'I wrote 2U B4'! British Library shows up textspeak as soooo 19th century
New exhibition features Victorian poems written like text messages, the rise of RP, and battles over the letter H
Mark Brown
Wednesday 18 August 2010
... The show will demonstrate how quickly language can change (does anyone today give a second thought to asking for a latte?), and how the same debates and fears crop up time and again. For example, one of the exhibits will be Jonathan Swift's Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue, from 1712, in which he angrily suggests that English is in chaos and a state-sanctioned group of experts is needed to "fix" it for ever. ...
... A good chunk of the exhibition will look at how repeated attempts have been made to improve the way we speak English. The well-intentioned Victorian pamphlet Poor Letter H advised its mostly lower middle class readers that if they really want to get on in life, they should be saying house, not 'ouse, and head, not 'ead.
But the book also says the H should remain silent in words such as hospital and herb. Jonnie Robinson, the British Library's curator of sociolinguistics, said these words are only pronounced as they are now because of the mania for not dropping the H. "Our middle class anxieties of the 19th century have inserted an H because you got clipped round the ear if you dropped one." ...
... One exhibit will be a BBC pronunciation guide from 1928, in which broadcasters are told to pronounce combat as cumbat and housewifery as huzzifry.
There will be examples of the linguistic games people played, and a poem from Gleanings From the Harvest-Fields of Literature, published in 1867. In it, 130 years before the arrival of mobile phone texting, Charles C Bombaugh uses phrases such as "I wrote 2 U B 4". Another verse reads: "He says he loves U 2 X S,/ U R virtuous and Y's,/ In X L N C U X L/ All others in his i's." ...
Captain Grose et al.
1811 DICTIONARY OF THE VULGAR TONGUE.
A DICTIONARY OF BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT,
AND
PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE.
UNABRIDGED FROM THE ORIGINAL 1811 EDITION WITH A FOREWORD BY
ROBERT CROMIE
COMPILED ORIGINALLY BY CAPTAIN GROSE.
AND NOW CONSIDERABLY ALTERED AND ENLARGED, WITH THE MODERN
CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS, BY A MEMBER OF THE WHIP CLUB.
ASSISTED BY HELL-FIRE DICK, AND JAMES GORDON, ESQRS. OF
CAMBRIDGE; AND WILLIAM
SOAMES, ESQ. OF THE HON. SOCIETY OF NEWMAN'S HOTEL.
Ta much, dear Edosan
College professors are anything but LOL at their students' recent writing habits.
Not only are instructors not laughing out loud — shortened to LOL in text messages and online chats — at the technology-oriented shorthand that has seeped into academic papers, many of them also sternly telling students to stop using the new language even in less formal writing.
The shorthand often consists of shortened variations of common words — "u" instead of you, or "ur" for your. Text speak may be appropriate for a quick note to a friend, but professors are increasingly stymied by how casually students are using the terms.
"Despite the fact that I happen to be perfectly capable of reading any incoherent drivel you may send to my (e-mail) inbox directly from your phone keypad, 'wut up ya I cnt make it 2 clss lol' is insanely unprofessional," reads the syllabus of Alejo Enriquez, a Cal State East Bay instructor.
"Therefore, I am imposing a higher standard of grammar, spelling, and use of the enter key upon you and kindly request that all e-mails sent to me resemble any other letter to your teacher, supervisor, grandparents or parole officer."
Faculty members increasingly have expressed irritation about reading acronyms and abbreviations they often do not understand, said Sally Murphy, a Cal State East Bay professor and director of the university's general-education program. One e-mail to a professor started with, "Yo, teach," she said.
"It has a real effect on the tone of professionalism," said Murphy, who also has seen younger instructors use the shorthand. "We tell them very specifically how this is going to affect them in life. It's kind of like wearing their jeans below their butt. They're going to lose all credibility."
The introduction of such casual language into term papers is a sea change from the days when nearly all students addressed their instructors as "professor" or "doctor." More faculty members ask students to call them by their first names, but many are drawing the line at texting shorthand or even emoticons — smiley faces made out of punctuation marks. ...
