Anglicisms

[Robin Hamilton]

Wilson said:

> However, I had in mind the speech of a friend who is a native of
> Ipswich and who uses
>
> "I reckon NP"
>
> in stead of
>
> "I fancy NP"
>
> or
>
> "I like NP"

Ah, with you now Wilson.  I wouldn't say, "I reckon NP," but I might say
(and I'd certainly understand), "I rate NP," which seems a pretty parallel
construct.  But in either case (semi-)formal-colloquial rather than Formal
Written Standard English.

>> "Pa??erson, sir, with two t's."
>
> How quaint! In New Jersey, USA, the name of the city of Pa?erson is
> spelled with only a single t, to wit, _Paterson_. ;-)

Hm ...  It's not quite a simple spelling variant in Glasgow.  The name can
be spelled both ways (and guessing, I'd think the single-t spelling is the
more frequent of the two -- certainly how Bill Paterson, the actor, spells
his) but however spelled would be pronounced with a double-glottal-stop, in
contrast to /wa?er/, which would always and only be pronounced with a single
glottal stop.  Assuming, of course, the glottal-stop pronunciation register
in the first place.

At least so it seems to me when I run the words through my head.

Robin

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