# Quint in Jaws- where's he from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039 "2004-03-02T03:34:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![seaworthy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/1 "2004-03-02T03:34:45Z")
I’m watching Jaws on Bravo for the 500th time, and it got me wondering, yet again, where the hell Quint is supposed to be from. I’ve never heard anyone else speak like that here in America, so I’m a little confused. He served in the Navy during WWII, so I’m assuming he was born here, but seriously, I can’t place the accent. I’ve seen Robert Shaw (I think that’s his name) in other movies, without the accent, so the accent was part of his character. Is it just a “sailor” accent? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/2 "2004-03-02T04:00:36Z")
I always thought “New England sailor” when I heard him. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/3 "2004-03-02T20:09:03Z")
I read somewhere (sorry, no cite) that Robert Shaw was imitating the accent of an old salt who either worked on the set at Martha’s Vineyard, or lived nearby. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/4 "2004-03-02T20:27:36Z")
I could be mistaken, but doesn’t he have a line in the film where he says he was born and raised in Amity? Possibly somewhere around the “town meeting” scene? I know he has lines about how “you all know me…you know what I do”, but I seem to recall him saying something about having lived there all his life. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/5 "2004-03-02T20:49:07Z")
I don’t know if this is significant, but the song he was singing is the same tune as a Newfoundland folk song. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/6 "2004-03-02T22:00:14Z")
It is just the result of an Irishman doing his best to sound like a New Englander. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/7 "2020-02-12T17:34:56Z")
Lol! I was just searching the web for “Quint Jaws accent” and found I myself had answered it 2004. Except I was wrong. Shaw was from Lancashire. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/8 "2020-02-12T18:33:41Z")
OK - as long as this has been bumped - what the hell was he always chewing on? Raw potato? Water chestnuts? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/9 "2020-02-12T18:47:20Z")
Salt cod? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/10 "2020-02-12T19:06:03Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > OK - as long as this has been bumped - what the hell was he always chewing on? Raw potato? Water chestnuts? The scenery. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/11 "2020-02-12T19:40:23Z")
Well I suppose I lobbed that one over the plate, didn’t I? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/12 "2020-02-12T20:56:11Z")
I think they’re crackers, saltines or round water crackers. He’s tough enough that he eats them dry. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/13 "2020-02-12T23:14:30Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The scenery. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/14 "2020-02-13T00:28:54Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I think they’re crackers, saltines or round water crackers. He’s tough enough that he eats them dry. Hardtack? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/15 "2020-02-13T13:08:34Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Hardtack? Doubtful. I’ve made hardtack, and it’s not the kind of thing you can just snack on without breaking your teeth. Plus you really can’t buy it, and Quint doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who spends the afternoon in his kitchen rolling out stiff dough then baking it twice. But what do I know? After all, I never would have figured him for a [music teacher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfX1MkMazwc#t=39s). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/16 "2020-02-13T16:34:15Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Plus you really can’t buy it You [can](http://www.colonialbaker.net/ships_biscuits_for_sale.html). You just got to know they’re called Ship’s Biscuits these days. You’re right about the danger to teeth, though. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/17 "2020-02-13T16:46:19Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > You [can](http://www.colonialbaker.net/ships_biscuits_for_sale.html). You just got to know they’re called Ship’s Biscuits these days. > > You’re right about the danger to teeth, though. Noted. I should have said “you couldn’t really buy it in 1975”. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/18 "2020-02-13T18:47:33Z")
Here’s to swimmin’ with bowlegged women. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/19 "2020-02-13T19:15:35Z")
Served in US Navy on USS Indianapolis which was sunk after delivering atomic bomb to the AF base in the pacific. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039/20 "2020-02-13T19:17:52Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Served in US Navy on USS Indianapolis which was sunk after delivering atomic bomb to the AF base in the pacific. If you’re answering the 16 year old question “where is Quint from?” then yes, we knew he served on the Indianapolis, since it’s literally the best scene in the whole movie, and perhaps in all of film history. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quint-in-jaws-wheres-he-from/232039.md?page=2)