There was a very famous shoe shop in Belfast’s Sandy Row. No matter who you were or where you came from this was where parents bought shoes for their children.
I was one of those parents. There was the excitement of putting you foot into a cabinet, looking at a screen and seeing all the bones in your foot. We didn’t know that x-rays weren’t the best thing for young bones...
One day I took my two primary school children to Reid’s to get their summer sandals. It was a great outing and the two were excited to see their bones and get their brand new shoes.
I was very grateful to the kind and considerate service from Mr Small. I’d asked his name and instructed Michael and Susie to thank the gentleman who’d been so kind.
Once outside my son challenged me: “Mum why did you keep calling him Mr Small?” I explained it was polite and how people liked to be addressed by their name.
“Yes but why did you keep calling him Mr Small when his said his name was Mr Little?”
At least I didn’t call him Mr Wee...
Language and how we use it is fascinating. In the 60s a new language was doing the rounds, a sort of code only the knowledgeable could understand.
My friend Claire was a past master she would inserted ‘egg’ between every syllable, Maeggry Huntegger for example. There are many variations but this is good when spoken at speed.
Now language requires us to forget men and women (unless you live under the auspices of Donald Trump), so poor Claudia Winkleman might well become Claudia Winklewoman or, worse, Winkleperson.
Interesting Study
“Our findings bring into sharp focus the disadvantage that speakers of some accents may still face in the criminal justice system,” says Alice Paver, from the University of Cambridge.
“Voices play a powerful role in the criminal justice system and police officers, lawyers and juries are all susceptible to judging voices based on stereotypes, whether they’re aware of it or not.”
Apparently these stereotypes could affect all parts of the system, from arrest to sentencing and undermine suspects, defendants, also the testimony of witnesses.
The standard English accent they suggest is the least likely to behave in criminal ways - except when it came to sexual offences - while the Liverpool and Bradford accents were perceived as the most likely. Belfast and Glasgow accents were rated significantly less likely to behave in criminal ways than almost all other accents.
Now language requires us to forget men and women (unless you live under the auspices of Donald Trump), so poor Claudia Winkleman might well become Claudia Winklewoman or, worse, Winkleperson
Apparently the Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the study - I’m not surprised.
When I first worked on BBC radio, a lady from London talked me through the business of broadcasting, telling me I wouldn’t make it unless I stopped sounding like the queen! Too cut glass she said, the phone voice thing. My mother had her telephone voice, “Hell-ooo”, she’d warble, reminiscent of Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances.
Read more: The Traitors: Do accents influence who we trust?
Number E-Ate For A Sausage Supper
I corrected a younger member of the family who, when giving her address to a carry-out shop insisted she lived at “number e-ate”. I pointed out we lived at number eight but she insisted, “But they don’t understand when I say eight, they understand e-ate.”
I was criticised when I was on Radio Ulster: “You start your questions with ‘So’.” So I was - but I didn’t realise; in fact I think it was a thinking time, a split second to get my thoughts in gear.
I seem to have an ear for accents. When I was about four I lived with a posh family in Dublin for a few weeks but was sent home for being bold. Then I was in trouble when I got home and told not to make a fool of the family by talking in a broad Dublin brogue. I was back to ‘Belfastese’ in no time, so I was.
Picking up accents and idioms and trying to make yourself understood is considered accommodating. Remember football manager Steve McClaren aping the Dutch inflection when in that country?
In Paris with my mother we wanted to buy some tissue paper to wrap a gift but what’s French for tissue paper? My dear mum accommodated by faking a sneeze in the shop assistants face and following up with “papier”. We left empty handed...
And there’s a definite sign of transatlantic speech these days - ‘skedul’ and ‘ree-search’ amongst them. The upward inflection is popular and have you noticed or do you employ this speech? “You don’t have any HP sauce do you?” A positive negative. Just listen rather than hear, it’s quite fascinating... so it is!
