Seville oranges

Honestly....it really doesn't bother me at all that we call this language of ours "English". I had a bit of fun pulling your chain though!

One can travel around England, Scotland,Wales...and all the "English-speaking_" countries, and no two areas speak the same. In England, you can go from one *county* to another, and have a hard time understanding.. in my case, particularly the Geordies, and Yorkshiremen, whose speech is so different from the Home Counties. We would go down to Devon and Cornwall for our summer holiday, and they also have a different type of speech.

What I do dislike is the current misuse of words in our mutual vocabulary, which one hears mostly from the younger generation and also from the almighty god of this era...the MEDIA.

Well off to see if Cheryl has played her word yet on FB

True..it takes two cups of tea for me; one to open each eye.

I hope you don't think I was really bothered. I definitely wasn't and I knew you were kidding.

I know about accents and speech differences and there are still people here in the South that I would love to strangle because it takes them forever to squeeze out a sentence in their Southern drawl that a Northerner could say in a minute.

I'm also a word lover. My grammar sometimes leaves something to be desired, but I've been told I use words well.

The wee dram is definitely on the agenda. Regina is completely snowed in after a blizzard over most of the weekend with 70k winds and 30 cm of snow. I have a dish of coq au vin stewing away right now (ok, to forestall contradiction, I could not actually ascertain the gender of the fowl from the parts in the package, so I have a dish of chicken braised with onion, carrot, garlic and red wine stewing away), and was thinking of using the rest of the chicken to make a nice something or other with potatoes and white wine, and leaving the other to mellow out overnight. In any event, a wee dram would not go amiss, especially since I was out and shovelled my walk while 4 of my neighbours played with their big snowblowers.

Dawne

My mum said "gotten"--Has he gotten better yet?? I would have gotten the cabbage if I would have known it was cheap.--which she "must have gotten" from her own mum, who grew up in Scotland and did not have much formal education. And I hear "gotten" often enough in speech where I live not to be surprised by it. My Grandma and my Mum both aspired to be be very very propa...and then something like "gotten" popped out and spoiled it.

Dawne

I don't remember hearing it used much like that. In my world someone would be apt to say something like, "my, you've gotten big since I saw you last."

Yankish ?

Parlez vous Yankish? . Sprechen sie Yankish? Hmmmmm.

Hmmmmm. I grew up in Durham County, so have no problem with either Geordie or Yorkshire, although "Wearside" is different from both. Actually, I grew up "bilingual", as I had to speak the local dialect in the village, but I went to the Church of England school where my father's sister was Headmistress, and later to the regional Grammar School (for girls!!)so I had to speak pure "BBC English" there and at home. BTW, the Welsh accent is very close to Geordie, so I have no problems there, either, but we sturdy, no-nonsense Northerners always looked down on the Home Counties accent, considering it "affected"

(r,d&h)

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

One, Since Yankees are Northerners that would be an insult to the rest of the country that won't do. Two, To my recollection the only time I remember the word Yank being used at all is in the song Over There when the words said the Yanks are coming, so that just won't do either.

There's also the fact that it sounds just a tad redneckish to me.

RD&H

First, yes, dh and I often joke with people that "No, no, WE speak English, YOU have the accent". However, why can we not just accept that there are various forms of English? Off the top of my head, there is British English, American English, Canadian English, South African English, Australian English and so forth, all of which developed naturally. Even in the U.S., there are various forms of the language, depending on whether you are in the northeast, the Wild West or Appalachia etc.

Speaking of which, in the village where I grew up, some people were occasionally heard to say "I'll BRAY you", meaning, I will beat you up. This was considered to be a very common expression, specific to the lower orders. Imagine my reaction when once, reading an except from a thirteenth century cookery book, I read "Take the veal and bray it fine".

I called my mother and chortled at her about that one!

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

There was a cite missing in this series of messages, so I just want to be clear that I never suggested that anyone was not speaking English, in whatever form. Canadian English is just as varied as US English. It is going to be an experience for me to be the one with an accent when I go to Glasgow; the English where I live is, in Canadian terms, considered accent neutral. My linguistics prof said it is particularly welcomed in broadcasting, as it is not identifiably regional (just as there is an official German and a BBC English). So, I have never had an accent before :-).

