GRGR(1): Pirate's voice
LBernier at tribune.com
LBernier at tribune.com
Fri Sep 27 15:24:29 CDT 1996
Well, I realise this is coming a bit late but . . .
In response to Andrew saying
`"I haven't even done me morning push-ups yet."'. Pirate, like
any nouveau, social climber from Tooting or elsewhere, would
never drop into Cockney-speak in front of Bloat, who went to
Oxford, or indeed anyone with whom he was not intimate. So,
impressed as I am by our boy's knowledge of the argot, this use
of `me' for `my' jars every time I read it.
This never struck me as Pirate's true voice, but an imitation, meant
to disguise his complaint as "kidding," even though he is probably
annoyed at having to leave so early. So he uses a voice that would,
via prejudice, be thought of as typically complaining and lazy. If
he had been an American, he would have used a rural accent, or, even
more bigoted, a black one.
Of course, if he is cockney (is he? I can't remember) the sarcasm's
more subtle - U.S. southerners can use this to great advantage when
dealing with uppity yanks by actually playing to their prejudices.
Jean.
P.S. Re, the batman joke - I like to read that as "A corpor(e)al
Wayne" - the word made flesh made word, so to speak.
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