also use tonic for soda and dungarees for pants. he grew up in dorchester

Dan on March 2, 2006 01:27 PM.

My dad grew up in Waltham, born to Canadian parents (maritimes) & he says B'daydahs, as do I if my guard is down ;-)

Steve on March 31, 2006 04:28 PM.

My mother always says PU-DAY-duhs. I was told once that I say it that way, but catch myself now

Tom on June 13, 2006 11:53 AM.

I was born and raised in Dorchester and that is how I grew up saying it!
I'm ashamed that so many people are denying that this word exists. It's just a way of speaking, camahn!

Steph on July 25, 2006 02:07 AM.

No one says B'DayDas! Puh-lease! Everyone here says pa-tay-tas. No 'd' there!

ARK on August 10, 2006 11:04 PM.

in chahlestown we grew up saying b'daydas and pizgeti.

iammateo on August 14, 2006 12:22 PM.

I'm from UK. We must have 1000s of ways of saying pototoes on this side of the pond - some very close to this.
But to help you in this debate, I'm coming to your fair city next week, so I'll keep my ears open.
B'daydas... the way I'm saying that it sounds Australian!

simon on August 19, 2006 05:35 PM.

this is so funny. my uncle says that all the time. we are from Mass. but now live in North Carolina.. its weird because i will say something like Retahded and they will be like what? and i say oh my bad. retaRted

Rachael Dulong on November 28, 2006 04:26 PM.

OMIGOSH!! This has been an inside joke between my husband and I since we were dating as 19 year olds (a LONG time ago!!). We went to my mother's house for Thanksgiving-our first real dinner together, and my mother asked one of us to warm up the B'daydahs to put on the table. He LOST it...he snickered the whole meal. He tapped me in restaurants for months afterwards when he read potato on the menu and asked me if I wanted some B'daydahs. It was funny ESPECIALLY since she used the B sound. I have always known them as Patatahs. We STILL laugh over it and I just sent him this link so he could appreciate the local flavor and he cracked up.
And yeah..we live in Central MA and have been here outside Wormtown our whole darn lives.....

Melissa on February 1, 2007 09:18 PM.

for as long as i can remember my papa has always called them bdaydas. a lot of people in my family do. i thought it was a joke between us. i didnt know other people said it too! (we're all from ddifferent parts of mass)

Kimmy on February 12, 2007 03:01 PM.

I grew up in Mattapan and then Braintree, and, though I've been accused of using the letter "b" in the word, in my mind I've always said "padaydas." Pronouncing the word "padaydas", however must be preceeded by an adjective (ie. baked padaydas, mashed padaydas, boiled padaydas, etc.) If I'm in the supermaket looking for potatoes though, I ask where the "padaydos" are?

Brian on February 15, 2007 03:42 PM.

Though my grandparents would loved to have pahked thie-ah cah-r-in Hahvahd Yahd, the word that always betrayed their Boston roots was b'daydahs

The r-less words passed without note. But b'daydas? That shocked the ear. So Boston.

alan miles on July 10, 2007 12:55 AM.

i lived in Dorchester my whole life and ive always said P'daydas but ive never heard it with a B

hope on July 11, 2007 07:35 PM.

HILARIOUS. my grandpa says b'daydas.
(he grew up in waltham)

Ashely Bourque on September 2, 2007 02:45 AM.

TOOOO Funny!! My whole family on my mothers side says b'daydas. They are originally from Allston. I have never heard anyone else call them that except them but I grew up in Southeastern Mass.

melissa on September 21, 2007 01:11 AM.

My mother-in-law says this all the time. She was a Dorchester girl, back in the day.

Tammy on September 24, 2007 01:41 AM.

On B'daydas:

My grandmother (born 1892) grew up in Worcester (not Worchester, but Wistah) and always said B'daydas. It was my husband that noticed it. He grew up in Hahtfid, Kinneticket. They talk kinda funny theyah.

Delia

Delia on October 12, 2007 04:13 PM.

My grandmother was also from Canada, and we are Abenaki on that side. I don't know if it's a French-Canadian thing, or an Abenaki thing. Anyone with New England French-Indian roots whose family says b'daydas?

Delia

Delia on October 12, 2007 04:17 PM.

my mom says this alll the time...and being from central mass where there's little accent we tease her about it =p
She grew up in West Roxbury by the way...

Brianna on December 3, 2007 11:01 AM.

I grew up in QUIN-zee and it was either b'daydahs or p'daydahs - -- I like the apostrophe to indicate that we swallow that first vowel! My favorite cheer shouted by the Quincy High color guard at Turkey Day games was "Weah gonna smash those Raydahs (the North Quincy Red Raiders) like mashed b'daydahs!"

Michele on December 21, 2007 01:16 PM.

Just to let you know , Bob Briggs had the Wee Packet Restuarant in Dennisport 53 yrs. But he was raised in Brockton . I am his daughter in-law , I was raised in Stoughton , and we all say it the same way. B`daydah`s . And by the way for those of you that remember the original Wee Packet and The Briggs family they are all alive and well .

Heidi Dykeman on January 23, 2008 09:21 PM.

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