A point of English??

[Dorsetmike]

And then there is regional english ! "Ayup lad, where's tha bin?". "Arve bin t'Ilkley Moor bahtat". "Well arll go t'foot of ar stairs". "Sithee later". (This could go on, and on, and on.....!    David.

Oooaaarrr! Thee cassn't do thaaat yur 'sno.

[MalcolmInN]

And then there is regional english !

When my daughter started keeping sheep she saw me pointing at each in turn saying " Yan, tahn, thether, mether , , ", she thought I was naming them [ex-pat Cumberland]
I wonder what language root that was from, Norse ? maybe. Some googling is called for I think.

[Agrippa]

And regional west of Scottish

gonnae no dae that
geezabreak
gaun yersel big man
pick a windae, yer leavin

[MalcolmInN]

And regional west of Scottish

When I was in Glasgow I was at first astonished to hear my friend calling his wife (aka missus) "Hen".
I thought he was being disrespectful, but seems it is a term of endearment ? or familiarity ?? up yonder.
Would one get one's eed bashed in if one addressed someone elses wife that way ?

[Agrippa]

"Hen"  is indeed a term of endearment in Glasgow and the west of Scotland.
It can also be used as an informal address to a female stranger such
as a wee wumman in a chippie or paper shop, but less common now.

My mum was from Suffolk and after she married my dad they lived
in Glasgow. My dad's name was James/Jimmy/Jim. In the streets of
Glasgow someone would shout"Hey Jimmy, got the time ? " and my mum
would ask "How did he know your name?"

"Jimmy " dying out now, usually bud, mate or pal as a form of address
from the riff raff.

[steve836]

English is the Lingua Franca of the world , despite the fact that many people
don't use proper grammar like wot i do. It's been  extremely flexible over
the years and can absorb foreign words and phrases almost automatically
with ease.

eg blitz,safari,algebra,claymore, ski,karaoke , sherry, vandal , skipper

truly the language of the future.

Not to mention (isn't that a silly expression when I'm going to mention) words that came from our colonies such as bungalow

[Dorsetmike]

Always thought it was cos they were building a house but ran out of bricks so they had to bung a low roof on it.

Or it was a bungle and they still owe for it?

(dives for cover)

[steve836]

No ,bungalow is the Indian term for a dwelling that only houses one family.

[Agrippa]

Words like pyjamas , char, have a shifty, wallah, etc came from India .
Curiously in Glasgow a few ago there was a phrase "Get a jildy on"
meaning hurry up, which came from soldiers who had served in India
and had  adopted a similar native phrase.

A strange word was "Gutties" , used in the Glasgow area for
plimsolls or trainers, from Gutta Percha, rubber from Malaya
or similar region.

[MalcolmInN]

wallah, etc came from India .

Hey, yer no rong there Jimmy lad.
But increasingly, amongst the young on t'interwebby, it is derived from French !
( they really mean "et voilà" )

[Agrippa]

Ah - So!

[steve836]

wallah, etc came from India .

Hey, yer no rong there Jimmy lad.
But increasingly, amongst the young on t'interwebby, it is derived from French !
( they really mean "et voilà" )

No! He's right, a wallah is a bloke wot does as in punka wallah (the chap who waves the fan) char wallah (the bloke that fetches the tea) or dhobi wallah (the chap that does the laundry). As an aside to that the Indian term for laundry is the origin of the expression "Dhobies itch" as it was thought to be caused by residual detergent in clothes.

[MalcolmInN]

No! He's right, a wallah is a bloke wot does

Yes I know he was ! Which is why I said "yer no rong there Jimmy" (Scottish or Norf ? ) meaning  "you are not wrong" meaning "yes I agree" !
Then I went on with my "but increasingly ,, "
yer see

[Agrippa]

I think there's also a dabba wallah who takes home cooked  billy can type lunches
to workers in big offices etc.

While discussing words from india, why is Gandhi spelt with an H
when it's a native name , and not Gandi/Gandy?

[steve836]

Malcolm
Sorry cross porpoises, however it occured to me later that there are two subtly different ways of saying it, one being from the Indian meaning a person, the other (ex French) as a magician would say. Which is probably where the youngsters get it from.
Agrippa
The H gets in there because it tries to reflect the way an Indian would say the name. Try saying it in a Peter Sellers voice and you will get the idea.