Becoming New English

[tanaise]

I have discovered, after living up here for ~28 months, I now say 'ahnt' instead of 'ant' like I always did before when talking about my dad's sister. I'm thinking it may actually be Andrea's (Ahndrea) fault, since she talks about her Ahntie Mary. Probably not, though, as I say T about 50% of the time now, instead of Metro. I still have my Rs, though, never fear.

Comments

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I have made a concerted effort to avoid losing my Rs.

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

You could pretend to be from my neck of the woods and say "aint."

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

Southener!

[podling]

Well, ants can be squished, aunts can't. That's how I look at it, and I don't care how many people here make fun of me.

And about the T, see, it's called the T. The one in DC is called the Metro, the one in Chicago is the El, and the one in NYC is called the Subway. If you call the T Metro, El, or Subway, it is incorrect. Likewise, if you call the Metro the T or the El, it is also incorrect. You could possibly get away with calling the Metro the Subway, at least where it is underground, but it would still be odd. So, in essence, you should be calling it the T, because that's what it's called by the majority.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

Because the majority shapes how I live my life? I don't think so.

[podling]

With things like titles, it should. It's how language works. If you're looking to get a license for you car and you're trying to go to the RMV (the registry of motor vehicles) and you walk up to someone and say, "where's the license bureau?" they won't know what you're talking about. If I want an orange and ask someone for a not-reddish fruit that is round, they may or may not figure it out, but it's still incorrect. Language works by consensus, which is also why "phat" is a word.