MissMittens
One Too Many
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- Philadelphia USA
"Ipso fatso."
It was common in the Era to refer to someone who'd had too much to drink as being "non compos mentis."
My father used that a lot
"Ipso fatso."
It was common in the Era to refer to someone who'd had too much to drink as being "non compos mentis."
My father used that a lot
There's a lot of English and especially Scots Irish influence in the accents and vocabulary of the Deep South. I hope I can get away with saying that Southern speech in general (not just the Deep South) sounds old-fashioned to my ears. An extreme example: I recall getting a cab in Washington DC in the mid-80s with a driver from rural Virginia. His English sounded almost Shakespearean, as if frozen in time. It was wonderful to listen to him.
Lucky you. Most of the deep south vernacular that I've heard has been the most guttural shortcut-speak that you can imagine.
From DC on south to Floriduh....ugh.
Lucky you. Most of the deep south vernacular that I've heard has been the most guttural shortcut-speak that you can imagine.
From DC on south to Floriduh....ugh.
"Sugar"
A few days ago Crooner Radio played Frank Sinatra's "When I Take My Sugar To Tea". I associate "sugar" as a term of endearment with America (it never caught on this side of the Pond) and the era of black and white movies. Am I right in thinking that it is no longer used in the States? It would be a shame to lose it altogether.
"It's a crying shame." ...
This is an English phrase I very rarely hear these days: I don't know if it is familiar to North Americans as I can't recall hearing it in the US or Canada.
I was reminded of it last week when one of the tabloid newspapers ran 'Crying Shame' as a headline, a reference to Theresa May's resignation tears outside 10 Downing Street, with accompanying facial contortions curiously reminiscent of Bozo the Clown.
I very much associate the phrase with the London of my youth (70s/80s/early 90s) and the old-fashioned type of Londoner who has now moved out to Essex or Kent.
I'm a big fan of dialects -- I think "proper English" is whatever the local consensus deems it to be, and I'm proudly non-rhotic. If people want to hear "r" enunciated, then go somewhere else. But that said, the deep, deep Alabama-type accent has always given me trouble when I hear it spoken -- I knew a guy once, with a very deep voice, who spoke in this slow, sorghum drawl, and I couldn't understand more than half of what he said. I'm usually able to duplicate accents or dialects reasonably well after listening to them for a bit, but that's one I've never been able to convincingly master.
Most Southerners I know consider the northern 3/4 of Florida as really being part of the South. The bottom end is referred to as Lower New Jersey (in terms of accent and attitude). (As Michigan has the Upper Peninsula as a physically detached portion of the State, so has New Jersey with south Florida.)There is a sense that Florida is different from the rest of the South and has a lot of influences from the rest of the US as well as the strong Hispanic culture. As a digression, I love the Haitian Creole (Kreyòl) language, which I first heard in NYC but which is also spoken in Miami.
Don't feel bad about not being able to mimic one of the *many* Southern dialects. There are a number of famous and/or Academy-Award-winning actors who can't do it either.I'm a big fan of dialects -- I think "proper English" is whatever the local consensus deems it to be, and I'm proudly non-rhotic. If people want to hear "r" enunciated, then go somewhere else. But that said, the deep, deep Alabama-type accent has always given me trouble when I hear it spoken -- I knew a guy once, with a very deep voice, who spoke in this slow, sorghum drawl, and I couldn't understand more than half of what he said. I'm usually able to duplicate accents or dialects reasonably well after listening to them for a bit, but that's one I've never been able to convincingly master.
...since my regular one has been called away on a secret mission to Greenland...
Most Southerners I know consider the northern 3/4 of Florida as really being part of the South. The bottom end is referred to as Lower New Jersey (in terms of accent and attitude). (As Michigan has the Upper Peninsula as a physically detached portion of the State, so has New Jersey with south Florida.)
The New Jersey accent would seem to be your social and cultural equivalent of what we call 'Estuary English': a nasal, flat, lower middle class evolution of Cockney associated with the Thames Estuary but spread over South East England. It lacks the colourful inventiveness of real Cockney and has none of the polished qualities of Standard English. In short, it is an incredibly ugly accent and so are the attitudes that tend to go with it. ...
Generalize much? Care to provide a sound sample of what your, presumably, "proper" English accent sounds like?
And tell me your thoughts on Scouse. If Estuary English gets up your kilt, I can only imagine...