Tag archives: regionalisms
Sound and fury: cockney ducks and mimicking politicians
Language has always been more fashion than science: as Bill Bryson once said, the way we use it ‘wanders around like hemlines’. A couple of weeks ago, the Washington newspaper the Olympian ran an article headed ‘When visiting the South, please leave fake accent at home’. Its writer, Kathleen Parker, finds political charlatan accents among [...]
Canadian English: part two
Canadianisms Far more than any other country, Canadians are known for turning their statements into rhetorical questions by adding eh? to the end, or even the middle, of a sentence. It’s a useful way to involve the listener in what is being said, whether by inviting agreement or just by checking to see whether the [...]
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