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Dialects

and just to confuse matters more--and get back to the old "misreading" thread--Elephant and Castle is an old English misreading (missaying) of the French "Enfant de Castile."

Please do correct me if you have better information as I cannot remember my source for that.

Oh yeah, here's another couple CRS:

tea leaf = thief
Cain and Abel = table


Those are way old.

Novella
 
novella said:
and just to confuse matters more--and get back to the old "misreading" thread--Elephant and Castle is an old English misreading (missaying) of the French "Enfant de Castile."

Please do correct me if you have better information as I cannot remember my source for that.
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Even though that is the popular story as to how the name came about, historians do not believe this to be the case.
Elephant and Castle
 
I've heard the Elephant and Castle explanation, but I take such things with a pinch of salt. So many explanations just get made up. Tour guides, for example, rather than research their subjects, make stuff up. I actually quite enjoy it. The fibs are usually more fun than the true stories. Anyhoo, there are so many urban myths surrounding landmarks in London that I tend to disbelieve most explanations that aren't incredibly dull. But the best tour I ever went on was one of the Duck Tours in London (I highly recommend them to anyone over visiting and any Londoners with an afternoon to spare) where you travel around in an amphibious landing craft. They drive you around the city and then take you out on to the river. I can find the link if anyone's interested. Anyway, back to subject, the guide we were supposed to have, didn't show up so the driver stepped in to do the narrative and he was one of the best fibbers I've ever met. And that's how a lot of these things come about, not necessarily on London tours, but just because fibs are more fun. Certain fibs capture the imagination more than others and these are the ones we call history.
 
Freya said:
(They also insist on calling all girls bonny, or rather 'bonn-eh').
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Is that as in a pet name, or as a description? "Bonny" is a scots term for "pretty" - did a large number of Scots happen to migrate there for the steelworks a while back?

Kev
 
Yeh, bonny as in pretty. Come to think of it, it might have been just one of those overused words at school (like 'How rude' and 'blatantly' and 'to be fair').
 
lemur said:
Sorry if this is veering a bit OT (again), but on the subject of dialects, the thread's been talking about Yorkshire, Cockney etc, but within Yorkshire are there local variations?
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Quite definitely. I'm in East Yorkshire, and the West Yorkshire accent is very different, and they also use different words. I'd never heard of a "dodie" (sp?) before, but apparently it is their word for a baby's dummy (as in "pacifier" for our American chums). Quite frankly, I sometimes find the West Riding accent hard to understand. I remember a few years ago when I was working in a shop, a customer asked me for a "corm". I was totally non-plussed until finally he said, "Y'know, for your hair" and the penny dropped - he wanted a comb! :eek:
Also, my dad uses quite a few old Yorkshire dialect words which I don't understand at all. :confused: I'll have to try to find some examples.

BTW, would any non-Yorkshire person here know what a "snicket" is, or is that quite a common word?
 
"Has the feller that collects the garbare been around already, mother?"

Am I right?

Cheers
 
*takes a bow*

Please, please, everybody, stop applauding and take your seats.

Oh you're all making me blush. You're too kind. I love each and every fecking one of you, too.

Cheers
 
Don't get too pleased with yourself Martin, you still haven't guessed what a snicket is! :p
 
Freya said:
My friend used to always call me his 'Marrow'. Which apparantly means friend, but we never quite clarified it, as I could never decide if he was saying 'marrow' or 'marrer' or 'marror'? Do we not have a resident Geordie who could clarify this?
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I'm not a Geordie but I'm guessing this comes from 'Cock sparrow' which is slang for friend.

i.e.

Hello, me ol' cock sparrow!
 
ummm, i like Scottish accent. i attribut it to two movies i have seen. The brave heart, of course. (yes, it is about Scot land, little to do with the accent. )another one is winter guest. here is the link , if someone might be interested.

very good topic! :)
 
watercrystal said:
ummm, i like Scottish accent.
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Oh don’t get me wrong I love the accents ;) (well some anyway) - I just have trouble understanding what they’re saying :p
 
Whit dae ye meen ye dinnae ken whit wur gibbering aboot? Its no as if wur pure no able tae speek the lingo, if ye ken whit a meen. Crivvens, ane goes and spells it no richt an they a' wanna blow thur mooths aboot how they dinnae ken. Michty me, its a pure sad hing but, wen its a' sed an dun, wur still - wur a come frae onyway - ane o' the cleerest prattlers in Britten. Ats why call centres cum runnin tae us tae set up shop.
 
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