Most of the town names around here are easy enough to figure out. Duxbury was the name of the Standish family estate back in the E. Plymouth was named after an English port city. Hull was named after an English river, Marshfield was named for her meadows, Kingston was named for Stephen King, and so forth.
But locals have their own language, and these towns around here often get a second name, and sometimes several of them.
I'll lead off here by stating that I know where none or almost none of these nicknames come from... especially the fun ones like Marsh Vegas or Deluxebury. I'll be guessing, mostly to entertain you good people. If you disagree, don't get all mad at me... you'll find me amenable to opposing views, because I realize even before I start writing that your guess is as good as- and possibly better than- mine. I just happen to be the one at the keyboard.
Let's check some nicknames... and folks, if you get offended, remember that I'm not the Chamber of Commerce. Your town earned these nicknames.
Marshfield
We may as well start at the top. Marsh Vegas is the Grandaddy Caddy of local town nicknames.
A lot of people hate this nickname, but I think that they're being a bit sensitive. Marsh Vegas- big, bold, bawdy- rules!
It almost doesn't matter, because Marshfield people tend to identify their homes by villages. They are more likely to say "Brant Rock" or "Green Harbor" than to answer "Marshfield." No one from Duxbury does that, other than perhaps the people in really rich neighborhoods saying something along the lines of "Washington Street."
Las Vegas was founded in 1905, and gambling was legalized there in 1931. After Dubya Dubya Deuce, casinos began to spring up. It was famous after that.
But where does Marsh Vegas come from?
There are several prominent theories.
1) Mark Parentau made it up.
Parentau, the kid-diddling former WBCN DJ, was a Green Harbor resident once. If you waste a morning looking for Marsh Vegas origin stories, you see ol' Mark Parentage coming up a lot.
However, it seems as though he may have just popularized the term by dropping it on WBCN broadcasts when he could. Mark started at BCN in the late 1970s, and the term was already in wide use for decades by then.
2) Marshfield Fair horse racing
You can bet on horses, and that goes a long way in a place founded by Puritans so stuffy that they even banned Christmas.
The Marshfield Fair, and several other agricultural fairs, were allowed to solicit betting on horse racing. Race Fixing was widespread.
However, this is more likely a part of the whole than the whole itself. If it were the whole, Marshfield would have a horse-racing styled nickname, aka Marshfield Downs or something.
3) Gambling, Ballrooms, Eating Establishments
We live in a modernized South Shore, with malls every 1000 yards and a Dunkin' on every block. It used to be a lot quieter in these parts.
But not Marshfield. As soon as ocean recreation became popular in 'Murica, Marshfield was a favorite spot. Marshfield began to cater to out-of-towners, and was soon the Fun Mecca of the region. Compared to, say, a sleepy Freetown side street, Marshfield would look like the friggin' City Of Light.
The resulting Gestalt of it would be a mix of all of those attractions, viewed from an unsophisticated Swamp Yankee eye, resulting in a cool nickname.
4) "The Meadows"
"Las Vegas" or "Los Vegas" (I took French in high school, which got me laid a couple of times but is of no use in this particular discussion) is Spanish for "the meadows." Marshfield is literally covered in meadows, to the extent that there really was no second choice for a town name... except, of course, Marshfield.
5) Route 139
Marshfield was never shy about her commercial district. Route 139 is almost a complete run of business signage from the highway to the beaches. It may not look like much if you drive by it every day, but you need to remember that neighboring Duxbury wouldn't even let Dunkin' put a sign up.
Most people in these parts live in quiet little cul de sacs, so Route 139 is as much advertising as they'll see unless they drive up to Boston or turn on the infomercial channel.
Anyhow, your guess is as good as mine.
If Marshfield dropped the "field" and added "Vegas" to the town name, they'd probably be everyone's second favorite town.
Long shot/you heard it here first bet? If "Vegas" can be hung off of whatever Massachusetts town gets a casino, look for some variation of the Vegas name to be formed from their name. "Taunt Vegas" or "Midd Vegas" or whoever...
Let's hop a town line or two, shall we?
Pembroke
Pembroke has 2 nicknames, neither one in wide usage. "Pimp Broke" is mostly used by hip-hop fan kids, and may never have been uttered by anyone over 17 years old who isn't writing this article.
"Pemby" is useful only to people who have to write "Pembroke" a lot. It's kind of cute and peppy, but is also not in wide use.
Pembroke's nearest flirtation with an alternate name was in colonial times. They were very nearly called "Brookfield," as the town is covered with both brooks and fields. "Mattakeesett," which means "place of many fish," was also pretty catchy.
