If I have a training package to write, I often get away to a cottage, for a week or two, up in beautiful rural Norfolk (An English County). The idea is to escape the daily ‘sturm n’ drang’ and focus my mind on the job in hand. Well, that’s my excuse.
Recently, I took such a sabbatical. Each morning, I walk down to the newsagent, in the village, to pick up my morning paper. Over time, I have got to know the locals, quite well. On my daily trip to the village, it is not unusual for me to encounter, Ned, on his way to work on a local farm. We, always, pass the time of day but, sometimes, Ned will add some remark or comment. That’s when it gets a bit tricky for me. Here’s an example:
Ned said: “Hello Bor; how’re yer gorn on, tergether then Albert? Smur morning.” (And then, looking out over an adjacent field) “That wall Tom’s built is a bit on the sosh but e’ gev is snout a good ole fy-out. But thass a master good crop o’ tearters tho.”
A later translation, from a dialect-aware friend confirmed that what Ned had, actually, said was, “Good-morning Albert. How are you today? Misty/drizzly morning. (And then looking out over the adjacent field) That wall that Tom’s built is a bit uneven but he has cleared out his ditches very well. However, that’s a really good crop of potatoes.”
Ned’s mode of speech is an excellent example of a whole variety of regional accents and dialects represented in the UK. People living within 50 miles of each other, can often speak in quite a different way from each other. Apart from regional accents, the very words used in one part of the country, can be quite unfamiliar to people living elsewhere. My conversation, with Ned, is a case in point.
There are a myriad of dialect words, which enrich the language in different parts of the United Kingdom and used, only, in those areas. A Cornishman might refer to someone as being ‘Caky’, which means soft or feeble-minded. However, the word ‘Chacky’ means thirsty. The delightful word ‘Allycumpooster’ is used as an acknowledgement that something is OK or all right.
Words, in common dialectic use, in Yorkshire (Another English County), include ‘bait’, which means a snack, ‘beck’ is used to describe a stream or brook, ‘flags’ are regular paving stones and the word ‘ginnel’ identifies a narrow passageway. What is, perhaps, less well-known is that these expressions are derived from Old Norse words, which came into use during the Viking occupation of Britain.
Of course, regional accents and dialects are not just a UK phenomenon. Whatever part of the World you are from, you will be aware of the different modes of speech that are exhibited in your own country.
We are all intrigued by the enhancing, although sometimes baffling impact that such differences have on interpersonal communication.
But long may this enrichment of language continue
The range of regional accents and dialects contributed to the DNA of the following Training Package