My siblings in Colorado still describe things as "burly" (which I think is a near synonym for "gnarly" in its colloquial sense). I have no recollection of using that expression as a youngster.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:39 (ten months ago) link
Perhaps one day I'll befriend a couple named Graham and Craig and on a balmy Wednesday evening I will remind my husband 'Crackers and Rocks are coming for dinner Friday'.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:40 (ten months ago) link
ne of the many things that fascinate me is the idea that the modern U.S. Southern accent somehow evolved from the accents of the early European settlers of the area, most of whom were Scots (along with Africans, of course).
All (white) American accents evolved from the accents of early European settlers surely?
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:41 (ten months ago) link
Surely, but the Southern accent is almost completely distinct from any other.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:42 (ten months ago) link
What I mean is, I have a hard time seeing how a Scottish accent gradually morphed into what we have now.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:43 (ten months ago) link
To be fair, there's quite a few southern accents, not just white folks either
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:43 (ten months ago) link
What about all those people paaaking caaaahs up in New England?
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:44 (ten months ago) link
Some southern accents remind me of a small child putting on airs at a tea party, pinky aloft.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:45 (ten months ago) link
True enough. I've lived in Georgia long enough I can usually tell if someone is from there, or Virginia, Alabama or Mississippi. Some of the other states are a bit less distinct.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:46 (ten months ago) link
They speculate that the early settlers of the original 13 colonies probably sounded Irish (to our modern ears), but there's obv no recordings of them
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:47 (ten months ago) link
xpost - yeah, I was watching some 'top model' show with my GF, and I'm like 'that woman is from Arkansas' and I was right
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:48 (ten months ago) link
I'll take a Graham of your finest cocaine, good sir.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:48 (ten months ago) link
West Country/rural English is more likely than Irish.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:49 (ten months ago) link
LOL
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:50 (ten months ago) link
What I mean is most people in the South of England in those days would have had accents that resembled West Country or Norfolk accents - though not any more.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:50 (ten months ago) link
interesting: This (early American) accent was rhotic, meaning the R's were heard as in "car" rather than "cah". The American accent today is known as rhotic, whereas the English accent is now non-rhotic.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:52 (ten months ago) link
Unless it's your cousin from Bahston.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:52 (ten months ago) link
Apparently we all sounded the same in 1750 but it was the ENGLISH that changed while Americans mostly stayed the same
Put that graham in you craig and smoke it
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65493/what-did-original-colonists-sound
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 22:57 (ten months ago) link
americans saying Craig as Creg always sounds weird to me
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 23:05 (ten months ago) link
I've lived in Georgia long enough I can usually tell if someone is from there, or Virginia, Alabama or Mississippi. Some of the other states are a bit less distinct.
I once guessed correctly that someone was from North Carolina triangle area because of their accent!
― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 23:10 (ten months ago) link
(my stepfather has it bigtime, "warsh" clothes instead of "wash" etc)
Xpcr-AY-g. Australia pronounces it this way too. Maybe the g should be capitalized.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 23:12 (ten months ago) link
In the southern parts of the UK, Craig is pronounced to rhyme with plague. In Scotland broadly the same, but with the rhotic r?
― (picnic, lightning) very very frightening (Chinaski), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 23:15 (ten months ago) link
Craig can rhyme with vague or with keg. The difference may be personal or regional or associated with a particular speech community.
I don't think it's a right/wrong thing, and it shouldn't be presented as such. Any more than skedjull / shedjull or RENaissance / reNAIssance.
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 20 July 2023 00:30 (ten months ago) link
Had no idea Americans pronounced Craig like keg. I once briefly lived with an American who said herbs the American way, without pronouncing the 'h', and for years I thought that was just a personal affectation of hers.
― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 20 July 2023 00:49 (ten months ago) link
since we're here, how are these given names pronounced
niall ferguson (i know you're gonna say 'cunt', but i mean apart from that)rian johnson
― mookieproof, Thursday, 20 July 2023 01:03 (ten months ago) link
Where I'm from (NJ):
Craig = kregGraham = gramaunt = antgood morning/how are you = what's up, asshole?
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 20 July 2023 01:12 (ten months ago) link
I associate "warsh" for "wash" with the Midwest, because that is how my grandmother, from many generations IL/IN, pronounced it.
― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Thursday, 20 July 2023 02:11 (ten months ago) link
niall ferguson - "Ni-Yel Fer-gus-son" I cant even see how else you'd say it.rian johnson - Ree-ann.
