Losing the . . .
No, I’m not losing the plot, at least, no more than usual. It’s the letter that comes between ‘f’ and ‘h’ that is proving elusive on my keyboard. I note, however, that it has decided to come out to play now that I’ve mentioned it. Just like a naughty child, seeking attention, it gives the lie to my complaint.
It reminded me of accents, dialect, whatever you like to call them, and some of the regional differences in speech. In some parts of the UK, ‘g’ is given extra value, so that words like ‘singing’ are pronounced ‘sing-ging’ and ‘hang’ becomes ‘hang-uh’. It sounds attractive, to my ears, anyway.
In other areas, ‘g’ is commonly dropped, particularly at the ends of words, so that ‘walking’ becomes ‘walkin.’ That manner of speaking was considered ‘upper-class’, and jokes were made about the Lord of the Manor ‘huntin’, shootin,’ and fishin’. Now, that trait is commonplace in some regions.
In my part of the world, there is an unusual pronunciation of words beginning with ‘str’. ‘Str’ becomes ‘shtr’ so that ‘street’ is pronounced ‘shtreet.’ It’s a ‘shtrange’ quirk.
Anyway, my
‘g’ has returned . . . for now!
🤔😂
ReplyDeleteAccents are forever entertaining.
DeleteThat little detour gave you a little topic to blog about. How about my soft western twang? We leave off the g.
ReplyDelete. . . but that's attractive, not lazy, as it is here.
DeleteLOL...loved this post 'specially well. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteMy old keyboard had a tricky letter o. Sometimes it worked sometimes it made words such as count quite unsuitable for family viewing.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteIn Russian, the letter g is usually pronounced as a g, but sometimes it is pronounced differently.
ReplyDelete😃
DeleteYour post reminds me that I have a Canadian accent; we (at least in the West) definitely under-pronounce that g as in singing. I know this because I hear it stressed (in various media) just slightly...I just realized that we must notice and be curious about similar things as in we both love language. Insert fist bump here.
ReplyDeleteSpeech and language are endlessly fascinating. 👍
DeleteThe shtr would sound rather familiar to Swabian ears such as mine. We use almost always sh in place of s. For instance, we say Wurscht instead of Wurst (sausage).
ReplyDeleteLanguage in all its forms never ceases to fascinate me!
That is so interesting. Every country has its regional accents and dialects, and add to the richness of life.
DeleteI lived in Bristol for a few years and they add an L to the end of words that end in a. So America becomes Americal for example. Some Bristol people also swap the words from and to. When I bought a new pair of shoes a colleague asked me " where did you get they to" whereas I would have said "where did you get those from?"
ReplyDeleteThis is so familiar. My sister and brother-in-law lived near Bristol and always remarked on the extra 'l.' Ballerinal always amused them. In Dorset, they use 'to ' differently, as in 'Where's he to?' meaning, 'Where's he going?'
DeleteI do dislike the 'shtreet' pronunciation... but I've got used to hearing it everywhere. At my prep school, elocution lessons were compulsory!
ReplyDeleteElocution should be compulsory everywhere, so that people speak clearly, not necessarily 'RP.'
DeleteNow, this is a subject I suspect could run and run.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it could . . .
DeleteLike the Bible story about Shibboleth - those who couldn't pronounce it properly were identified as outsiders and enemies.
ReplyDeleteMoving from Merseyside-adjacent Cheshire to Yorkshire via Lancaster meant that I had to adjust to a lot of different sounds. It was fascinating!
I'm sure it was very enlightening. I hope accents don't disappear completely. I know all the children went 'Australian' years ago, with the advent of ''Neighbours.'
DeleteI get in a muddle over Bath. Flat 'a' or long drawn upper class sound. Being shy I stumble every time. Thelmax who gets to become anon by her computer occasionally.
ReplyDeleteAww, Thelma, don't be shy. Pronounce Bath any way you like. I've noticed 'short a' becoming more prevalent among newscasters and presenters recently.
