slang and HP - Reckon

[ovc88guelph]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Ali" <Ali at z...> wrote:
> > Steve BBoy asked:-
> > 
> > >>> I'm curious about the word 'reckon'. 
> >  
> >  Do people in Britain actually use that word as much as we see 
it in
> >  the book? 
  The word "reckon" didn't stand out to me at all. However, most 
Canadians would use "think" instead. When I read the books, it 
seemed as British as "jumper", but I'm afraid now that the seed of 
saying "reckin'" with a southern drawl has been planted in my brain, 
it will indeed stand out!
bboy_mn:
 
> using AS instead of SINCE (USA: Since it was getting late, we... 
UK:
> As it was getting late, we...)
> 
> Using AS WELL instead of TOO (UK:I like chocolate as well. USA: I 
like
> chocolate too.)
> 
> phrases like blimey, bloody, bleeding, ruddy, codswallop, Oy!, Oi!,
> gerroff, jumper instead of sweater, garden instead of yard or lawn,
> crikey, marks instead of grades, biscuits instead of cookies, 
pudding
> instead of desert, etc...
   It seems that north of 45 there is a blend of both American and 
British English. I'd use "as" or "since", "as well" 
or "too", "bloody", and "marks" without a second thought. 
Isn't "crikey" Australian? However, "fringe" instead of "bangs" made 
me pause. And I'm still not entirely sure what "treacle" is. I hope 
someone can enlighten me because I'm likely to form a lasting (and 
wrong) impression of, say, peanut brittle. I was recently shocked at 
seeing a recipe for Turkish Delight. I distinctly remember my second 
grade teacher telling me it was toffee, when I stumbled across the 
phrase in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". The same book made 
me the subject of some ridicule and embarassment in my mid-twenties 
when I staunchly insisted that beavers were fish eaters. (After all, 
Mr. Beaver fried up trout for the Pevensies. And why would they 
build those bloody damns, except to catch fish?) 

MMcK