"Is it" appended to questions

[Wilson Gray]

I've heard it in Britspeak in a restricted set of dialogues like the following:

Why, John! It's a pleasure to see you, again!

Not at all, dear fellow! My pleasure! (It's) Wilson Gray, is it?

-Wilson

On 5/12/07, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "Is it" appended to questions
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I meant an "is it" appended to questions.
>
> In my instance, the writer definitely knew that the person went to
> Harvard.  I understand the writer's "is it" as reiterating the
> question, as in "You're embarrassed because ...? Is that it?"
>
> Joel
>
> At 5/12/2007 12:20 PM, you wrote:
> > >A friend wrote me in email
> > >
> > >>I hadn't heard anything about the story.  However, I assume that you
> > >>sympathize with him even though you may be embarrassed that he lives
> > >>in Arlington and went to Harvard, is it?
> > >
> > >What regions/dialects is such an "is it" regional to?  Welsh, for one?
> > >
> > >Joel
> > >~~~~~~~~~
> >  Without being quite sure what you mean by "_such_ an 'is it' ",  my guess
> >in this case is that the "is it" only applies to Harvard: that the writer
> >isn't entirely certain that it mightn't be BU or MIT.
> >AM
> >^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >Cut & Run? ........... You bet!
> >^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
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>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens
------
The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.

                                           Rumanian proverb

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