Idioms and slang (was: English slang (semi- sorta on topic))

[Richard]

No: HPFGUIDX 80477

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jeffl1965" <jeffl1965 at h...> 
wrote:
>    Also, while we're on regions, it should be noted that for years 
> the Londoners always considered the Northerers, from Merseyside and 
> Liverpool and all Cockney's to be savages. Speaking cockney or 
> scouse, was considered to be a sign of lower intelligence, so Ron 
> would be considered to be a dolt. However, since the Weasleys are 
> from near Devon, iirc, I don't really think they'd speak like that, 
> but then again, they use Oi a lot, so maybe they do have a thick 
> accent. Comments?
> 
>   Jeff

There is a very interesting book that might be worth your time, 
should you be seriously interested in understanding the dialects uses 
throughout England.  The is _An_Atlas_of_English_Dialects_, by Clive 
Upton and J.D.A. Widdowson.

This book (which I picked up in Bath while visiting on business) 
cried out to me from a bookstore, insisting upon being bought.  It is 
a product of the Survey of English Dialects, and presents English 
dialects as they were roughly in the middle of the Twentieth 
Century.  The primary articles discuss 90 common English words in a 
single page of text, with an accompanying full-page map showing the 
distribution of alternate words and pronunciations.  There are at 
least twice as many additional words and alternatives discussed in 
the bodies of these one-page articles, though, so I'd say there are 
something well over 270+ words covered.

The maps show the distribution of said usage for all of England 
proper, the Isle of Man and a small portion of Wales (Monmouthshire, 
Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Newport).  Scotland is NOT included.

There is a long and interesting bibliography that should also be 
examined.

Now, why is this relevant and on-topic?  Well, if you are patient and 
have a decent amount of conversation from an older character (such as 
Hagrid), you can pretty well pin down where he is from.  With a copy 
of _Atlas_of_English_Sounds_ (which I don't have, but had a chance to 
glance at over twenty years ago ... and wish I'd picked up a copy), 
your chances of identifying a speakers origins are even better.  With 
even more patience, lots of work, etc., you could probably map the 
origins of most older, and many younger characters, with only the 
dialectic and pronunciation clues from a few lines of speech.  In 
particular, I'd like to see someone place Hogsmeade, so we could know 
almost precise where Hogwarts is located.


Richard (who regrettably doesn't have the time for this kind of 
research, at the moment)