5 Fun Facts about Boston:
• There are 250,000 college students in the Boston area.
• Boston built the nation's first public park (The Boston Common in 1640), the first public library (1653), and the first subway (1897).
• Boston has the highest percentage of pedestrian commuters out of the major American cities.
• The famous “Citgo” sign in Kenmore Square contains five miles of neon tubing.
• In 1958, a group of MIT fraternity brothers used their shortest pledge, Oliver Smoot, as a unit of measurement for the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge by having him repeatedly lay down on the bridge. Today, the bridge has painted markings that indicate its length as 364.4 “Smoots.”
Famous People from Boston:
Samuel Adams, Aerosmith, Ben Affleck, Louisa May Alcott, Alexander Graham Bell, Elizabeth Bishop, Tom Brady, Conan O’Brien, E.E. Cummings, Jane Curtin, Matt Damon, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Frost, Winslow Homer, Jack Kerouac, Denis Leary, Jack Lemmon, Robert Lowell, Samuel Morse, New Kids on the Block, Paul Revere, James Taylor, Mark Wahlberg, Barbara Walters
Local Slang:
Wicked – Very
Wicked pissa – Very good or very bad
Jimmies – Sprinkles, colored ice cream topping
Barrel – Trash can
Bubbler – A water fountain (pronounced “bubblah”)
Going yard – Hitting a home run (only used for the Red Sox)
Carriage – Shopping cart