Re: "I'm after ..." (Re: Maybe Spam? "Sorunsuz Yathamanýn Kefyi .. .")

Keith Gaughan scripsit:

> >>Well, there's one glaring one that shows that I'm from around the
> >>border, and that is the use of the tag statement "so X
> >>do/am/will/have/would/etc.". You should be more than familar with
> >>that one from Father Ted. For shame, and you having lived there too!
> >
> >Ah, you see, I didn't count that - I use it too.
>
> You might have picked that up while you were living here. Everybody
> seems to, and I have to resist the urge to write and say it while I'm
> in Cork because people keep on picking up on it and slagging me about
> it.
Hmm.  I take it that what's dialectal about this is the tag use?
I have no trouble with:

	My mother told me to always brush my teeth, and so I do.

(where "so" = "therefore"), or with

	My mother told me if I didn't brush my teeth they'd rot,
		so I do.

(where "so" = "consequently"), or even with

	A: It would help if you'd give less juvenile examples.
	B: So I will!

(where "so"'s force is not clear to me).

But none of these have the characteristic flat (in AmE) intonation
of a tag.

> Nope, actual dialectical feature, just like using "cat" for "awful" and
> "tae" for "tea".
All Ireland said /te/ for "tea" until the end of the 19th century or
even later, which is why it's a feature of Stage Irish; it's probably
reinforced in your area by Ulster Scots, though.

> Ok, I'll explain. That's the point: nobody lives there. The whole county
> has about half the population per km of Sligo--16/km vs. 32/km. Kerry
> gets slagged because because they're--or so it goes--born idiots, just
> like Belgium and Austria get slagged in France and Germany. Tipperary
> gets slagged because of the accent. And Dublin gets slagged because it's
> full of Jackeens.
Huh, you call those explanations?  Capital cities are always despised
by the hinterland, and the only reason people don't slag Cork is because
they're afraid to come up against the local penchant for homicidal mania.  :-)

--
"Clear?  Huh!  Why a four-year-old child        John Cowan
could understand this report.  Run out          jcowan@reutershealth.com
and find me a four-year-old child.  I           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
can't make head or tail out of it."             http://www.reutershealth.com
        --Rufus T. Firefly on government reports

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