Not only are instructors not laughing out loud — shortened to LOL in text messages and online chats — at the technology-oriented shorthand that has seeped into academic papers, many of them also sternly telling students to stop using the new language even in less formal writing.
The shorthand often consists of shortened variations of common words — "u" instead of you, or "ur" for your. Text speak may be appropriate for a quick note to a friend, but professors are increasingly stymied by how casually students are using the terms.
"Despite the fact that I happen to be perfectly capable of reading any incoherent drivel you may send to my (e-mail) inbox directly from your phone keypad, 'wut up ya I cnt make it 2 clss lol' is insanely unprofessional," reads the syllabus of Alejo Enriquez, a Cal State East Bay instructor.
"Therefore, I am imposing a higher standard of grammar, spelling, and use of the enter key upon you and kindly request that all e-mails sent to me resemble any other letter to your teacher, supervisor, grandparents or parole officer."
Faculty members increasingly have expressed irritation about reading acronyms and abbreviations they often do not understand, said Sally Murphy, a Cal State East Bay professor and director of the university's general-education program. One e-mail to a professor started with, "Yo, teach," she said.
"It has a real effect on the tone of professionalism," said Murphy, who also has seen younger instructors use the shorthand. "We tell them very specifically how this is going to affect them in life. It's kind of like wearing their jeans below their butt. They're going to lose all credibility."
The introduction of such casual language into term papers is a sea change from the days when nearly all students addressed their instructors as "professor" or "doctor." More faculty members ask students to call them by their first names, but many are drawing the line at texting shorthand or even emoticons — smiley faces made out of punctuation marks. ...
USA Translation To Jamaican
By Donmerican
Published Mar 1, 2003
... USA: Hors d'oeuvres.
JA: Ah wah dis likkle sinting yuh a gi me?
USA: I think something is wrong with Susan, she might have the flu.
JA: Lawd Gad, obeah tek up Suzie!
USA: Girl, those shoes are the bomb.
JA: Gyal, yuh roach killa dem a seh one out deh.
USA: Oh my gosh, I just broke Mom's expensive plate.
JA: Lawd mi Gad, mi bruk up Mama stoosh crackry.
USA: Aren't those pants a bit short?
JA: Yuh did a expect flood ar yuh tek yuh measurement inna wata?
USA: Why are you squeezing the mangoes like that?
JA: Lissen mi nuh, mi a beg yuh stap fingle-fingle up di mango dem.
USA: Sir, please don't throw my luggage like that.
JA: Aye buff teet bwoy, tap fling up-fling up mi bag dem suh [so] man.
USA: I wish you would quit lying.
JA: Tap di blinkin lyin, yuh ole liyad.
USA: Lift the hood off the car for me, John.
JA: Hey my yute, fly di bonnet! ...
By Donmerican
Published Mar 1, 2003
... USA: Hors d'oeuvres.
JA: Ah wah dis likkle sinting yuh a gi me?
USA: I think something is wrong with Susan, she might have the flu.
JA: Lawd Gad, obeah tek up Suzie!
USA: Girl, those shoes are the bomb.
JA: Gyal, yuh roach killa dem a seh one out deh.
USA: Oh my gosh, I just broke Mom's expensive plate.
JA: Lawd mi Gad, mi bruk up Mama stoosh crackry.
USA: Aren't those pants a bit short?
JA: Yuh did a expect flood ar yuh tek yuh measurement inna wata?
USA: Why are you squeezing the mangoes like that?
JA: Lissen mi nuh, mi a beg yuh stap fingle-fingle up di mango dem.
USA: Sir, please don't throw my luggage like that.
JA: Aye buff teet bwoy, tap fling up-fling up mi bag dem suh [so] man.
USA: I wish you would quit lying.
JA: Tap di blinkin lyin, yuh ole liyad.
USA: Lift the hood off the car for me, John.
JA: Hey my yute, fly di bonnet! ...
19th century manly slang
Cory Doctorow at 11:17 PM March 16, 2010
From The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man, an absolutely delightful "Dictionary of Manly 19th Century Vernacular." Some of my faves:
... Fimble-Famble. A lame, prevaricating excuse.