They ended up naming it after a Welsh castle, river, battle and village. Massachusetts got the far more peaceful Pembroke.
There is a small section of Pembroke named Bryantville, but it was never really a contender for the whole town's name. I spent a year of academia trying to find out who named Bryantville, and I'm pretty sure it was a guy named Bryant.
Hanover
Some nicknames take care of themselves. Hanover is named after a German city, sort of as a tribute to King George, a Hanoverian head of state in England who was perishing at the time of Hanover's 1727 incorporation.
Hanover (formerly a part of Scituate, another hard-drinking town) people are the veterans of many a hard-fought bottle, and they don't need a second nickname.
Hangover!
Taunton
Taunton has a pair of nicknames, neither of which really fits.
"Silver City" harkens back to the days when silversmiths practiced their craft there. There's nothing wrong with this nickname, other than Taunton not being in Nevada.
It's bad enough that people use "Taunton Mall" in place of the "Silver City Galleria "
Taunton's "Christmas City" nickname stems from their zealous holiday decorations. Attleboro, right next door, has them beat with La Sallette.
Scituate
Scituate is a pretty cool name, made cooler by the fact that only locals can pronounce it.
You will hear this pronounced with a misleading "Skit" prefix now and then, perhaps springing from the Cape Cod habit of teasing the tourists (for instance, there is no Cape Cod Tunnel) now and then.
We may as well knock off another Heavyweight next...
Duxbury
Duxbury is a rather posh locale, and shoulders a lot of hate from the more blue collar towns. Naturally, there will be some good-natured ribbing involved.
Unknown to history, some South Shore genius hung "Deluxebury" on to someone who most likely deserved it. "Bucksbury" was passed over.
Duxbury embraced the term, and using it on them is now ineffective, much like when black people call white people "honky."
There is a Deluxebury Wheels in Los Angeles, which could just be one of my people moving out west. I wish they made rims, but I don't think that they have a website.
Dorchester
Dorchester is known as "The Dot." That's a shame, because "Dorchester" has the fun-to-use double R spelling, which gives Boston accent users two opportunities to drop the R.
It is also close enough to Worcester to confuse non-residents into a Dor-ster pronunciation.
Southie should have a name to drop Rs from, but they don't.
We had to use the Brockton BFC picture, as I am editing this article on Cape Cod and really do not feel like driving to the Dot for a pic. BFC originated in Dorchester, which makes it OFD, which actually is a nickname for former Dots.
Halifax
Halifax is the opposite of Deluxebury and Marsh Vegas. They chose their own nickname, knocking a syllable off the total cost.
They call the town Hally, pronounced like the first name of Miss Berry from Monsters Inc.
Facebook feedback tells me that usage of this term is limited.
Monponsett
Shortened to Mopo, which is probably a syllable too many for this tiny area.
It is Wampanoag for "island between the seas."
One of our authors uses Monponsett as a sort of Alan Smithee nom de guerre. She's been doing it long enough that we forgot her real name... it may be Moreau.
Bridgewater
Any of the Bridgewaters- East, West or Regular- is known as Bilgewater here and there. I'm not sure if there is a sewage treatment plant in town. I have no idea who hung it on them.
Locally, there may be some Eastie/Westie distinction. I don't know... I went to the U, but I commuted.
Hardcore Bridgewater residents still refer to Brockton as "North Bridgewater."
Plymouth
Plymouth's America's Hometown nickname is so prominent that it almost needs a nickname for itself.
It also isn't casual, like most nicknames. I doubt that Madonna's friends call her "Madonna," and- likewise- no one says "I'm headed down to America's Hometown today" to other locals.
However, this was the big one I forgot to add. See? I do take (useful) advice from commenters.
Brockton
It's never a wise policy to make fun of Brockton where she can hear you, but it is known as Brocky, B-Rock, 30 Brock and a dozen other minor epithets.
The high school used to be known as Club Homeboy, but that may have played itself out.
Whatever you call Brockton, I'd advise you to smile when you say it.
Otherwise, stick to The City Of Champions.
New Bedford
New Bedford is sort of lame anyhow... "We couldn't think of an original name, so we stole an old one." Would you pay money to see "New Led Zeppelin" and such?
No worries... New Bedford is also known as New Betty, New Beddy, New Beffuh and both Beige and New Beige. I'm pretty sure that New Beffuh is white trash articulation, while various forms of Beige are pure Portuguese patois. After a while, it just sort of became one of the names.
Each of these names are used extensively, especially by me.
Middleboro
Facebook people are telling me ex post publisho that Middleboro, which we sometimes refer to as Middle Bro, is actually called Diddleboro.
