<p>Does anyone know where this term specifically came from?</p>
<p>It's the phonetic spelling of someone saying "Harvard" with a Boston accent.</p>
<p>I think it goes beyond the accent. Some people use it to convey the arrogance that comes from those who attend the college. They "think" it creates a sense of high-class and scholarly pride. Not my view but then everyone has their own.</p>
<p>^^Right, but the accent is where that pronunciation "came from," which is what the OP was asking. Some people do mockingly use that accent to imply arrogance or condescension - think Thurston Howell III.</p>
<p>I knew it was from Boston, but I'm wondering if there was some sort of reference in the media that made the pronuncion have a pretentious feel.</p>
<p>well actually, there are kind of two connotations to Hahvahd</p>
<p>There's the faux-British pronunciation with soft r's but dark a's. This is snobby and kind of pretentious, and what most people associate the phrase with.</p>
<p>i always pronounce it in my chinese accent.</p>
<p>The other connotation is the heavily Boston/New-England accented Hahvahd, with no r's and bright/nasally a's (think "pak yah ca in havad yad"). This is not pretentious at all, and implies kind of a jaded disillusionment with the schol</p>
<p>There are two Boston accents, each strongly correlated to a specific social class. One would pronounce that august university's name, "Harhvud." The other would say, "Hahvahd."</p>
<p>I'll leave it to you to pick which is which. ;)</p>
<p>lol ever notice how the boston accent is the direct antithesis of the british accent?</p>
<p>John F. Kennedy maybe?</p>
<p>My parents used to pronounce it Howard. :)</p>