Oh wait I get it now, do some people say "Neil" for Niall? Am I wrong? lol.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Thursday, 20 July 2023 02:32 (ten months ago) link
Nigh-All
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 July 2023 02:32 (ten months ago) link
wash = 'worsh' used to be a thing in SW pennsylvania, eg I-70 and I-79 meet up in worshington
i used to think this sort of thing was fading away but then i met my mom's neighbor. she's a few years younger than me, and a grandmother, and kinda hot, and incredibly nice, and literally every single pittsburgh stereotype you could imagine wrapped into one. she's amazing
― mookieproof, Thursday, 20 July 2023 02:40 (ten months ago) link
How bout them Stillers
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 July 2023 02:40 (ten months ago) link
i was worried that niall = neil
and that rian = ryan
but i'm relieved to hear otherwise
― mookieproof, Thursday, 20 July 2023 02:41 (ten months ago) link
oh, they're goin all the way
― mookieproof, Thursday, 20 July 2023 02:43 (ten months ago) link
wait, Rian Johnson is pronounced Ryan, right?
― jaymc, Thursday, 20 July 2023 03:06 (ten months ago) link
"ree-ah-nuh"
― linoleum gallagher (Neanderthal), Thursday, 20 July 2023 03:09 (ten months ago) link
Rhiaaaaaaaaaaa non
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 July 2023 03:10 (ten months ago) link
It is? Or at least it should be, because that's the Irish pronunciation, compare with Niamh for instance - need gyac or darraghmac to confirm though. Anyway it's how the Niall in Niall Ferguson is pronounced.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Thursday, 20 July 2023 06:40 (ten months ago) link
He pronounces his name as "Ryan" though I keep wanting to say "ree-ahn" like Rhian from Wet Leg.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 20 July 2023 06:46 (ten months ago) link
― Alba, Thursday, 20 July 2023 06:48 (ten months ago) link
Now seems to be an opportune moment to mention my all time most hated mispronunciation (I'm always going on about this, here and elsewhere): it's Auld Lang Syne NOT Auld Lang Zyne.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Thursday, 20 July 2023 07:05 (ten months ago) link
Which, coincidentally, is also my most hated song of all time.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Thursday, 20 July 2023 14:07 (ten months ago) link
Only interesting (probably not?) to UKers over a certain age, but:
In 1958 this all changed with the introduction of the STD system, standing for Subscriber Trunk Dialling, in which every city, town or rural area was allocated its own code and numbers could now be dialled directly. The codes were based on 0 followed by the numbers corresponding to the first two letters of the place on the phone dial. Therefore, for instance, Cardiff = CA = 22 = 022 and Newport = NE = 63 = 063, as per the standard circular rotary dial.
― nate woolls, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 21:46 (ten months ago) link
We had something similar in the US... for instance, my childhood phone number would have been Highland-36992 in the 50's, but by the late 60's the HI in Highland had become 44 (as it is on the dial/keypad)You'll still see old signage with that old system, there's a liquor store in Redwood City that still has it painted on the back wall
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 22:41 (ten months ago) link
^^^(But my town wasn't called Highland, I'm not sure where those old names came from)
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 22:44 (ten months ago) link
Except for especially small towns, a given community would have had more than one central office, and thus more than one two-letter code. So, coukd be Highland was a later-disused name for a neighborhood, or some archaic local hero whose fame lingered into the 1940s but not beyond.
― got it in the blood, the kid's a pelican (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:08 (ten months ago) link
In the 1960s when the phone company began replacing the charming prefixes with a fully numeric system, a group called the Anti-Digit Dialing League was founded. This San Francisco group mounted a light-hearted campaign against the "dehumanization" of the telephone system through the elimination of prefix names.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:15 (ten months ago) link
I used to notice phone numbers on TV shows and movies in the old days were KLondike 5-xxxx. Later I learned 555 numbers weren't used for real numbers so they used them in movies/TV. At some point much later I realized KL is 55 on the dial.
btw, my land line also starts with 44, and it's referred to as Hilltop here.
― nickn, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:18 (ten months ago) link
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Thursday, 20 July 2023 06:40 (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink
would always default niall to ny-al fwiw
if he was snippy about that id ask him where his fada was
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:25 (ten months ago) link
Later I learned 555 numbers weren't used for real numbers
Did they carve out an exception just for this? Old shows always had 555 numbers and I never knew if they reserved that particular prefix just for fictional shit
(They used to always use obviously fake currency too... I recently found a newer "motion picture" $100 bill on the ground and flipped out, it looked so real from a distance)
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 23:29 (ten months ago) link