Regional accents

[Charles Doyle]

Texas longhorns use double moodals.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:38:55 -0500
>From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>Subject: Regional accents
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

>
>How did I miss this one for so long?  Prompted by today's "Sylvia"
>daily comic strip.
>
>>Daily Mail
>>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401843&in_page_id=1770
>>Cows with regional accents? Pull the udder one
>>By ANDREW LEVY Last updated at 22:37pm on 22nd August 2006
>>
>>hey have one word in their vocabulary and it's a single syllable at that.
>>
>>But farmers claim cows appear to 'moo' in regional accents, despite
>>their limited conversational skills.
>>
>>Herds in the West Country have been heard lowing with a distinctive
>>Somerset twang - prompting some to claim the sound is more 'moo-arr' than moo.
>>
>>Brummie accents have been noticed in the Midlands, while Geordie
>>tones abound in Tyne and Wear and there are overtones of Estuary
>>English around the South East.
>>
>>A similar phenomenon has previously been noticed among wild birds,
>>which twitter in different accents depending on what part of the
>>country they are from.
>>
>>The difference with the bovine version is that cattle are believed
>>to be picking up their owners' accents and may even be passing them
>>on to their calves.
>>
>>The regional twangs were first noticed by members of the West
>>Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers group. Members spend hours with their
>>herds making sure they are wearing cow coats and playing them classical music.
>>
>>The practice is supposed to contribute towards the local cheddar's
>>distinctive flavour.  [Must be Wensleydale.]
>
>[more on the web page]
>
>Crows, with a much larger vocabulary than cows, also have regional
>differences, but I guess they should be called dialects, not
>accents.  Crows in Europe do not understand the calls of crows from
>North America, and vice versa.  Scientific American, some time in the
>1950s I think.
>
>Joel

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