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Monthly Archives: June 2013
Dialectal “Bitch” (circa 1898)
I doubt one could pinpoint the moment English-speakers started using the derogatory sense of “bitch” (meaning, roughly, “ill-tempered woman”). Given our awful tendency toward misogynistic coinages, people probably called female humans “bitches” all of five minutes after they started using … Continue reading
Singapore English (Vs. “Singlish”)
If I could nominate a “dialect of the 21st Century,” I would probably go with Singapore English, a native English dialect spectrum spoken in a region with few competitors (for nearly 1/3 of Singaporeans, English is the primary language spoken at … Continue reading
Anglicized Spanish (British vs. American)
While watching an old episode of Absolutely Fabulous last night, I was struck by the way a British character pronounced the Spanish wine rioja. In Spanish orthography, the j represents a velar fricative (the guttural consonant in Scottish ‘Loch‘). The character on … Continue reading
“You’re Causing a Row”
[Update: I have added a few additional comments about “causing a row” at the end of this post] While watching Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby the other day, I was struck by the climactic scene in which Tom Buchanan barks, “What kind of a … Continue reading
“Fourth Person:” You, One, Y’All
In most English speaker’s everyday language, “you” can represent an indefinite referent. That is, when I say “you never can tell” I don’t mean that you, the specific person I’m talking to, never can tell, but rather that “somebody never can … Continue reading
“Interstate Farty-Far” (St. Louis English)
It’s easy to prematurely assume that certain rare American dialect features have become extinct. Such is the case with St. Louis‘ “Interstate Farty-Far” quirk, whereby words like “for” and “born ” are pronounced more or less as “far” and “barn” … Continue reading