This post is something of an experiment. I'm actually posting it from my Palm, which makes it difficult to "type." It also makes it difficult to impossible to include images. I have some more Seattle photos to stick up, but you're just going to have to wait until I get around to posting from a proper computer before you can see them.
I wonder how many readers this thing gets? My estimate is three. 'tis a queer form of exhibitionism to put one's life in a readable format for the sake of the three people who will read it, but such is blogging. For some reason, it is terribly popular, and disovering the reason underlying that is one of life's key little mysteries, I think.
Today I had a St. Patrick's day meal at a friend's house. I'm a fan of corned beef and cabbage, and probably over-ate a bit. St. Patrick's day is a largely American holiday in which we celebrate how wonderful it is to be Irish. We are not Irish, of course, but there's quite a bit of Irish ancestry scattered about (I have an Irish great-great-granddad I believe).
Actually, on that subject, I have a small observation: American English pronounces terminal R's with a thick, round emphasis. In our English, butter doesn't rhyme with Calcutta, but in nearly every other nation in which the British have set foot, it does. I've occasionally wondered why we picked it up. A possible answer struck me while listening to an actor speaking with a thick Irish accent--there it was! The terminal R! I could be wrong, but it seems that this little piece of our linguistic spice was conferred upon us by those long gone outcasts of the Emerald Isle. So next time you order a hamburrrgerrr from a fast-food place, you're echoing the voices of a folk who would more likely have asked for cabbage and potatoes. At least you can get it with fries.
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4 comments:
It is funny how we print our lives out for a small readership. but it beats writing it by hand. Plus i don't have to journal AND answer each person as to how my day was AND actually try and get things done. It is weird. It is actually thought that my family line (my dad's side) is descended from a little Irish orphan who people called "the Little Fellow" Hence the name.
O by the way Hoosiers have a much harder r sound much of the time than utah-ans. However, I have yet to warsh my clothes.
Interesting observation about terminal r's, and I think your theory is not altogether revoltingly wrong by necessity. (That's a compliment :) )
Several American do drop the terminal `r', though, such as some inner-city-ites and Southerners, to say nothing of the snooty Bostonian accent!
So perhaps we didn't entirely escape the British Motherland.
Oh, and on that note, my drama teacher was quoted as saying, "Guys, the southern accent actually originated in England!"
dduuuuuuuhhhh....
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