General Chat

:-D :-D :-D :-D

We (my siblings and I) moved around a lot, and learned very quickly that the route to survival was learning dialects. The first thing to learn was what the local name for tag, tips, tig, tiggy, it, tick, chasey or touch and go was - and (more importantly) what the word was for 'I need a pee, or, I need to exit the game for a few minutes.

...but we can all say 'properly', in may dialects (though the Cornish one is near to your neighbours' pronunciation) :-D :-D

...my sister and I have discovered neither of us can say the word 'tarpaulin' properly - a bit difficult for my sister, as she does the D of E :-D :-D :-D

easy just say "Tarp!"

Hmmm


there was a word that I recall Kirkudbrightshire

which equates I believe to Kercoobrysheer

??

We do! :-D :-D :-D
....but someone noticed this reluctance to say the whole word :-(
We were on the phone chatting for over an hour - interspersed with attempts to say the word 'tarpaulin'' in full :-(

...and still it comes up in phone calls.....

I was confused when spending time in Texas, with the Texan drawl which draws words int having more syllables than are there.

"and" split into 5 syllables was really hard!

A challenge there.....

I am from Sussex.We have long vowels and don't say the ends of words.

A woman who moved here from Kent (Kint) was most offended when she thought she was told she needed bowel wire for her table lamp.

I am from North London so drop H's and T's amongst other fings :-D :-D.

Sir John Cheke (16 June 1514 – 13 September 1557) was an English classical scholar who wrote:

‘I am of this opinion that our own tung should be written cleane and pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borowing of other tunges; wherein if we take not heed by tiim, ever borowing and never paying, she shall be fain to keep her house as bankrupt‘. ;-)

My first M-i-L pronounced certificate "cerstificate"

I must say that I love dialects etc. One of the first expressions I picked since moving to Warwickshire was "tarrarabit"

My Nan used to say she was going to get antibiolics and a cerstificate from Dr FitzGeneral.

Draw your own conclusions! :-D :-D

Did she end up having a fruneral as well?

My nan came home from the surgery and told us she had seen her friend, Fan, and Fan had rheumatartitis and it's in her hippitiz.

Oh SuffolkVera, after my own heart. "Bored of" -- where did that come from?? Fortunately, it is mostly in the British Isles at present, and I can only hope it stays there! ;-)

In the same vein, "I am excited to", endemic in home improvement shows. Anxious to do something, yes. Excited about doing something, surely.

In both Canada and the UK (damn that EU, eh?) I tend to think that some of these preposition nonsenses are a result of infection from French, which plays fast and loose with its "de" in particular. With a noun, it becomes "bored of". With an infinitive, it becomes "excited to". Blaming (the) French is always useful!

I wouldn't say French affects the English use of 'of' in place of 'have'.
As a Learning Support Assistant in a primary school, even children who hadn't been exposed to French used 'should of'.
When I was at school, 'Janet and John' books, despite being misogynistic to the highest degree, didn't shorten words.
It was 'do not', 'did not', 'should have', 'could not' etc
Modern reading schemes shorten words to 'don't', 'didn't' etc, so the child is unaware of how/why the shortening happens.
'Should've' sounds like 'should of' and the link between 'should have' and 'should've' has never been taught, or explained.

Any child I noticed (at primary or secondary level) who regularly used 'of' instead of 'have' would have me asking 'Of you done your homework?' At which point I would receive a curious look. I would ask what was wrong - they'd correct me, and I would then explain the 'of' and 'have' conundrum.
'Have you done your homework? You should have (should've)'

It's like the 'me' or 'I' problem.
You say 'I went to the beach', therefore, it's 'John and I went to the beach'
You say 'She gave me a sweet', therefore, it's 'She gave John and me a sweet'.

As for my other bugbear - there, they're and their.
Here and there, (distance) they are, and their - meaning belongs to them - has the possessive 'I' in it.

As for two, to and too. Two's a number. As for too, In Scotland (where I started school) we were told that where 'we' (hence a need to learn dialect pretty darned quick when we moved) used the word oer in speech - ie 'It's oer hot' - the oer' could be replaced with 'too'! :-D :-D

maggiewincheser, "I wouldn't say French affects the English use of 'of' in place of 'have'."

Well that one is easily disposed of! That's not what I said. :-)

I was talking about what I actually said, which was what SuffolkVera had raised: "bored of + noun" and the similar "excited to + infinitive". Not talking about "should of", which is simply, forgive me, an illiterate transcription of "should have", and nothing to do with French at all, of course.

Correct use of English is still important.

It's a delightful language.

Bob if you like dialects you may know the correct
way to say Loch Muick. :-)

Sorry Emma, you've got me there. An army friend from Sunderland came to stay with me in the 60's. My mum asked me to stop him using the "C" word. Baffled by this, I roared with laughter when I realised that it was his pronunciation of "can't".

I saw a sticker on the back of a car today, it said "Ow bist?" I believe this is Kernow for "how are you? Or is it from Yorkshire?