Quote:
Originally Posted by kakalena
I once heard a brit from norfolk, england mention that the tidewater accent in norfolk, virginia reminded him of his home oddly enough. He gave examples but I can't remember. Most peeps in my family have the tidewater accent. Norfolk is pronounced 'Naw****' and about like 'aboot'.
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'I'm only hare for the bare!'
'Now dew ee do what I tell ee to dew!'
'Drive you steady, buh!'
'Norfolk' is indeed pronounced 'Nawf**k'
If you want to learn a bit of Norfolk dialect, try:
Speaking the Norfolk dialect; TV set in Norfolk (foll0ow the links) (Don't miss '
The boy Colin'.)
It's not just a case of 'what you say' - It's a case of 'How you say it'
'frinstance: 'I'm now going to do this' (NOT 'I'm going to do this now')
Place names are something else!
Wymondham = Windum
Happisburgh = Haisboro
Bunwell = Bunnle.
Norfolk is more than a a dialect ... it's a way of life (and certainly a mindset.)
Some years ago, the County Council decided they could save money by replacing road signs leading to minor villages and hamlets; signs which directed people down tiny country lanes. with signs which simply said 'By Road' (and it was indeed a By Road.)
That policy upset people who had hoped to attract tourists to their 'off the beaten track' properties (but played into the hands of some of the more mischievous inhabitants ... an 'aside' coming up!
(One of the favourite habits of 'lookul buhs' is 'Signpost spinning'. You go to an intersection, find a signpost and turn it 90 degrees. - If you plan carefully (and some of the 'lokuls' do have an IQ in excess of 75 ... one or two I know can double that with a bit to spare) you can arrange a scheme whereby a 'signpost follower' will be lost forever!)
(If you don't know your way around the 'Saints' take a GPS!)
Anyway, there was this tourist who arstewd me (and I was obviously a 'country bumkin' " Aie say, mai good fellow, what does that sign which says 'By Road' mean?"
So I answered him (using 'Zummerset' which is nothing like Norfolk dialect, but - for some strange reason - it's what furriners think we speak) "Well, zur, that's ow ee goes when ee goes by rud. Wenn ee were to go by sea, ee wud use a different rut and wen ee went by train, ee woud use another rut agin."
(Another answer [more in fitting with the way people think] might be: "If you don't know what's down that road, why do you need to go there?")
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I could put a video clip of Ian Paisley up there (if you didn't know who he was) and you'd say "Its nothing like Ulster-Scots". I didn't say it was "like" Ulster-Scots. I said you can tell that old 1700s version of the accent was the basis for the American "Hill Country" accent. Its not just me either - any linguist would say the same. You probably can't hear it in certain words or inflections because you're too close to the source.