Dawne

Think you missed a post.

Anyway, I concur with you wholeheartedly. There are so many forms of the language....and even harder to understand is how folk understand each other, while speaking the same language.

I was brought up to use basic BBC English ( this was the 30s-5os and radio is all one heard). My brother had a terrible twangy Middlesex accent.

I digress. I traveled to Scotland to stay with friends on the Argyllshire coast. Traveled by train, which was late into Glasgow, I missed the train to Tayvallich. I asked the station porter( or whatever his job was) where i could get the next train. Didn't understand a bloody word he said. Fortunately a gentleman from Edinburgh came along and translated.

Have fun in Glasgow; if the Barrrows are still there...go and wander round at the big "Flea Market , as I recall.

Just remember...if it is foorball (Scottish) there are two big GLASGOW teams. The Rangers (Blue & white iIRC), and the Celtics. Don't remember their colours. DS was 10,,,,and a Ranger fan.

Enjoy, be adventurous and eat all food offered to you. It is always good, but different.

Gillian

You'll have a little surprise ! BBC English is no more - I believe it was about 5 years + ago they decided to change !

"Gillian Murray" wrote .

I have read about the Barras, they are still there, and I intend to find my way there on a Saturday. About the footie, I understand that Glasgow fans are very very fanatical (even more than my Rider Nation) and it would be best not to express any opinion! I so hope to get my DS a Rangers jersey--I would guess the Celtics have green as their colour. (My grandad was a footie fan, and in intense moment would yell "kick it wi' yur haid!" to our total befuddlement. A friend of mine put your philosophy into somewhat different terms. He said, Remember you are a traveller, not a tourist. To which he added, see the place, not just the "sights", and talk to people every chance you get. I am relatively open to food experiences, have very few active dislikes (and they are unlikely to give me okra--yuck!) but will have to overcome my land-locked lifetime to deal with some shellfish.

Dawne

Don't worry about the food - it's rare that pub food is not good, it's handy and usually very reasonably priced. Do try the cider in the pubs, sparkling cider is a delight. It is alcoholic though so be careful with the still cider, half pint has me wobbly. You shouldn't come across okra, hate it myself, that and any of the squashes, something about the smell of them.

Yes, definitely best to be totally neutral about those two footie teams lol

When I was in the early years of school, we were occasionally taxed with speaking "the Queen's English". There would follow endless giggles to the effect that "oh, the Queen's English!!!". "OH, doooo tell!!" "Accentless" speech is more widely understood, but isn't nearly as much fun. I was astonished when my German prof switched from official German to the accent of the Swiss canton he came from--there was a swing to the canton speech, and much more life. Suppose that is why so many people from here think the Newfie accent is so lovely? Dawne

If I remember correctly, when we were stationed in Holy Loch, back in the mid-70s, the announcers had regional dialects/accents. The old "BBC English" had gone. G

I envy you the trip. I can't believe okra (yuck) was heard of in UK in my day. Enjoy good kippers, smoked haddock, neat little meat pies, "Bridies" I think they were.

Of course, it would be uncouth not to sample the various beers and whiskies which are available.

One hint, I am sure you know. Do NOT ask for more ice in your drink. In the pubs they would have a tiny plastic ice bucket, and say.."would you like ice", and a solitary cube would be dropped in the glass. Of course they gave very little mix either. Oh, happy days!! LOL

I do remember we used to visit a small pub/hotel in Colintraive, Argyllshire by the Kyles of Bute. That is where I learned to drink whisky. None of this water/ice/soda etc..just the wee dram and a "slainthe var" toast with it. Since this is 35 years ago, I am sure things have changed, and Sheena will correct my spelling.

Those three years stationed there were the greatest. Kids went to local schools, we lived in a flat; no Base as such, no base housing...everyone blended in. Great times.

Gillian