LL-L: "Language survival" LOWLANDS-L, 22.FEB.2001 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.FEB.2001 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Language survival"

> In English, if people here a word or phrase they like - for what ever
> reason- on TV or read it in a well known best-seller they may adopt it. No
> one seems to object. How many cockney phrases or Americanisms
> etc. are used
> up and down the british Isles because of (London based) TV? Do this with
> Scots and the critics are down on you like a ton o bricks.

I'd say little or no Cockney gets into other dialects via TV.
The reason London expressions spread is because there are so
many Londoners on the island as compared to anybody else.

Certainly there's a popular long-running Cockney soap and
various other programmes by Londoners (again expected as
there are so many Londoners), but there are also similar
and even longer-running soaps from the north west of England,
and nobody in Scotland starts talking like that.

You should also note that there is very little Cockney spoken
on TV. One complaint I do often here from the Londoners down
here is that the Cockney of "Eastenders" has been grossly
anglified so that the rest of the nation can understand -
pretty much in the way that programmes by what should be
Scots speakers are heavily anglified for non-Scots.

Because of the ongoing tradition of rhyming slang in Cockney
many speakers are not only incomprehensible to people from
other parts of the island but sometimes trip each other up
because new expressions continually arise and immediately
become accepted as standard by those who have heard them. A
couple of young chaps from London I work with and who know
"all" the rhyming slang, recently overheard someone in a
London bar asking for a "couple of Nelsons". They were
stumped until they saw the barman reaching for the Stella
Artois!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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