eye-dialect

What do “Sech” and “Vich” mean in this sentence?

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I am reading a book on life lessons, and the author quotes one of Charles Dickens’s characters, Sarah Gamp, from his novel, Martin Chuzzlewit: Sech is life. Vich likeways is the hend of all things. I didn’t understand it. So I googled the sentence, read the whole paragraph that includes it, and came to realize … Read more

‘Gwine’: How accurate is the African-American dialect in early 20th c writing?

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A recent question here about “fo’ sho’” produced answers with a number of quotes of Southern US or AAE (African American English) varieties. To my ear, these quotes sounded awful and I question their authenticity. The sound like The quotes come primarily from late 19th c literature. Some more famous examples: Jim is written in … Read more

SNL’s Black Jeopardy: What does “fid’na” mean?

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In perhaps one of the funniest SNL’s Black Jeopardy! sketches ever, the expression Fid’na was one of the six categories along with; Grown Ass, Aw Hell Naw, Girl Bye, I Ain’t Got It, and White People They fid’na to take prayer out of school Shanice: “What is they wonder why ever’body is pregnant?” The second … Read more

Is it alright to use “usen’t” instead of “didn’t use to”?

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I know usen’t isn’t used in everyday English, but how about using it in an exam, an essay, or a formal letter? Is it right to use usen’t instead of didn’t use to? Answer The only use of “usen’t” I’ve ever heard was by W. C. Fields in “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.” … Read more

Where does “Whatcha” & “Didja” come from?

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Does anyone know where "Whatcha" and/or "Didja" originate from? Watcha: What did you? Didja: Did you? Edit: I cannot find these words in my English Grammar books and they are not in my English dictionaries. I don’t know enough about them to even ask sensible questions. I myself use them. Yet, when asked about them … Read more

“kinda”, “sorta”, “coulda”, “shoulda”, “lotta”, “oughta”, “betcha”, “tseasy”, etc. What are these?

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In linguistics, is there a term describing this phenomenon, i.e., when the syllables of two words are slurred together in the spoken language? They are not contractions. While contractions are acceptable in any register, this combination of words is very informal and hardly ever found in formal writing. kinda (kind of) sorta (sort of) coulda … Read more

Why do some people like use in’ to symbolize ing?

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In some movies or songs, "in’" is used instead of "ing". For example: "Searchin’ high". The "Searchin’" is "Searching". Or "Lookin’ for a place where I can go". The "Lookin’" is "Looking". Someone told me that is American culture because they often miss off the last consonants of a word, especially the "g" in "ing". … Read more

How to understand “No she bludgering well won’t!”

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“She’s only Stunned,” said Professor McGonagall impatiently, who had stooped down to examine Alecto. “She’ll be perfectly all right.” “No she bludgering well won’t!” bellowed Amycus. “Not after the Dark Lord gets hold of her! She’s gorn and sent for him, I felt me Mark burn, and he thinks we’ve got Potter!” Harry Potter and … Read more