Gentleman of Four Outs. When a vulgar, blustering fellow asserts that he is a gentleman, the retort generally is, " Yes, a Gentleman Of Four Outs"--that is, without wit, without money, without credit, and without manners.
O'clock. "Like One O'clock," a favorite comparison with the lower orders, implying briskness; otherwise "like winkin'." "To know what's O'clock" is to be wide-awake, sharp, and experienced.
Rumbumptious. Haughty, pugilistic.
Snotter, or Wipe-hauler. A pickpocket whose chief fancy is for gentlemen's pocket-handkerchiefs.
Tune the Old Cow Died of. An epithet for any ill-played or discordant piece of music.
Ta much, dear Ar0cketman
Cory Doctorow at 11:17 PM March 16, 2010
From The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man, an absolutely delightful "Dictionary of Manly 19th Century Vernacular." Some of my faves:
... Fimble-Famble. A lame, prevaricating excuse.
Gentleman of Four Outs. When a vulgar, blustering fellow asserts that he is a gentleman, the retort generally is, " Yes, a Gentleman Of Four Outs"--that is, without wit, without money, without credit, and without manners.
O'clock. "Like One O'clock," a favorite comparison with the lower orders, implying briskness; otherwise "like winkin'." "To know what's O'clock" is to be wide-awake, sharp, and experienced.
Rumbumptious. Haughty, pugilistic.
Snotter, or Wipe-hauler. A pickpocket whose chief fancy is for gentlemen's pocket-handkerchiefs.
Tune the Old Cow Died of. An epithet for any ill-played or discordant piece of music.
Ta much, dear Ar0cketman
1811 DICTIONARY OF THE VULGAR TONGUE.
A DICTIONARY OF BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT, AND PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE.
UNABRIDGED FROM THE ORIGINAL 1811 EDITION WITH A FOREWORD BY ROBERT CROMIE
COMPILED ORIGINALLY BY CAPTAIN GROSE.
AND NOW CONSIDERABLY ALTERED AND ENLARGED, WITH THE MODERN CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS, BY A MEMBER OF THE WHIP CLUB.
ASSISTED BY HELL-FIRE DICK, AND JAMES GORDON, ESQRS. OF CAMBRIDGE; AND WILLIAM SOAMES, ESQ. OF THE HON. SOCIETY OF NEWMAN'S HOTEL. ...
I ask you, Gentle Categorian, how in hell could this be anything but fuckin' excellent?
Ta much, dear Ar0cketman
A DICTIONARY OF BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT, AND PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE.
UNABRIDGED FROM THE ORIGINAL 1811 EDITION WITH A FOREWORD BY ROBERT CROMIE
COMPILED ORIGINALLY BY CAPTAIN GROSE.
AND NOW CONSIDERABLY ALTERED AND ENLARGED, WITH THE MODERN CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS, BY A MEMBER OF THE WHIP CLUB.
ASSISTED BY HELL-FIRE DICK, AND JAMES GORDON, ESQRS. OF CAMBRIDGE; AND WILLIAM SOAMES, ESQ. OF THE HON. SOCIETY OF NEWMAN'S HOTEL. ...
I ask you, Gentle Categorian, how in hell could this be anything but fuckin' excellent?
Ta much, dear Ar0cketman
Give me a friggin' break, you puritanical moron. Languages are living things, and living things change. Read some history: check out the Frogistanis' outrage at English words' entering their language, and their attempts to "Keep the French language pure." Pah! They no more succeeded than the absurd de-Frenching of the Yankistani tongue when shrub jr started the Iraq and Afghan wars.
There is no such thing as a pure language, just as racial purity is a fallacy.
There is no such thing as a pure language, just as racial purity is a fallacy.
psilanthropism
"the teaching that Jesus was entirely human," c.1810, from Gk. psilanthropos "merely human," from psilos "naked, bare, mere" + anthropos "man" (see anthropo-).
"the teaching that Jesus was entirely human," c.1810, from Gk. psilanthropos "merely human," from psilos "naked, bare, mere" + anthropos "man" (see anthropo-).
... The words include fornale, to spend one’s money before it has been earned; cagg, a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; and petrichor, the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.
