On Wed, 13 Dec 2000 14:28:40 -0500, Ian Adkins wrote:
>"Whit he
>meant wis, O fa dee dee dee?"
I didn't have the impression it was anywhere near as easy to understand as
this example would indicate.
I was cruising aroung the city of Aberdeen looking for a place to buy a
weather proof cigarette lighter for my motorcycle. Any remembering the
accient custom of "smoking" will appreciate the difficulty of lighting up
at speed on that long, lone dreadful ride from Abredeen to Edinburgh.
It occured to me that tracters might use them and I rolled down to the
market & tractor sales section of town, into a dealership & up to the parts
window. The feller behind the counter was calling back to someone in
Chinese or Swahili or Aberdeenshire or something.
Now I'd heard Auld Davie Stewart sing when both he & I were well into the
festive Spirit (and I don't think he had his wallies in, either) and I've
heard George W Bush and Dan Quayle speak of intellectual matters and I've
heard Geordie but I'm sure I never heard anything less like human
communication than from this otherwise pleasant feller from the Shire.
I was fishing around for a pencil & paper to draw out what I was looking
for. I was sure I'd need it. He then turned to me, glanced quickly at my
non-Wellied feet, made an instant & accurate assessment as to my linguistic
capabilities and said, "Yes sir, may I help you?" BBC Standard, of course.
It's a lovely ability for bi-lingual people ("Ebonics," eg) to speak
standard or local as the situation or the joke requires.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -
I am Abby Sale - in Orlando, Florida
Boycott South Carolina!
http://www.naacp.org/communications/press_releases/SCEconomic2.asp
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