=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= EDline Vol. 8, no. 90 (8 September 2003) Editorial mailing list (digest version) Published by the Electric Editors =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Contents: Q & A [2yr] Slang and abbreviations [Offshoot of [2yk] Keeping a text's local flavor] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ---[2]-- Q & A -------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: Anna McCormack, mccormack@goulburn.net.au I do know that my household's is collected by the 'garbos', not the 'rubbos' or 'trashos' (when they aren't being waste disposal executives or sanitation officers or whatever). :)) Talking about garbos: I've heard it said that the common habit here of abbreviating words and sticking 'o' on the end is an Australian idiom (e.g. garbo, reffo, rego, milko, fruito---aka garbage collector, refugee, motor vehicle registration, milk vendor, fruit vendor). But then, we tend to claim various expressions as 'Australian' when actually they aren't. Is the 'o' habit found elsewhere? ---------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: Christine Shuttleworth, cshuttle@dircon.co.uk In the UK it does seem to be regarded as typically Australian. Rupert Murdoch introduced the term 'journos' for journalists, which has caught on to some extent. On the other hand, on Copyediting-L recently, which is largely US-dominated, someone used the term 'arvo' for afternoon, and at least one US editor was baffled. I think most of us in the UK would have been familiar with it. One factor may be that we get the Australian TV soaps, such as Neighbours, and the Americans apparently don't. Older people may not watch Neighbours, but teenagers do pick up these terms. ---------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: Robert Ritter, robert.ritter@oxcis.ac.uk A particularly childish form of Oxford slang once accomplished much the same thing, but with '-er' or '-ers' rather than '-o'. Most of the usage was parochial: St Giles' Street became 'the Giler' and the Martyrs' Memorial became something like the 'Marters Memugger'. Most of it finally died out in the post-*Brideshead* era, but two forms---for rugby football and association football---remain as 'rugger' and 'soccer'. ---------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: Steve Rickaby, srickaby@wordmongers.demon.co.uk Anna McCormack wrote: > Older people may not watch Neighbours, but teenagers do pick up > these terms. And the intonation, too, unfortunately. Modern English Yoofspeak places an Antipodean rising inton*ation* and meaningless *emphasis* that sounds like a *question* not only at the end of *sentences*, but also on nouns ^as as well as phrases^(?). That one series may have shifted an entire spoken language further in one generation than ever before: the power of the media. Although perhaps not: listening to BBC archives as recent as the 60s or early 70s reveals the residues of Received Pronunciation, of which we are well rid. ---------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: Christine Shuttleworth, cshuttle@dircon.co.uk Robert Ritter wrote: > A particularly childish form of Oxford slang once accomplished > much the same thing, but with '-er' or '-ers' rather than '-o'. > Most of the usage was parochial I can report that vestiges of this irritating slang survived into the early 1960s when I was at Oxford. It was usually employed by the 'hearties', as the loud-mouthed sportsmen were known. One feature of it was that words to which '-ers' was attached were for some reason also preceded by 'Harry'. Thus, 'Have some Harry champers' (champagne), or 'he was Harry starkers' (stark naked). These two forms (champers and starkers) still survive too. ---------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: Anna McCormack, mccormack@goulburn.net.au Steve Rickaby wrote: > That one series may have shifted an entire spoken language > further in one generation than ever before: the power of the > media. I beg leave to differ. Modern English Yoofspeak among teenage girls nowadays is aping a die-away world-weary American accent, gathered (I am told) from various US soaps for that age group. The rising inflection was chiefly a female thing. We are witnessing its passing (though I don't know if the change is for the better). ---------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: David Ibbetson, isserlis@rogers.com Steve Rickaby wrote: > listening to BBC archives as recent as the 60s or early 70s > reveals the residues of Received Pronunciation, of which we are > well rid. RP didn't/doesn't go in for misleading rising tones &c. It was understood by all English speakers, even if some of them, not being able to speak it, called it by rude names. I much prefer it to each group having their own dialect and Canadian announcers who's first language is clearly neither English nor French and who affect to speak English as it is spoken in some non-English-speaking country. ---------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: Anna McCormack, mccormack@goulburn.net.au Do 'Twickers' (Twickenham) and 'preggers' (pregnant) survive? ---------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2003 From: Steve Rickaby, srickaby@wordmongers.demon.co.uk David Ibbetson wrote: > RP didn't/doesn't go in for misleading rising tones &c. It was > understood by all English speakers, even if some of them, not > being able to speak it, called it by rude names... Did I imply that it did? If I did, I didn't mean to. Also while in grovel mode, I would like to point out that have no problem whatsoever with Antipodean inflection, as long as it's used by Ozzies and Kiwis. When the girl in Boots asks me 'Do you have an Advantage *card* ^at all^?', my teeth grate, my legs tremble, my spirits drop and my heart sinks - all of which is pretty disabling. Anna McCormack wrot that is > I beg leave to differ. Modern English Yoofspeak among teenage > girls nowadays is aping a die-away world-weary American accent, > gathered (I am told) from various US soaps for that age group. Regional variations, maybe? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= END OF EDline 8.90 E-mail address for posting messages or replies: < edline-digest@electriceditors.net > Admin page: < http://www.electriceditors.net/edline/admin.htm > ** The views expressed in this mailing list are strictly those of the individual contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the moderators or of the Electric Editors. ** Articles (c) 2003, by individual contributors Design (c) 1996--2003 Iain Brown Compilation (c) 2003 Iain Brown / The Electric Editors =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=