Re: USAGE: Weird dialectal stuff

At 4:12 pm +0100 9/1/00, Lars Henrik Mathiesen wrote:
>Ray,
>
>one thing I hear a lot here in Reading is 'I was sat/stood' where I'd
>use 'I was sitting/standing.' Is that a general development in English
>English, or are they weird here?
It is the norm in colloquial speech in south east Wales.  They even have 'I
was laid', with 'laid' pronounced as /lEd/, where I'd use 'I way lying'
(i.e. 'lying down', not 'telling a falsehood').

I've noticed the same thing in my younger son's speech but had assumed it
was the effect of his growing up in south east Wales (neither my elder son
nor my daughter have acquired the habit).  But certainly these forms are
found in colloquial speech in other areas, tho I hadn't realized that
Reading was one of those.  In fact, I get the impression they are becoming
more widespread.

I probably hear them more than I realize since I've got so used the idioms
that it probably doesn't always register when I do hear them.  But they
still sound distinctly passive to me: "I was sat" - "Yes, who sat you
there?"  Certainly 'I was sitting' & 'I was standing' would be more normal
in written English.

Ray.

=========================================
A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
=========================================