Ar ended up getting into an argument with a mardy wench last night, whilst Ar bin discussing some stuff. This arf soaked biddy decided to criticise my English on twitter, which Ar bin writing whilst ar bin drinkin points (proper kaylied) and writin and on a mobile - She really goron mar wick.
The point is, I'm really pissed off by people who try and preach a standardised English, it's a living, breathing language which can be altered, modified and played with by anyone, anywhere. The first paragraph of this blog post is in my native Brummie, something I have to cover up when teaching. Many students I have are amazed to hear that from my native Birmingham it's much more common to greet someone with 'Alright' and to say 'Ar' instead of 'I' or 'Yes'.
I accept the point that for academic purposes we must teach some partially standardised version (perhaps Mid-Atlantic English?) but to say out right one version of a language is better than another is something ridiculous.
So here I am declaring my pride in speaking my Brummie! If you fancy learning Brummie you can start by learning correct pronunciation by practicing this text (Thanks to MDS and the article here) - Brummie is italicised.
Birmingham is one of the largest cities in the United Kingdom. It is
berminggum is wun uv the Larges citays in the u-nyted kingdem. It is
probably most famous for the Bull Ring and Spaghetti Junction, but it has
pRRobebLay moest faymus fer the buLLRRingg und spegettee jungshun, but ittas
a lot more to offer. The National Exhibition Centre is a great source of
eLo- mor to offa. The nashnel eksibishun senta is a gRRayt sawss uv
pride to the local inhabitants and steps have been taken in recent years to
pRRoid te the lowkel in-abitents und steps av bin tayken in RResunt yeers to
improve the appearance of the city.
impRRoov the appeeRents uv the citay.
Above is quite a nice little video report produced about Birmingham and people's perceptions of the city.
The point is, I'm really pissed off by people who try and preach a standardised English, it's a living, breathing language which can be altered, modified and played with by anyone, anywhere. The first paragraph of this blog post is in my native Brummie, something I have to cover up when teaching. Many students I have are amazed to hear that from my native Birmingham it's much more common to greet someone with 'Alright' and to say 'Ar' instead of 'I' or 'Yes'.
I accept the point that for academic purposes we must teach some partially standardised version (perhaps Mid-Atlantic English?) but to say out right one version of a language is better than another is something ridiculous.
So here I am declaring my pride in speaking my Brummie! If you fancy learning Brummie you can start by learning correct pronunciation by practicing this text (Thanks to MDS and the article here) - Brummie is italicised.
Birmingham is one of the largest cities in the United Kingdom. It is
berminggum is wun uv the Larges citays in the u-nyted kingdem. It is
probably most famous for the Bull Ring and Spaghetti Junction, but it has
pRRobebLay moest faymus fer the buLLRRingg und spegettee jungshun, but ittas
a lot more to offer. The National Exhibition Centre is a great source of
eLo- mor to offa. The nashnel eksibishun senta is a gRRayt sawss uv
pride to the local inhabitants and steps have been taken in recent years to
pRRoid te the lowkel in-abitents und steps av bin tayken in RResunt yeers to
improve the appearance of the city.
impRRoov the appeeRents uv the citay.
Above is quite a nice little video report produced about Birmingham and people's perceptions of the city.
I came across your blog via the My Search for Real Poland blog and your blog title caught my eye - mainly for the fact I knew exactly what yow wos torking abowt!! Bosting stuff!! I av nevver sin mardy roate dowun befooare and it reelly med me smoile!!
ReplyDeleteI live pretty near to Brum (near Cannock) and I loved to see some local dialect being used. I don't like the way that Brummie dialect is sometimes frowned upon as though it's a bad way to talk. It's not - just as any other regional dialect is!
Anyway, I'm going off the point as I came over to visit your blog as my late grandfather was Polish and I have a biaised interest in all things Poland. I'm trying to learn the language but it's slow going but I'll get there eventually!
Ruth :)
Bloody good lad. Couldn't agree more! it wasnt until Samuel Johnson came along with his bleeding "dictionary" that English became standardised. The greater openness the better, it encourages creativity and innovation in expression. I think the UK should be very proud of its immense linguistic and cultural diversity.
ReplyDeleteRight on, me owld muckah!
@Ruth - My family comes from very close to Cannock, small town called Burntwood (small world eh?) and yeah I agree about the brummie accent not having the most highest of regards although generally, it's popular with my students here in Poland. Although they could just be saying that to please me!
ReplyDeletePolish is fiendishly difficult, don't put too much pressure on yourself and you'll do fine. It really does start to come to you after a while and as soon as you get a feel for Polish all of the slavic languages will open up to you :)
@Paddy - Yeah, I grew up in a town called Lichfield, the only famous residents were the captain of the Titanic and Samuel Johnson. If I could go back in time i'd burn his bloody dictionary :)
Ever seen the blackadder episode where that happend?
Yeah, I've seen that episode of Blackadder ;)
ReplyDeleteSo to be specific you're not a brummie but a yam-yam if your family is from the cannock area? am I correct?
You wanna know what I think?
ReplyDeleteBrummie is sexy! I live in birmingham for over now three years.
best city, cool people!
Fair fuckin fucks to ya man, tellin it like it is. I'm fuckin sick of gombeens tellin me me Irish English is a load of muck and no good for nothing. It's as good as any other, so it is. Anyone in Poland I chat the face off luv the fact that I have an Irish accent, don't mince me words and confuse the livin bejaysus outta dem. Fair dues, fair joos, fair dust, fair jews, fair juice, fair dews. By the way, I don't actually speak like the above. That's just a sample of the horse manure you might hear on the main street of my hometown in Ireland on any given day.
ReplyDelete@Damien, I know how you feel buddy ;)
ReplyDeleteI know many a woman who like a good irish accent. I might even try to learn it ;) Although I'm sure I wouldn't fool many people!
@Natalya Thats definitely the first time I've heard that...
God and then there's me : a bloody southerner :) Home counties born and bred. But after living in in both Northern Ireland and Poland my accents a bit mixed up these days :)
ReplyDelete