Wickedpedia

Your unserious questions, seriously answered.

Have a question about Greater Boston or New England you’ve always wondered about but never thought to ask? Boston.com’s new Wickedpedia series aims to track down the answers to these long-burning (often random) reader questions — the more obscure the better.

Submit your question below or email it to [email protected], and if it’s selected, we’ll put a reporter on the case.

Why is candlepin bowling mostly played in New England?

MBTA

Wickedpedia

How did the T lines get their colors?

A postwar all-electric streetcar destined for Watertown in 1946.
🚃🚃🚃

Why doesn't the Green Line have an 'A' branch?

Wickedpedia

Where do old MBTA trains go to die?

Food

Two cups of ice cream are pictured side by side on a counter, one with chocolate jimmies and one with rainbow sprinkles.
Wickedpedia

Why do some New Englanders call sprinkles ‘jimmies’?

Wickedpedia

'If they know what a spuckie is, if they’re from Boston, they’re really tickled that we have that on the menu'

A collage of three frappes.
Wickedpedia

'A frappe is a frappe. A milkshake is not a frappe.'

Watch on Boston Globe Today:

Wickedpedia

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TikTok explainers

@bostondotcom Is this cake? 🍰 Actually, yes. The Boston Cream Pie has a layered history, and tracing its local origins isn’t easy as pie — or rather, cake. Read more about the complicated origins of Boston’s iconic dessert, in the latest Wickedpedia installment at the link in our bio. #BostonDotCom #NewEngland #Massachusetts #BostonCreamPie ♬ Applesauce – Mark Fabian & Alexander Smith & George King & RK Masters
@bostondotcom There’s Fenway on the Green Line, located in the Fenway neighborhood and near Fenway Park. Harvard on the Red Line stops at the university. The list goes on. But Wonderland, the stop at the end of the Blue Line, defies the norm. It takes riders to Revere and drops them off between North Shore Road and Ocean Avenue. The area surrounding the stop used to be “a land full of wonders,” says Stephen Wilk, the author of “Lost Wonderland,” which details the history of the short-lived amusement park that was next to the station’s current location. Its name: Wonderland Amusement Park. Read more about how the Wonderland T stop got its name in the latest #Wickedpedia installment at the link in our bio. #BostonDotCom #Wonderland #Revere #NewEngland #MBTA ♬ original sound – Boston.com
@bostondotcom This week’s edition of Wickedpedia features a famous 🦗 that’s been involved in a fire and a heist! But why exactly is there a grasshopper atop Faneuil Hall? Hop on over to our link in bio to read the full story. #Boston #Bostonma #Massachusetts #faneuilhall #downtownboston ♬ Beat Automotivo Tan Tan Tan Viral – WZ Beat
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