Middleboro is horribly misplaced, as it should be between Northboro, Southboro and Westboro. I'm not sure if there is an Eastboro, that may be what Marlboro is for.
Either way, they need Middleboro. Maybe we could trade the name for a police cruiser or a math teacher.
Renaming our Middleboro would be fun. It was originally Nemasket, which means "place of fish." Naming it for a war hero would rock, as would naming it Mookie to honor the Sox.
Long shot? "Brady." Dude deserves it.
Mattapoisett
How you pronounce this word is not important, because if you get it wrong, by the time they go through the word's syllables, you'll have had enough time pass where you can say "Yeah, that's how I pronounced it."
Alternately Nattypoisett, Nastypoisett, Nasty P, Matty and Master P, most people just pretend they live in Marion to save syllables.
Complaints on Facebook are monitored and acted upon by small sites like ours. Many thanks to those who reminded the author- who dated a Mattapoisett girl, and should know better- that locals tend to refer to the town as either "Poi" or "the Poi."
The South Coast in itself is a nickname, invented as a sweeping-his-arm term by a weatherman. Todd Gross also coined "The Perfect Storm."
Dude's a genius at nicknames. You might want to have him around when you have kids. Not at conception, of course...
The South Coast used to be known as the Greater New Bedford area.
I don't know who invented The South Shore. I know that a newspaper nicknamed Metro West.
Bourne
Not many one-syllable towns out there, other than Bourne and all the ones I can't think of (ed. note: Hull, Rowe, Lynn, Ware...ummm...) right now.
One-syllable-named people rarely get nicknames, unless they earn them. "Def Jeff" is a good example. I used to know a Cool Roy, he was also a good example.
Bourne is very parochial, as everyone there self-identifies by villages. The only villages I know who get nicknames are the mainland ones, Bee Bay and Snagawhore. They are generally used derisively, usually by the residents of said villages.
Buzzards Bay House Of Pizza is in my phone as BBHOP, pronounced Bee Bop. The second syllable almost looks Egyptian.
Bournedale is also known as "Shortcut."
Eastham
Eastham doesn't have a nickname. People tend to self-identify by beaches, which is a pretty nice option to have.
Eastham is in this article because I enjoy watching the East-ham vs East-hum pronunciation battles on Facebook.
I am far too easily amused, yes.
Provincetown
Everyone knows this one, even heterosexuals and people from the Berkshires.
P-Town!
There is no second contender for the title, look.
OK, some people call it the tip.
It is very Massachusetts to not have a gay nickname for Provincetown, especially with Gay Head out on the Vineyard. Tourist dollars may be diverted.
Sandwich
For some reason that I never identified during my near decade as a Bourne town reporter, I have observed a sizable % of the locals refer to this town as "Sammich." It is even done in print.
This is not at all done in a derogatory manner.
Otherwise, Sandwich doesn't really need a nickname.
Hyannis and Wareham
Cape Cod is a nice little place, and generally is the sandy tourist trap that you think it is. However, there are some shifty parts, where folks are sketchy like Captain Bob.
I list these two as a pair, because they share the same modus operandi as far as nickname assumption goes.
For one, both are known as "Brockton-by-the-sea," sort of like "Manchester-by-the-sea" but 100% opposite. Wareham probably lives it more than a town that has the Kennedy Compound in it, but Hyannis had it first for their Wedge neighborhood.
Wareham sort of dines on the leftovers.... "Baby Fall River," "Coastal Lynn," or "Sea Lowell," which doesn't really fit but sounds sort of like Sea Level.
(Please note that we are aware that Lynn has a coast, and is therefore a beach town just like Wellfleet. We would remind the reader of Rush Street Reggie.
Rush Street Reggie was Reggie Theus, Reggie was the shooting guard for the Chicago Bulls who became obsolete when they drafted Michael Jordan. Reggie was traded away to Sacramento.
Theus gained his Rush Street nickname due to his love of the Chicago nightlife. Unfortunately, he wasn't traded to glamorous Los Angeles or sophisticated San Francisco. Nope. Sleepy Sacramento was his new home, not really that far from where that shaky Sasquatch film was made.
A reporter caught up to a miserable Theus at the end of the season, and asked him how he liked California. "Sacramento," said a depressed Rush Street Reggie, "is not California."
We feel that way about Lynn Beach on Cape Cod. Thank you, and apologies in advance)
We love "Shangri-La," but that's just a part of town.
Wareham also most likely would lose out on ?ham, as the town of Ware sort of deserves that question mark.
I do wish to one day write a cop show called "The 'Ham." We'll leave that discussion for a future article.
If we left something out, hit us up in the comments!
