.
There are all shades of English:
Scottish English,
Irish English,
Welsh English,
All with English in common.
But whether some was gotten
At an auction
Or boughten for a fraction
Is anybody’s guess.
I went out with a guy from Reading.
At the end of the date
Was my face red –
I had pardoned most everything he said.
He could have spoken Finnish,
It may have been Yiddish or Flemish
Or something in between,
But it certainly wasn’t English
As spoken by the queen.
.
©DGA 06 December 2011 15:04
Adeeyoyo's Blog 
06/12/2011 at 3:48 pm
ha. there may be days i dont speak english…smiles…i find the adjustment and dialects and coloquialisms interesting in language
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06/12/2011 at 4:00 pm
I wasn’t even considering South African, Australian or American English. Just English in the UK – but the accents sometimes stymie me (Scottish and Irish not too bad – it’s the British!!!).
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06/12/2011 at 5:24 pm
Sooo, the queen’s English is not so pure, as we have been led to believe.
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06/12/2011 at 7:31 pm
Maxi, I think when I (eventually) visit it will be like listening to a bunch of foreigners, lol!
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06/12/2011 at 5:30 pm
Language has the patience of a mother and resilience of rubber. As a child struggling to find expression, as a youth giving messages of love, or as an easy-chair scholar innovating expressions for his / her philosophy, the language melds itself into whatever mold you want to pour it. Still, in all its forms, raw or refined, it endeacours to somehow convey the meaning the heart intended. Gestures, tone and tenor, warmth of the touch are its accessories. It can even become the darling of the Queen by its mere simplicity and animated spirit. You have touched a wide gamut and I think I got the humour. I liked it Denise.
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06/12/2011 at 7:41 pm
Thank you, Sunamu. This post was written intending to humourously point out that, listening to the many different accents, it was sometimes like hearing a foreign language. One’s mind is of necessity continuously occupied with attempting translation of what one hears.
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06/12/2011 at 5:51 pm
This ‘ ere is proper Inglish, just like wot the Queen speaks!
That was a good’un Mrs D
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06/12/2011 at 7:45 pm
Thanks, Patrecia, I see you totally get the picture. 😆
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06/12/2011 at 6:26 pm
Denise, you left out American English, you would not recognize it, dialects by derelicts, idioms from idiots, and me I’m from New England…go fig ya..
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06/12/2011 at 7:47 pm
Hahaha, Jack. New England, lol. Is the other one Old England then?
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07/12/2011 at 7:49 am
Merry Olde England it be Lass.
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07/12/2011 at 1:11 pm
😀
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06/12/2011 at 6:38 pm
HAHA Denise. Like I thought it was so cool, man (or lady).
Some versions of English do make one wince, and some even I can’t understand.
John
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06/12/2011 at 7:50 pm
Now that’s what I wanted to hear, John. So now I know it’s not me, or my ears, that are at fault. I suppose you get used to, at least, the way people speak in the particular area in which you live. Thank you.
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06/12/2011 at 7:56 pm
Then there’s Online English.. LOL!
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06/12/2011 at 8:18 pm
Yes, that too, Jeannie. 😀
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06/12/2011 at 7:58 pm
I live in Miami, Florida, USA. I think there are 12 of us left that speak English(American). The rest is Spanish, Jamaican or Haitian patois and
too much “you are under arrest” police talk. The police often talk with
bullets instead of words. There is also politician talk: “I did not pedal influence or accept any bribes or favors and will be proven innocent.” Yeah, when Hades freezes over.
