language change again

[Stuart Campbell]

Can't resist another contribution, but a bit off the focus.

My young relatives in Watford use "well" as a sort of intensifying adverb.
The historical development is probabably:
well + participle (positive attribute): well played
well + participle (negative attribute): well pissed
(at which point it becomes merely an intensifier)
well + adjective: well nice, well stupid
Phonologically, the final l seems always to be pronounced as a bilabial
glide, not a lateral.

Back to irony: I get the sense in England that there is an ironic
satisfaction among young professionals in introducing non-standard elements
into their language - result of the social churning that has occurred since
Thatcher's time?

Sydney adolescents use "heaps" (heaps good etc).

I'll shut up now.

Stuart Campbell