Last week we finally got to meet our new TV Brianna, coming to Outlander Season 2. Hey Sophie Skelton!
And my favorite question about Sophie’s casting wasn’t “Is she tall enough?” or “What color are her eyes?” but rather, “Will she have a Boston accent?”
Yes, Brianna was raised in Boston. Claire, Frank, and Bree lived on Furey Street in the largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Now I can’t find a Furey Street on any Google or MBTA map so maybe it’s in a secret alley in Allston? Maybe the folks born on Furey Street sound more like Maryland than Masshole.
I can’t for the life of me remember Bree having a Boston accent in the book. But I need to know! What does she sound like when she says, “I saw Mahky Mahk at the packie by the Golden Banana, ovah on Route 1 in Sahhhhgus.”
Technology help!
I pulled out my Nook and used the search function to look for both “accent” and “boston” in Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn. And unless I missed it completely (which y’all will point out, no doubt), I couldn’t find an instance of Brianna having a Boston accent. And I feel like I would have noticed.
Nevah wheah jeans to Fenway in summah!
IRREGAHDLESS!
We do get a first mention of the Boston sound as Claire compares the accents of the British Isles to Beantown.
Still, there was an overwhelming familiarity to them – these were people I knew, Scots and English for the most part, and hearing the burring babble of voices in the street after so many years of the faint nasal tones of Boston…
Faintly nasal? Not even boldly nasal? Claire doesn’t like the Boston accent? Well, fahk you, doctah lady.
And the only other times I found someone noting Bree’s accent was not their noting she sounded like a townie. They were just Scots noting she wan’t a Scot.
“Is this place Lallybroch?”
He nodded, wariness now a side to his surprise as he heard her odd accent.
So if I missed it, please correct me in the comments. But let’s pretend Brianna sounds just like Denise from Dorchestrer. Denis loves Big Papi, Patrice Bergeron, and Rob Gronkowski!
SULLY! Look! THIS IS OUTLANDAHHHHHH!
Jocasta teaches Bree to do needlepoint. Bree’s first sewing project is the words “Yankees Suck. Go Sox” in pretty red thread.
In addition to teaching everyone at the Ridge the words to Paul Revere’s Ride, Briana teaches them Dirty Water by The Standells.
Briana knows it’s called a “rotary” and not a “traffic circle.”
Instead of Jemmy, Briana lobbies Roger to name their child Brady.
When somone thinks Briana sounds weird, she says, “At least I ain’t from Cranston, Rhode Island.”
“Give me back that ring, Stephen Bonnet. It’s mayan!”
Brianna misses cars the most. Especially the cahs you bought at Herb Chambahs Auto Mall.
Brianna can make clam chowdah pretty easy, but the lack of chocolate jimmies makes her mental.
When Roger gives Bree a shirt to mend, “Who do you think I am? Tohhhhmy, the dry cleanah?”
“I am naught from this time. I’m a time travellah.”
Brianna is shocked to find out that standing stones don’t grow more powerful on Patriot’s Day.
If Brianna sounded like she was on the set of Good Will Hunting, what would you have her say? I hate you, Peyton Manning? Will you be listening for a Brianna Boston Accent?
Read more Outlander on That’s Normal!