A stridewallop, is a Yorkshire term for a tall and awkward woman, while shot clog is an Elizabethan term for a drinking companion only tolerated because he pays for the round. Meanwhile, a deipnosophist is a Jacobean word for a skillful dinner conversationalist.
Yorkshire cements its reputation as a county responsible for some of the English language's richest words by coining crambazzled, used to describe someone who is prematurely aged through drink and a dissolute life.
English words from overseas are also included, such as twack, a Newfoundland English word. Twacks are shoppers who look at goods, inquire about the prices but never buy anything.
In his introduction, the author writes: "As a self-confessed bowerbird (one who collects an astonishing array of sometimes useless objects), I’ve greatly enjoyed putting together this collection. I sincerely hope that you enjoy reading it, and that it saves you both from mulligrubs, depression of spirits, and onomatomania, vexation in having difficulty finding the right word."
A stridewallop, is a Yorkshire term for a tall and awkward woman, while shot clog is an Elizabethan term for a drinking companion only tolerated because he pays for the round. Meanwhile, a deipnosophist is a Jacobean word for a skillful dinner conversationalist.
Yorkshire cements its reputation as a county responsible for some of the English language's richest words by coining crambazzled, used to describe someone who is prematurely aged through drink and a dissolute life.
English words from overseas are also included, such as twack, a Newfoundland English word. Twacks are shoppers who look at goods, inquire about the prices but never buy anything.
In his introduction, the author writes: "As a self-confessed bowerbird (one who collects an astonishing array of sometimes useless objects), I’ve greatly enjoyed putting together this collection. I sincerely hope that you enjoy reading it, and that it saves you both from mulligrubs, depression of spirits, and onomatomania, vexation in having difficulty finding the right word."
Walfamstow Cockney cash machine daffy ducked
No sausage and mash, me old china
By Lester Haines
25th August 2009
Expert analysis, debate and answers – The Register Agile Data Center Summit
The wheels appear to have slightly come off the roll-out of Blighty's first Cockney cash machines - five dispensers of sausage and mash deployed from Spitalfields to Barnet via Walthamstow by ATM operator Bank Machine.
According to the Waltham Forest Guardian, E17 boasts one of the brand spanking new Dick Van Dyke emulator devices, which at the touch of a button allow users to enjoy the full East London experience.
This includes being asked for your Huckleberry Finn (or PIN, as the machine helpfully clarifies) and thereafter offered, for example, the chance to view your balance on the Charlie Sheen or get straight down to trousering a speckled hen.
Sadly, however, the Waltham Forest Guardian notes that the Walthamstow ATM - located in the High Street - immediately went tits up and is "out of service", or daffy ducked, to use the correct expression. ...
No sausage and mash, me old china
By Lester Haines
25th August 2009
Expert analysis, debate and answers – The Register Agile Data Center Summit
The wheels appear to have slightly come off the roll-out of Blighty's first Cockney cash machines - five dispensers of sausage and mash deployed from Spitalfields to Barnet via Walthamstow by ATM operator Bank Machine.
According to the Waltham Forest Guardian, E17 boasts one of the brand spanking new Dick Van Dyke emulator devices, which at the touch of a button allow users to enjoy the full East London experience.
This includes being asked for your Huckleberry Finn (or PIN, as the machine helpfully clarifies) and thereafter offered, for example, the chance to view your balance on the Charlie Sheen or get straight down to trousering a speckled hen.
Sadly, however, the Waltham Forest Guardian notes that the Walthamstow ATM - located in the High Street - immediately went tits up and is "out of service", or daffy ducked, to use the correct expression. ...
Cor blimey guv'nor, cockney cash machines? You're 'avin a giraffe!
If the rhyming slang ATMs are a hit, next up could be Brummie, Geordie and Scouse. Genius, or a load of Watford Gap?
A cockney cash machine on Commercial Street, close to Spitalfields market in east London. Photograph: Johnny Green/PA
Feeling brassic? Run out of bees? Don't worry, help is at hand. Take your Jimmy Shands out of your Davey, and take a bowl of chalk to one of five cash dispensers in east London where, thanks to a new range of cockney cash machines, you can withdraw some Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Or, for those of you not fluent in David Hockney: Bank Machine, which runs 2,500 ATMs across the country, has set up five cash dispensers in locations from Spittalfields to Barnet that offer customers the option either to request cash in English, or "moolah for ya sky rocket" in cockney.
