Rare Dialects

[James Smith]

Going to my first real job interview, I deplaned in Midland TX and got into a cab for the ride to the hotel.  The driver turned around and spoke to me.  What he said was unintelligible.  It wasn't Spanish or heavily Spanish accented English, nor any other foreign accent recognizable to me.  I asked him to please repeat (at least I think I was polite).  I didn't get it the second time.  The third time was the charm.  Even on the third try I didn't catch every word, but enough to know that he was simply asking me where I wanted to go.  This was a white male, about 40 years of age.

James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.


--- On Sun, 2/22/09, Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> From: Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: Rare Dialects
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date: Sunday, February 22, 2009, 8:00 AM
> On Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 9:11 PM, David Metevia
> <djmetevia at chartermi.net> wrote:
> > Are there examples in the US of AmE dialects so
> isolated from the
> > mainstream that most of us would have difficulty
> communicating?
>
> When I lived in Boston ('85-'89), I remember
> hearing some Black
> English that I could only pick words out of.
>
> --
> Randy Alexander
> Jilin City, China
> My Manchu studies blog:
> http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org