Partner's slang language

[oreo2020]

My partner was born in 1970s and grew up in London. I am an immigrant.
He's now in his 40s and fairly professional and still uses a lot of slang language that he grew up with intermittently with friends and colleagues, for example:

Jack diddly squat
Brown bread
Bird (talking of me)
Snuff it
You get me
Bump off

And similar...

He also says 'Valentimes' instead Valentine's although he spells it correctly!

I don't correct him as English is not my native language but I find it somewhat stuck in 1980s and do think a grown up man would have grown his vocabulary as he was building up his life and career.
But maybe it's more common than I think?

[quote JorisBonson]@MustardMitt mine pronounces "towel" and "tail" exactly the same way and it gives me the rage 🤣[/quote]
Haha so do I! Hasn't thought about that one before.

My friends at uni (I was the only Londoner) used to find it hilarious to ask me to say "girl"

@IMissFrance it's "gewl" of course!

There are a few threads on MN where posters have given phrases that are specific to their locality, and some which are more widespread . I think it's really fascinating, partly to realise that things I thought everyone said, are only actually said in the Midlands; but also to pick up on colloquial phrases used in other areas .

The threads about pronunciation are just irritating though, as people seem unable to accept that pronunciations used in other parts of the country are just as valid as theirs .

'You get me' is particularly egregious.

@shinynewapple2021, if you speak properly, you are more likely to spell properly. By properly, I mean use the dictionary pronunciation.

It doesn't matter if you say bath with a short a or with a long one, but if you say something in a way peculiar to your area, someone from somewhere else won't understand what you mean.

Joris gave the example of gewl. The same word in another part of the country is said as gerro. Where I come from it is said as gull.

It isn't immediately obvious what the word actually is.

@midsomermurderess

'You get me' is particularly egregious.

Why

He’s a Londoner, innit! You can take the boy out of the manor etc etc...

@KirstenBlest

I am talking of a thread where people argue things like bath / baahth. Or tuth / toooth

However we pronounce it according to our local accent we know it's spelled

Bath
Tooth

As I said before, disagreements about this end up being really silly

Like the OP, my mother tongue is not English, so I have learnt English not just absorbed it.

Then you were rigidly taught RP without reference to regional accents, differences and colloquialisms - all of which are perfectly acceptable in conversation, even in public speaking & presentations. RP / OED is not the absolute pronunciation of the word. Many of the words you have listed are pronounced differently in English world wide. That's not lazy. RP is not 'how English should be pronounced'. There are regional differences, accents, pronunciations, dialect etc in pretty much every language in the world.

I speak in a regional accent. I can spell perfectly well, thank you. Knowing how to spell a word doesn't automatically mean it's because you 'know' how to pronounce it or vice versa. Particularly in English.

@SleepingStandingUp

Imo there's a big difference between slang / colloquialisms and mispronunciation.

Unless it's affecting his career, the first is fine. It's part of him and his life.

However the Pacific thing I'd have to pa correct

Can you tell me pacifically what to get you for Valentine's Day?
Pardon?
Can you tell me pacifically what you want?
What's it got to do with the ocean?
Eh?
You said pacifically. Do you want me to pick something ocean themed?
No, pacifically. Tell me exactly.
Specifically.
Eh
It's spec not pac.
You know what I mean.
Well no, two totally and unconnected words.

God, you sound awful.

Hi oreo2020, is your partner in the funeral business? There's a remarkable preponderance of death related expressions in your list.

Stuck in the 80s?? Some of this was current way before that.

Brown bread (dead) is Cockney rhyming slang and has been about for ever. If you’ve ever heard, ‘Let’s have a butcher’s’ (a look) that’s CRS too - butcher’s hook.
Ditto titfer (hat) - tit for tat
Barnet (hair) - Barnet Fair

Examples of what we would be corrected on might be when an s sounds like ss or z, not to say 'ours' as 'arz', 'aitch' not 'haitch', 'bring it back' not 'fetch it back', 'lend' not 'loan', 'obvious' not 'ovious'.

Ours as arz is just accent.

Aitch vs haitch is dialect (haitch is correct in Hiberno English).

Fetch it back is surely a colloquialism and perfectly understandable.

Etc etc etc.

I wouldn't say I was taught RP or that I was rigidly taught it.

Maybe you can spell but an awful lot of people on here can't. It is quite shocking.

I don't know why you are arguing really because I have nothing against accents. I enjoy hearing a regional accent.

@iklboo, the tone of your post is abrasive.

if you speak properly, you are more likely to spell properly. By properly, I mean use the dictionary pronunciation

Evidence please?

I’m trying to find the relevance of dictionary pronunciation and spelling. English is not very phonetic.

If you spelt in your lovingly RP accent @KirstenBlest I’d fink you rather uneducated.

@KirstenBlest - oh the irony.

I live in South London with a man born in Lambeth and has never lived anywhere but London. He tones down (dahn) his accent for me but when he's with his family or losess his temper it really comes out (aht).

Our daughter has none of his accent. She talks proper

It's dying out tbh. A lot of the old families (dh family can be traced 5 generations at least) have or are moving out to Kent, Essex, all the way down to Sussex.

My husband often says these:

'Arris (bottom)
Get in
Sausage (to refer to a woman)
Kecks

Plus lots and lots of swearing. C* is said like it's a normal regular word.

I don't speak in an RP accent. I have a neutral accent but some words sound regional. Short a in bath, grass etc.

I can't think of more ways than one to spell words, other than ones that have two distinct spellings, for example, nought and naught. Even they sound slightly different.

An example of a word I see misspelt often online is councilling. It doesn't sound the same as counselling to me, so I don't 'get' the misspelling, and I put it down to either not understanding the root of the word, or to mispronunciation.

@KirstenBlest

I don't speak in an RP accent. I have a neutral accent but some words sound regional. Short a in bath, grass etc.

I can't think of more ways than one to spell words, other than ones that have two distinct spellings, for example, nought and naught. Even they sound slightly different.

An example of a word I see misspelt often online is councilling. It doesn't sound the same as counselling to me, so I don't 'get' the misspelling, and I put it down to either not understanding the root of the word, or to mispronunciation.

It’s Nowt up here

The ‘gh’ in both of those words is silent - certainly not helped by your pronunciation.

Aye lass. 'Appen it is.

If he continues send him up the Apple and pears, if he don’t stop get on the dog and bone and log it with 101.

The dictionary pronunciation of nought and naught is the same.
I'd say them very slightly differently.

I'm not sure what your comment is about really. Nowt more to say about it.

Gerro, gewl and gull were regional pronunciations of the same word. Girl.

I love languages and dialects. The world would be a much poorer place if we all spoke the same.

And on that note, I'm off to prepare some dinner/supper/tea/scran.

I have a neutral accent

What's a neutral accent?