"rough around the ages"

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Jan 29, 2009, at 5:10 AM, Ann Burlingham wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ann Burlingham <ann at BURLINGHAMBOOKS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "rough around the ages"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 1:18 PM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
> wrote:
>
>>  More punk than folk, Bragg's forcefully strummed guitar and rough-
>> around-the- ages vocals (not to mention thick Cockney accent) belie
>> his keen sense of ...
>> www.fegmania.org/archives/fegmaniax/2005/v14.n261
>
> Of course I can't let my Billy Bragg obsession pass - Cockney? Or
> other? I'm willing to believe, but I also think USAns often think any
> working class British accent = Cockney.

well, Bragg's home territory is the London borough of Barking and
Dagenham (he was born in Barking before it was transferred from Essex
to London). the area is in east London, but further out than the
traditional Cockney areas, though features of Cockney speech have,
apparently, spread to Dagenham.

so "Cockney" might not be too far off.

arnold

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