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06/12/2011 at 8:20 pm
My goodness, police English is really another story… especially the coded radio talk. 🙂
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06/12/2011 at 9:45 pm
Och, mon, English is a strange wee beastie full of dreek and dreck! 😉
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07/12/2011 at 4:05 am
Bwahaha, Nancy, ‘dreck’ is another good one. On googling it I now have found ‘threax’ Old English and ‘threakkr’ Old Norse, both meaning the same thing, lol! 😆 We will have a whole new dictionary soon…
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06/12/2011 at 10:05 pm
Lovely, Denise. I think there isn’t much in the way of English “as spoken by the queen” – certainly not around where I live (although there are a good many pretenders). I love
But whether some was gotten
At an auction
Or boughten for a fraction…
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07/12/2011 at 4:09 am
Thank you, Ruth. I am right there with you about the ‘pretenders’, lol. Sometimes one wonders how all these different sounds can originate from one source…
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06/12/2011 at 11:34 pm
This one made me kind of chuckle. It was fun. 🙂
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07/12/2011 at 4:11 am
I’m so glad, Liz. It was meant to be. 😀
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07/12/2011 at 12:06 am
Very funny 🙂 Incidentally, Phil’s from Reading…
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07/12/2011 at 4:12 am
Well, Kate, I needn’t ask you if you understand what he says, lol! 😕
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07/12/2011 at 12:07 am
….well. it was his university town.
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07/12/2011 at 4:17 am
😎
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07/12/2011 at 2:24 am
What about Aussie English Denise?
Good on ya mate, she’ll be right! Sanger is a sandwich, daks are trousers, flip flops are thongs (honest)!
Need I go on?
Everything is shortened and short words are lengthened!! Crazy!
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07/12/2011 at 4:21 am
I thought Aussie would be much like SA, but we have sarmie for sandwich. Flip flops stays the same, pants is for trousers, shorts and all including panties. And, of course, ja is yes. Thanks Barb. 😛
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07/12/2011 at 4:15 am
Ain’t nuttin til you seen dat dere South. (Yes, some people really do talk this way in the Southern US.) It is entertaining to find how many versions of English there are. Funny post, Denise.
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07/12/2011 at 4:23 am
Now that has a distinctive Jamaican sound, not what I would have thought of as USA English at all! Thanks, Andra. 🙄
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07/12/2011 at 8:28 am
I doubt I can speak any of the Queen’s english. Lovely take though.
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07/12/2011 at 12:32 pm
Thanks, Inzwakazi. I’m sure you can – and better than some, born and bred in England, lol!
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07/12/2011 at 8:42 am
hahaha – very funny adeeyoyo. Amazing how the English language can become so many different species – and thank goodness for that.
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07/12/2011 at 12:34 pm
I like your use of ‘species’, Gabe. Makes our world so much more interesting doesn’t it. 😛
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07/12/2011 at 6:38 pm
LOL!
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07/12/2011 at 7:45 pm
Lovely to see you, Cindy! 😀
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07/12/2011 at 10:50 pm
haha – excellent! When I first moved here many moons ago, I asked a client for a stiffy (yes, I’m showing my age) to transfer his data, not realising that “stiffy” = “erection” in Australian English – he was whitefaced and I was red 🙂
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08/12/2011 at 5:59 am
Bwahaha, Bb! We also said ‘stiffy’ – and it wasn’t that long ago – well, not really! 😆
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08/12/2011 at 1:19 am
I think different accents are highlighted in the regional accents of England. Many of them are so completely different from one another you would be forgiven for thinking you were in a diferent country. Very clever and funny poem!
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08/12/2011 at 6:01 am
Yes indeed, very different from one another is SO right! Thanks, Selma. 🙂
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08/12/2011 at 10:49 am
As a man blighted with a slightly bizarre mixture of North Welsh and Bristolian in my accent, I enjoyed this very much!
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08/12/2011 at 12:37 pm
i am so gad you liked it Benjamin. I am enjoying your blog very much, and am hoping to read more in the weekend.
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09/12/2011 at 8:43 pm
I can’t even understand my own S of E grandchildren!
Even the Queen has changed her English somewhat. – things like ‘my horses have done well’ instead of ‘may horses hev done well’..
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10/12/2011 at 12:54 am
Bwahahaha, Col. You have her down pat!
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