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Wicked Good Guide to Boston English /

Rat

Young resident of certain neighborhoods, for example: "Rozzie rat" and "Dot rat" (the former being a denizen of Roslindale, the latter of Dorchester). The Back Bay and Beacon Hill do not have rats, at least not of the human variety.

re: Rat

By Lindsay (not verified) | Sat, 06/19/2004 - 12:26am

Beacon Hill doesn't have rats, we have mice, and they like to live indoors.I've also heard rats referred to as "BU Squirrels"

re: Rat

By editrix (not verified) | Tue, 09/21/2004 - 3:45pm

And don't forget The (dear departed) Rat (or, for the uncool, "Rathskeller") in Kenmore Square, one of the best rock clubs ever. God, how I miss it so.http://www.geocities.com/uridfm/r/rat1.htm

re: Rat

By Brightonjohn (not verified) | Sun, 02/13/2005 - 9:56am

In the mid-sixties, "rat" was a clothing style, a certain look. The kids who affected the style were known as "Rats". People "dressed rat" or "colleej" which is analagous to the well-known "greaser" and "preppie" styles of today. Typically, "Rats" wore pointy, black, Cuban-heeled shoes with white socks, dark Ban-lon shirts, and tight, dark pants. The girls teased their hair and used lots of hairspray. Guys that were "colleej" and being casual would wear penny loafers without socks, chambray "fireman" shirts with maybe a C.P.O. shirt over that, and jeans ("Dungies" in Brighton)with a cut-off cuff.They'd comb their hair straight down over the forehead and wash it a lot for that sort of urban surfer look. The girls wore wickid straight hair, sometimes pigtails, plaid skits, etc., etc. You get the picture.I once went to the sweet sixteen party of my friend's cousin, a girl he hardly ever saw. When we arrived in our finest Colleej outfits...probably herringbone sport coats, Farrah slacks, and brown wing-tips, we were bummed to find out that the birthday girl and all her friends were Rats. In fact, we were baffled by the way they all danced. When one of the girls asked my friend to dance, he actually said, "I don't dance rat." The girl was probably glad and walked back to her rat girlfriends and laughed at us.

re: Rat

By Steve Reach (not verified) | Thu, 12/08/2005 - 1:48pm

"Rat" useta mean same thing as "greaser", Sudbree back in the 60's.

re: Rat

By Leah Cornish (not verified) | Thu, 03/09/2006 - 7:45pm

My family and I went to see Wicked in NYC last summer and Joey MacIntire (JP native) was in it. So afterwards we got his attention signing autographs and we called out "Joey! We're from Rozzie!" And he went "No way! Rozzie Rats?!" And he proceeded to pose for pictures with us.

re: Rat

By Mark (not verified) | Fri, 03/17/2006 - 2:22am

Beacon Hill and Back Bay are full of rats of the two legged variety but they are the kind that get killed for ratting

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