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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to ask English people not to say poorly?! (lighthearted)

586 replies

SliAnCroix · 29/04/2020 19:02

It sounds a bit moany and weak. Can't get to grips with grown women saying their husband was poorly. It would be like saying my husband took a week off work because he had a bubu. I know we all have our own slang and some Irish slang probably sounds strange outside of Ireland in the next village

I am not speaking on behalf of everybody outside of England, I do realise this.

And full disclaimer, the word dodi makes me wince. I have done my best to eradicate that word. Service to my country.

OP posts:
PhoneLock · 30/04/2020 10:29

diphthong

I had to look that up!

isabellerossignol · 30/04/2020 10:32

I found the it very frustrating to read the Smartest Giant in town out loud when dd was small as it just didn't work.

Same here. Most of it didn't rhyme at all, which would have been fine, except then in the middle of it there would be a random rhyme. It just sounded really weird and clunky, and I could never understand why it was such a popular book. I think it would have been a whole different experience if we'd had a different accent.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 30/04/2020 10:38

Every day is a schooldays on MN PhoneLock

Grin
AnotherMurkyDay · 30/04/2020 11:09

I only use poorly to describe my kids. "DD came home from school early because she was feeling a bit poorly" but not "I was poorly with the flu"

Seetheprettysnowdrops · 30/04/2020 11:09

Oakleafy. I say sick when I'm
not well

At work we have sick leave and a sickness absence policy

The only people I've heard say poorly are English people. I remember a P2 teacher who confused all the kids by saying "are you feeling pawly". They had no idea what she was saying.

BrooHaHa · 30/04/2020 11:12

I found the it very frustrating to read the Smartest Giant in town out loud when dd was small as it just didn't work.

For me it rhymes consistently except for scarf and giraffe. That doesn't work in my accent. But no problems with fox and socks, house and mouse, boat and goat or dog and bog.

LaurieMarlow · 30/04/2020 11:14

I don’t think scarf and giraffe rhyme in any accent, even the most overdone RP.

BlueRaincoat1 · 30/04/2020 11:18

This thread has really made me laugh. I'm Irish and can't stand the word poorly, but my husband and son use it. I agree that saying you are sick does not mean vomiting, and is a much more acceptable turn of phrase! Or 'not feeling well'. Or 'ill', at a push. Never poorly! It sounds like something from Jane Austen.

I do use the word dodie though. Much prefer it to dummy or soother.

Ginandplatonic · 30/04/2020 11:19

Scarf and giraffe rhyme perfectly in my Australian accent. And surely they do also rhyme in standard RP??

MarshaBradyo · 30/04/2020 11:20

I’m struggling now with this ;

I rhyme door and poor
and scarf and giraffe

BrooHaHa · 30/04/2020 11:21

I don’t think scarf and giraffe rhyme in any accent, even the most overdone RP.

They must do in Julia Donaldson's, surely, or she wouldn't have written it? Or at least sort of rhyme.

MarshaBradyo · 30/04/2020 11:21

I just got my ds to say them too as I have an accent, they rhyme

LaurieMarlow · 30/04/2020 11:22

Is there a second ‘r’ sound in Giraffe? Unless you’re massively hamming it up?

NoMorePoliticsPlease · 30/04/2020 11:23

sick means puke

LaurieMarlow · 30/04/2020 11:24

They must do in Julia Donaldson's, surely, or she wouldn't have written it? Or at least sort of rhyme

She makes some questionable connections sometimes.

Like rhyming ‘ne naw’ with ‘panda car’

NoMorePoliticsPlease · 30/04/2020 11:25

Gi RaFF to my northern ears, Gi rarf just makes me Laff

queenMab99 · 30/04/2020 11:26

To get full value from the word it has to be pronounced 'pooerly', like my aunties and grandparents said itGrin

Ginandplatonic · 30/04/2020 11:28

Neither scarf nor giraffe have an R sound in a non-rhotic accent. The vowel sound in both is “ah”. Sc-ah-f, gir-ah-f. They rhyme perfectly.

LaurieMarlow · 30/04/2020 11:30

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone pronounce scarf without an R sound, beyond like the Queen/BBC newsreaders in the 1950s.

Perhaps I just don’t know enough poshies?

Ginandplatonic · 30/04/2020 11:34

No one with a non-rhotic accent, posh or otherwise, will pronounce the R in scarf. Does that not apply to much of southern England. It certainly applies to all of Australia and I assure you very few of us are posh. Grin

PhoneLock · 30/04/2020 11:36

I think the difference lies in the Ji-raff not the Scarf.

PhoneLock · 30/04/2020 11:40

It certainly applies to all of Australia and I assure you very few of us are posh

I'm getting confused. I spend a some time in Australia (mainly WA) and I don't think I have heard scarf pronounced any other way than I would pronounce it. sk-are-fuh

BrooHaHa · 30/04/2020 11:40

I agree with phonelock. Ji-raff and ji-rahf are the main ways I've heard it said. I can see how ji-rahf would rhyme with scarf.

Ginandplatonic · 30/04/2020 11:47

Well yes. Assuming you’re pronouncing “are” as “ah”. As we do in Australia because our accent is non-rhotic as I said.

Ginandplatonic · 30/04/2020 11:50

I can’t see how ji-rahf would rhyme with scarf

Again it is because in a non-rhotic accent scarf is pronounced scahf. I’m not sure why that is so hard to understand. Even if you live in a rhotic accent area surely you’ve heard other accents?