DeleteI know a northerner whose surname is Castle and she gets angry when people don't pronounce it as she thinks it should be, as 'Cassell.'
That's the trouble with living in the south - we soft southerners always know best. 😉
When we moved from Somerset to Hampshire, we had trouble understanding people, here they are lazy with the end letters of their words.
ReplyDeleteI like accents, but dislike laziness - there's no need for it.
DeleteRemember when YP lost his keyboard s? I think he used to copy and paste in the s.
ReplyDeleteRay was prone to adding the extra g, especially in singing.
As I sounded out shtr, I remembered hearing it at times.
Once heard, never forgotten.
DeleteRegarding the dropped "g" that is perhaps characteristic of Thames estuary English, there's a sports presenter called Alex Scott who infuriatingly drops those "gs" all the time. Why the BBC chose to turn her into some kind of anchor presenter is beyond me. If I were The Director General, she would be facing a firing squad tomorrow morning. It also doesn't help that she is as thick as two short planks.
ReplyDeleteThames Estuary English is probably the worst accent in the English-speaking world. It used to be affected by the 'well-to-do' (think Diana, Princess of Wales) and just sounded awful.
DeleteIt was once widely believed that ubiquitous television would serve to eliminate regional dialects, but no such thing has happened. And that’s a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree, though I think accents are less rigidly established than they once were.
DeleteGlad your g is back from holiday.
ReplyDeleteThank you. So am I.
DeleteAs with any country as large as ours is the dialects and the speech patterns are off the charts. I used to have an accent from where I was born, now my words are pronounced the way I've lived much farther north for 50 years.
ReplyDeleteI could never get to grips with the different accents in your country, unless they're very pronounced. They're so lovely to hear, though.
DeleteWe watched a series set in Wales. I didn’t even know because I am getting so used to all sorts of different accents over there that the Welsh one didn’t register. Sue had friends from Wales, so she realized the accent right off.
ReplyDeleteI can recognise British accents, but others leave me shaking my head.
DeleteI have a friend born and raised in Mississippi who says "sing-ging" and "hang-ging" and such, but it's not a Mississippi thing and I don't know why she does it!
ReplyDeletePerhaps she has Northern English friends!
DeleteYay! For the return of your 'g'.
ReplyDeleteIn recent years accents/language/grammar have gone through so many changes and what about text? With regard to that so much of the lettering that represents sayings I do not know except perhaps for LOL
Happy Thursday
All the best Jan
Our language and accents are adapting, and developing, which is inevitable. How many of us would understand Chaucer or Shakespeare?
DeleteWoo Hoo... glad it decided to come back...oh goodness, our Texas southern slang leaves off several letters on words. ...sometimes letter are added such as I'ma. (I'ma fixin to go to town). 🤣
ReplyDelete. . . but that's so attractive to an English ear.
ReplyDeleteI've had that happen with keyboard keys.
ReplyDeleteHammering the keyboard to make the errant key behave is not very helpful, I've found. 😉
DeleteI grew up with a Southern accent in which the g was often dropped. In college I made a determined effort to get away from that, but it still creeps in from time to time.
ReplyDeleteIt's part of who you are, and that's attractive.
DeleteI've heard the "shtr" pronunciation too, from the USA. I had a friend from New York who used to say it that way. I always thought of it as a very urban pronunciation.
ReplyDeleteAnd Southerners in the USA love to drop the "g" at the end of a word! I often do it myself.
Lazy tongue and teeth for the 'shtr', but the Southern accent is so pleasant to hear.
DeleteThe "g" in the south is so different from where I live.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to listen to different accents.
ReplyDeleteI recently had trouble with the "P" and was advised to pop it off and clean under it. I was surprised just how much fluff had gathered there. Some of the other keys should probably get a clean out too, but for now they are all still working. I've known a few people who said things like sing-ging and thought it was weird, but people speak they way they learn at home usually so I never said anything.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of junk under the keys is astonishing.
ReplyDelete