To ask what has happened to BBC reporting? Mariah Carey

[Skye109]

Please can someone explain this report to me??
https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/articles/cqxjq7x17qzo

😂😂😂

I similarly have good friends in Shetland and when I used to do Facebook I loved that they wrote as they spoke, so wrote the dialect version of English.

I find it fascinating and have lived this thread thankyou.

😁 I am indeed autistic and I grew up around a West African community in London.

@OhMaria2 the description of me as chatgpt when I have just had enough of it is absolutely my tired and going full autism persona - your description made my DP laugh.

I thought your reply was great, @Berga - civil, accurate and informative.

I don’t find Pidgin English funny as a language and I’m baffled that so many posters haven’t heard of it.

I DO find the idea of the stereotypical mumsnetter (white, middle class, husband on six figures with hobby ‘think cycling’, kids in private school, obsessed with Russell group universities and massive salads etc) reading that article and being outraged at the standard of British journalism and posting a thread about it funny though. That IS funny. It absolutely sums up all of the (sometimes unfair) criticisms of this website.

I wondered re that rather snotty comment

Pidgin isn't a written language. I don't believe anyone can read pidgin that can't read proper English.

whether during the evolution of 'proper English', successive colonisers might have said 'English isn't a written language. I don't believe anyone can read English that can't read proper Latin/(some Germanic thing)/Norman French'.

I'm curious to know if there would have been stages when 'English' or its precursors would have linguistically been a pidgin and then creole? (I probably need a book recommendation...I don't know much about linguistic development but find it very interesting)

I don’t find Pidgin English funny as a language and I’m baffled that so many posters haven’t heard of it.

I think many of us - me included - were familiar with the concept of pidgins as a form of communication, but hadn't realised that some had now evolved to this extent - this African Pidgin is now a widely spoken language (or group of related languages) rather than a 'pidgin' .

😂

Ok. Perhaps my comment should have read ‘I am baffled by the fact that so many posters have such a narrow view of the world that they don’t have even the slightest bit of context for things (such as languages) so that when reading this article their immediate thought was ‘the standard of uk journalism is poor, I must post an outrage thread about it on mumsnet immediately!’ rather than ‘bit weird, wonder if my settings have accidentally changed - I will use my brain and investigate further’.’

Like I said in my OG comment: this thread properly sums up the stereotypical mumsnetter, and that is funny. sorry if you are one of them.

This. It's not even classed as an official language and isn't native to Africa either so I'm baffled that I've been called ignorant. Google actually tells me it originated in China.

I'm thankful for this thread though as I've enjoyed finding out more about it.

I agree with you @Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot - the OP (and some of the early responses) were indeed funny as you describe.

Google actually tells me it originated in China.

'It'? The wiki article I linked upthread on this specific Pidgin doesn't mention China at all. The English word 'pidgin' seems to have arisen in China but the phenomenon of pidgins as a means of communication, and the development of some into proper languages (as is the case here whether yet 'official' or not) is doubtless nearly as old as human speech.

I think what most of us found funny, well what I did, was that the OP started reading the article and was completely baffled at what she was reading. If she was not expecting that, it must have come as a real shock to see the BBC suddenly using that form of language on their site.

It was not mocking the language at all.

The OP’s confusion is what tickled me!

Two tier reporting. Absolutely typical of the BBC.

I'm still waiting for BBC NEWS Glasgie and BBC NEWS Norn Iron.
.

🙄 There's always one!

I agree. It's not very professional is it?

Yes 'it', as in pidgin obviously? Should it be a 'them'?!

Yes, it's a very uncomfortable read.

Shameful!

I'd kind of heard of pidgin English, but had no idea it was an actually thing that's written down and widely used, so I've learned something today.

And now mine! 😍

"I'm curious to know if there would have been stages when 'English' or its precursors would have linguistically been a pidgin and then creole? "

I don't know about a book recommendation, but yes there would have been a stage where English was something like that - back after 1066.

When the Normans came over they spoke and wrote in French and Latin. Totally different from what English was back then.

What is now called "Old English" which is what was spoken prior to 1066 gradually changed into what is called "Middle English" by the locals picking up some of the French words and incorporating them into their language.

So, yes, there was a period of about 300 years after the Normans arrived when English was a developing pidgin or creole sort of language.

English only became the "official" language of England in 1362 when the law courts had to start hearing pleas in English only.

So, if you think about all those stories of kings like Richard the Lionheart, well they all spoke in French, not English. It probably wasn't until Henry IV (the guy who won the battle of Agincourt) that kings likely started speaking English.

Yes 'it', as in pidgin obviously? Should it be a 'them'?!

Yes, because there's lots of different 'pidgins'. The specific one in the bbc reports is African, why would you think it originated in China? 'Chinese pidgin' has probably died out along with western actors with eyeliner by now; this African family of pidgins has developed into a true language.

Just reminded me that many years ago I read that in Pidgin, the late Duke of Edinburgh was described as 'number one fella him belong Mrs Queen' which I thought was EPIC!

Exactly. That is comedy gold and this thread must be preserved for all time.

I also love the people on here who have had a quick Google and scan of Wiki who are now clearly experts in Pidgin. Some of you could get into an argument in an empty room.

It’s a bit odd to read something written in a particular language, and then claim it isn’t a written language… clearly it is, otherwise what did you just read?