To find snobbery around vocabulary very silly?

[crayolacom]

I too don't particularly like the idea of regional dialects and differences disappearing, but language does change and everyone should just deal with it!

I wonder if Shakespeare would be moaning about the modern lexicon if he was alive!

Whenever there are complaints about American speech there are always mistakes! What are "jotters," which we apparently pronounce "jodders?"

When I moved to London I quickly had to learn what a "skip" was (Dumpster), to say jug not pitcher, and the ladies at the White Company found it charming that I wanted to buy a "dust ruffle" (a valance for a bed).

I’m fine with dialects and accents. What I object to is mistakes and lack of education. Could of instead of Could have. Learn instead of Teach. There instead of Their. Etc. Dialects and stupidity are two different things.

@Teapot13

Whenever there are complaints about American speech there are always mistakes! What are "jotters," which we apparently pronounce "jodders?"

When I moved to London I quickly had to learn what a "skip" was (Dumpster), to say jug not pitcher, and the ladies at the White Company found it charming that I wanted to buy a "dust ruffle" (a valance for a bed).

Love this. Our Canadian neighbours asked us if the “drapes” were up when we moved in. For me, drapes are old sheets etc that you put over furniture to stop it getting dusty, usually when you are leaving a house empty for a while. So I was surprised, until we worked out that to him “drapes” were the same as “curtains”.

Wouldbe customer,
Incidentally, I was interested to hear Dolly Parton say "I've been waiting while I'm old enough to get it..." Many would say 'until.' Dialects are fascinating! That's really charming isn't it, not being patronising - it is one of Dolly's noted qualities (charm, that is) as well as a great interest in language.

I have a northern accent myself but from the west , I first heard the Yorkshire 'while' something when I worked in hotels in Brighton with some Leeds girls. I didn't understand them at first but would never tell them they were speaking incorrectly or even wrong. I was asked why I didn't say bus in the proper, southern style 'baaas' not my plain style northern 'bus'. Now i've adopted the midlands 'buzz'.

I could be disingenuous here and ask why northern accents are often seen as stupid. But I have my suspicions, being funny for one thing.

The interchange of learn and teach is a dialect form in many areas as where I grew up, ClearMountain, and it was part of my education as an outsider not to tell others they were wrong to speak as their parents did. Or I'd get learnt better with a clout round my head.

Genuine question, Greenlandthe movie, in case you think I'm trying to be funny, where does Norn come from? I have never heard of it, is it related to your username? And is it still spoken by anyone? You seem to have given some examples in your other posts, are they?

Also , general remark, I've seen the use of the word 'gotten' igniting some rage on this and other threads I don't use it myself but I like it as a sound and for its meaning and am happy it is part of some regional British dialects.

I've just checked back and I see you made a rather technical, phonetic, explanation of why some speakers might not pronounce 'gotten'. Do you mean that some, eg from southern England, use the glottal stop so much they cannot pronounce a double 'tt' sound in the middle of a word? When I first went south and heard a glottal stop I found it weird but again never breathed a word.

I re-read what you wrote,Greenlanthemovie, and now think it means the opposite to what I understood?

What I do not want is for language to be taken over by US expressions. We are not the 51st state.

@Wouldbecustomer

Incidentally, I was interested to hear Dolly Parton say "I've been waiting while I'm old enough to get it..." Many would say 'until.' Dialects are fascinating!

That sounds like Yorkshire to me, where ‘while’ is often used in place of ‘until’. Apparently they had to change the notice on some trains saying ‘Please do not use the toilet while the train is standing in the station’ as this was causing confusion to some people!

There was a cartoon in Punch magazine showing a queue of traffic at a level crossing. The notice said "wait while red light shows"

The interchange of learn and teach is a dialect form in many areas as where I grew up, ClearMountain, and it was part of my education as an outsider not to tell others they were wrong to speak as their parents did. Or I'd get learnt better with a clout round my head.

I wonder if the reason for this is that in some languages (Norwegian for example) the same word is used for learn and teach. Likewise the same word is used for borrow and lend.

I hate people who say 'myself' instead of 'me' or 'l'. I think they do it to sound educated, but just come across as Muppets

I don’t understand the wrath this seems to evoke. I doubt they’re trying to sound anything in particular. It’s just what they say.

I’m in Ireland and it’s totally common parlance here.

Learn and teach is the same word in Welsh too.

When I say I am northern I actually do mean North Wales but not Welsh speaking and I have read that explanation before of learn and teach being intechangeable. We also did the same with lend and borrow as pp mentioned. I was taught it was wrong and said so but I soon learned bettter. Personally I had great difficulty learning the difference betwee bought and brought. Why were they different? As I remember noone told me and I had to figure out brought was the past tense of bring because of the 'r' in it. I also could not hear or say the difference between 'ch' and 'sh' for ages. No help there either, I sat on the pavement and practised till I got it right. Still have to think about it. Apparantly it is a form of speech defect. my younger sister was diagnosed with dyslexia and it can be a symptom so I do think some posters could make some allowances.

I say haitch for the letter H.

//that saying myself, himself thing, I think of it as being self-consciously matey. Definitely not an attempt to sound posh. It's an attempt to make what you're saying sound more relatable. (I know that using the word relatable is also going to attract some criticism!). I get this though. It takes the stark directness out of what your saying somehow. If you were awkward about that, saying himself, myself ... it diffuses it a little.

@TheKeatingFive yes, Irish people say this.I can't bring myself to say it, it sounds too matey to me. But I see why Marian Keyes uses it to describe her husband (example). It avoids saying ''My husband'' which sounds formal. It avoids alienating readers who have a boyfriend or a partner. It's just ''himself'' - across the board. The Man In Your Life.
I'd never use it in a million years though but I get it.

I did laugh when I saw a magazine called 'Himself' in a shop though. I don't think that magazine survived. But that was funny. Himself is so lacking in any pretension that I don't think the advertisers would want to buy a spread in that magazine. You picture 'himself' with a dad bod and last year's Dunnes shorts. Hardly Arena or GQ

I think the myself thing is different to the Irish usage though? I find it irritating when used as an attempt to be formal - "please revert to myself at the earliest opportunity" type usage.

Not the more informal Irish usage like "himself" for a husband as outlined above.