Guardian book club -

[UnquietDad]

this article here

While not being 'from the northeast' myself, I'd love to email Rachel Cusk and inform her that my wife sees nothing odd in rhyming 'pasta' with 'faster', or in saying 'past' to rhyme with 'gassed'.

I think a short spell outside the M25 might do Ms Cusk a world of good. I bet she dresses in Boden, shops at Peter Jones, talks about having a 'little man' round to fix her boiler and describes things as 'absolutely ghastly.'

She means "parster" in this instance though.

Writing "rhymes with" about most words is a minefield because whether it rhymes does depend on where you're from, so repeatedly making a thing of it is a bit dangerous

(eg the word "one" - there are at least 3 ways of saying that)

I don't know the author but I don't think she sees anything odd in it either. There's a later bit about someone saying 'Mass' to rhyme with 'arse'. I don't think she's taking the p*ss.

I realised she was poking fun at the mother character for saying "parster". But if you have a Northern accent of any sort (I don't, but the rest of my family does!) then the way she describes the pronunication doesn't work.

There's a poem by a Geordie poet (can't remember his name) where he rhymes "evening classes" with "Mount Parnassus". Try that one in RP!

I see my thread title has been changed, btw. Not that I mind, but does it happen often round here?

why - what was it before? {nosy emoticon}

There was a ref to Rachel Cusk I think????

No it doesn't usually happen here...interesting...

I hope Rachel Cusk doesn't sue mumsnet because I have made disparaging comments about her dialogue... :O

Looks as if she is now doing Desperate Housewives - the Islington Remix