"Is it" appended to questions

[Joel S. Berson]

Wilson, were those Brit-speakers Welsh?

Lynne, do you exclude everyone else when you say "Is it?" is South
African?  (Please ignore speakers of 'izzit' or 'innit'; they're not
what I'm looking for.)

Do I have to rent tapes of movies starting with the 40's set in
Wales, where they say "is it?" and sing?

At 5/12/2007 11:39 PM, you wrote:
>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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>
>--
>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
>------
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>
>                                           Rumanian proverb
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