Monday 19 April 2010

Southside sounds

As far as I can work out after living and working among them for 15 years, sophistication among this closed group of people is exhibited by the extent to which you can mangle and shorten your vowel sounds - hence saying that there was good snOW on your skiing trip marks you out as an uncouth Nordie; but if you say there was g'd sn' - well now you've arrived in Killiney aka arroyved in Kloyney. It's a continual process of phonetic self-censorship. Here are some I've noticed recently; I'll add to this very occasionally:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aguh = ago

Aehyt = out

Baat = about

Coffee = café

Cull = cool

Cole = call

Dehyn - down

Ex-soy-ted = excited

Fall = full

Hoy = hi

Hyse = house

Gom = com [as id "dot gom"; cf. "scone" = "sgown"]

K-omponent = component

Mald = mild [there's a weather forecaster on RTÉ who always says that 'toenat, there will be mald conditions ...']

Ness = nice

Nuh = now [as wth "snow", the "ow" sound is deliberately not completed or rounded out - the mouth remains hanging open to create the desired posh / can't be bothered effect]

Oh-keh = oh-kay

Ore = or

Rum = room

Ryndabyte = roundabout

Sgown = scone

Snuh = snow

Toenat = tonight

Toff = tough

Wordrobe = wardrobe

Yaheh = yeah

Whal = while