Ask for cockney and the machine tells you it is "Readin' your bladder of lard" before asking for your "Huckleberry Finn". Then the hard decisions start. Do you want to see your balance on the Charlie Sheen? Or withdraw sausage and mash?
If the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cash machines are a success, the company hopes to follow them up with Brummie, Geordie, Scouse and Scots ATMs (suggestions for these much welcomed – the British Library's Sounds Familiar website, which tracks accents and dialects, was not a huge amount of help in coming up with the Brummie for cash).
It is not simply about client satisfaction, says the company – and anyway, anyone who claims there are more than a brass band full of pure-bred cockneys in trendy Spitalfields is having a giraffe. Its laudable aim is to keep dialects alive in Britain.
Genius, or a load of Watford Gap? Well, the company gets a bit of publicity, its users a bit of a bubble bath. Surely, everyone's a chicken dinner?
• Those seeking to translate this post can find help at "The biggest dictionary of Cockney Rhyming Slang on the Internet", built by "real" cockneys all over the world.
If the rhyming slang ATMs are a hit, next up could be Brummie, Geordie and Scouse. Genius, or a load of Watford Gap?
A cockney cash machine on Commercial Street, close to Spitalfields market in east London. Photograph: Johnny Green/PA
Feeling brassic? Run out of bees? Don't worry, help is at hand. Take your Jimmy Shands out of your Davey, and take a bowl of chalk to one of five cash dispensers in east London where, thanks to a new range of cockney cash machines, you can withdraw some Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Or, for those of you not fluent in David Hockney: Bank Machine, which runs 2,500 ATMs across the country, has set up five cash dispensers in locations from Spittalfields to Barnet that offer customers the option either to request cash in English, or "moolah for ya sky rocket" in cockney.
Ask for cockney and the machine tells you it is "Readin' your bladder of lard" before asking for your "Huckleberry Finn". Then the hard decisions start. Do you want to see your balance on the Charlie Sheen? Or withdraw sausage and mash?
If the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cash machines are a success, the company hopes to follow them up with Brummie, Geordie, Scouse and Scots ATMs (suggestions for these much welcomed – the British Library's Sounds Familiar website, which tracks accents and dialects, was not a huge amount of help in coming up with the Brummie for cash).
It is not simply about client satisfaction, says the company – and anyway, anyone who claims there are more than a brass band full of pure-bred cockneys in trendy Spitalfields is having a giraffe. Its laudable aim is to keep dialects alive in Britain.
Genius, or a load of Watford Gap? Well, the company gets a bit of publicity, its users a bit of a bubble bath. Surely, everyone's a chicken dinner?
• Those seeking to translate this post can find help at "The biggest dictionary of Cockney Rhyming Slang on the Internet", built by "real" cockneys all over the world.
Dass phat, yo.
bumble (v.) "to flounder, blunder," 1532, probably of imitative origin.
bumble-bee 1530, replacing M.E. humbul-be, alt. by assoc. with M.E. bombeln "to boom, buzz," echoic, from PIE base *kem "to hum," echoic.
fumble c.1450, "handle clumsily," possibly from O.N. falma "to fumble, grope." Similar words in Scand. and North Sea Gmc. suggest onomatopoeia from a sound felt to indicate clumsiness (cf. bumble, stumble, and obsolete Eng. famble, fimble of roughly the same meaning).
bumble-bee 1530, replacing M.E. humbul-be, alt. by assoc. with M.E. bombeln "to boom, buzz," echoic, from PIE base *kem "to hum," echoic.
fumble c.1450, "handle clumsily," possibly from O.N. falma "to fumble, grope." Similar words in Scand. and North Sea Gmc. suggest onomatopoeia from a sound felt to indicate clumsiness (cf. bumble, stumble, and obsolete Eng. famble, fimble of roughly the same meaning).
My two faves after a quick shufti:
Airline Food
Airline Schedules
Airline Food
Airline Schedules