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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Turey on February 25, 2007, 12:27:18 pm

Title: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: Turey on February 25, 2007, 12:27:18 pm: I have to read Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, for English class, and some of the accents in the beginning are atrocious. So, for the love of God, can one of you Londoners translate this?

Quote
THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y'
de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore
gel's flahrzn than ran awy atbaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?
[Here, with apologies, this desperate attempt to represent her
dialect without a phonetic alphabet must be abandoned as
unintelligible outside London.]

...

THE FLOWER GIRL [quite overwhelmed, and looking up at him in
mingled wonder and deprecation without daring to raise her head]
Ah--ah--ah--ow--ow--oo!

PS: For those of you who don't know, Pygmalion is a story about a British Speech Specialist trying to turn a street urchin's heavy accent and bad grammar into that of a aristocratic lady.
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: Fragrag on February 25, 2007, 12:45:17 pm: Ite mo, ill ya?!
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: redsniper on February 25, 2007, 12:47:01 pm: The first sentence is "Oh, he's your son, is he?"
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: Fragrag on February 25, 2007, 12:55:17 pm: THE FLOWER GIRL. Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y'
de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore
gel's flahrzn than ran awy atbaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?
[Here, with apologies, this desperate attempt to represent her
dialect without a phonetic alphabet must be abandoned as
unintelligible outside London.]

Oh, he's your son, is he? Well, [Unintelligible], he'd know better then spoil a poor girls flowers and run away without paying. Will you pay me for them?
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: Ford Prefect on February 25, 2007, 01:02:06 pm: I could have daaaaaaaaanced all niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight,
I could have daaaaaaaaanced all niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: Flipside on February 25, 2007, 01:31:04 pm: Basically, 'Oh, so he's your son is he? Well, if you'd done your duty as a mother should, he'd know better than to spoil (possibly spill) a poor girls flowers and then run away without paying. Will you pay me for them?
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: Fineus on February 25, 2007, 01:50:15 pm: Flipside is bang on the money. I'm going to go with "spoil" rather than "spill".

And most Londoners I know - including the two I live with - don't talk like that.
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: Turey on February 25, 2007, 02:05:42 pm: Quote from: Kalfireth on February 25, 2007, 01:50:15 pm
And most Londoners I know - including the two I live with - don't talk like that.

I know that most of you don't talk like that. I just needed someone who could understand it.

I don't speak American Redneck, but if you gave me a sample of it, I could tell you what it means, because I've heard enough of it. :nod: ;)
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: Fineus on February 25, 2007, 03:08:44 pm: Touche! Granted I could understand it, so you've got a point :)
Title: Re: A pox on all you Londoners.
Post by: aldo_14 on February 26, 2007, 03:30:25 am: I couldn't understand Londoners most of the time in the 21st century, let alone the early 1900s....