DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

I used the word 'perks' this morning. I wonder how many could say that this is short for perquisites?

[PanBiker]

What rankles me is the insistence of sticking an R in many perfectly good and already pronounceable words such as MASTER , CASTLE etc. There is no R in either example and many more that gets the treatment. It normally seems to automatically follow an A which in my book is pronounced Ah not Ar.

[Tripps]

My lads still occasionally mock my pronunciation of such words as 'castle' etc. I use the short 'a' whilst they (mainly brought up on the South of England) use the long vowel. I try not to let it annoy me, confident that my pronunciation is correct.

PS I knew where 'perks' came from.

[Stanley]

I agree totally about the short A! With a grand daughter living in Bath it arises frequently.
I shan't get into detail about my problems with Estuary English, it would be boring but all I will say is that much of the mis-pronunciation seems to totally ignore what I was always taught were correct vowel sounds.

[Stanley]

I used the phrase 'scot free' this morning and looked up the origin.
"From Middle English scotfre, from Old English scotfrēo (“scot-free; exempt from royal tax or imposts”), equivalent to scot (“payment; contribution; fine”) +‎ -free. n. Money assessed or paid."

[Wendyf]

"It's all downhill from here." Is that good news or bad news?

[Tripps]

Good question - my immediate reaction would be for 'bad news', but it could I now realise, equally mean 'good news.

I find that it is a Contronym or perhaps more correctly a contranymic phrase. Examples of such words are 'sanction' and 'cleave'.

Reading all that shows that there are some really clever devils about, and I'm am not amongst them.

[Wendyf]

Interesting isn't it? Col was having a big moan about the weather and I told him not to worry because it was all uphill from now, meaning today was the worst and it was due to improve. He couldn't grasp that concept, seeing downhill as an improvement!

[Stanley]

I agree with David about Contonyms, never heard of them!
I'm with you Wendy, downhill to me means deterioration, fits in with the description of a bad state of affairs being a 'low'.
I agree with Col about the weather yesterday, it was a shocker. I popped out of the front door to check that it was really sleet that was falling at about 15:30 and almost got blown over!

[Whyperion]

What rankles me is the insistence of sticking an R in many perfectly good and already pronounceable words such as MASTER , CASTLE etc. There is no R in either example and many more that gets the treatment. It normally seems to automatically follow an A which in my book is pronounced Ah not Ar.

Adding the R in is seen as a mark of intelligence or superiority . What did the landed gentry in the North say? Did it become part of the "frenchificaion" of speaking in the C17th when the U in certain words was added ( which the US didnt get in their English ) when written?

[Stanley]

I tripped over this word this morning. Never seen it before.
Thalassophobia is an intense phobia or fear of large or deep water. If you have thalassophobia, you may be afraid of the ocean, sea, and large lakes. Some people may deal with a little anxiety about the ocean.

[Stanley]

I used an old saying this morning which I haven't heard anyone else use for years. "Lord bless the Duke of Argyll. A scratching post at every mile."
I can't find any clear origin beyond the fact that the Dukes of Argyll seem to have erected scratching posts for their verminous cattle and tenants.