Readers Say

This is the Boston slang term that readers love the most

Hint: It's definitely not hosie.

By Kristi Palma

March 14, 2024

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After WordTips released a list of the most loved and hated slang terms in Boston, we asked our readers to weigh in and the results are wicked frickin’ awesome.

Nearly 100 readers answered our informal poll and declared wicked their favorite Boston slang term, with 90% loving it. Wicked was also the most loved Boston term on WordTips (and the second-most loved in America).

The Boston slang term our readers hate the most is hosie, hated by 84%. This differed from WordTips, which declared ripper the most terrible Boston slang term.

Boston.com readers disagreed with WordTips in other ways as well. Mainly, they refused to love hosie and they refused to hate bang a uey. However, they were in wicked agreement about some of the other words.

Four of the five most loved Boston slang words on WordTips were also loved by our readers: wicked, frickin’, frappe, and supper. As previously mentioned readers just could not get behind the word hosie.

Some readers said they don’t even know what hosie means (to have dibs on something). The term ripper (a wild party) also caused some confusion.

“What the frick is a ripper or a hosie!?” wrote Greg M., who grew up in Hyde Park.

These are the lists from WordTips:

Other readers were surprised that terms like “packie,” “pissah,” and “jimmmies” didn’t make the cut.

“I love Jimmies (i.e. chocolate sprinkles) and Packie,” wrote Dave L. from Melrose.

Our readers mostly had mixed feelings about the five most hated slang terms on WordTips. While 76% hated the term ripper, readers showed more love than hate for tonic and bubbler but the terms simply weren’t as popular as the ones on the most loved list. The term Masshole drew nearly split results.

“How does someone hate ‘tonic’? People need to get a grip,” wrote Maggie from Charlestown.

Finally, bang a uey simply does not belong on the hate list, according to our readers. The term was loved by 89% (almost tying with wicked) and hated by 11%.

Check out the results of our reader poll below.

Boston.com occasionally interacts with readers by conducting informal polls and surveys. These results should be read as an unscientific gauge of readers’ opinion.

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