NORTH AMERICAN ENGLISH DIALECT SURVEY.

Claire Bowern of Anggarrgoon (and a frequent LH commenter when she isn’t as busy as she apparently is these days) has joined Quentin Atkinson and Russell Gray in creating the North American English Dialect Survey:

We are doing research on different accents in American English. We know that Americans and Canadians have a great deal in common in the way they speak, but there are also differences. In order to study the ways that North American accents differ, we have put together a survey of common words, and we’d like you to participate!

As Mark Liberman says at the Log post where I learned about it, “All you need is an internet-connected computer with a microphone and a web browser that can run Flash. […] This is a great idea, and I certainly encourage participation.” As do I.

Comments

  1. Comments seem to be closed at the “Sentence First” thread. Probably just as well: otherwise I might be tempted to risk boring people with more baseball history.

  2. I asked Hat to reopen the thread, and he did, but there were two spam posts before I could post, and a third while I was posting. So, I suppose, post here instead; I at least shall not be bored.
    Apropos de base ball [sic], Hat, have you gotten around to Darryl Brock’s If I Never Get Back yet, and if so, what do you think? I just bought and read the sequel, which I found not as good but still satisfying, particularly the ending.

  3. Trond Engen says

    If you have “an internet-connected computer with a microphone and a web browser that can run Flash”, you can spew out baseball trivia forever and still have someone listining and taking notes of every uttered sound.

  4. dearieme says

    If you buy the CDs of the Library of Congress recordings of Jelly Roll Morton, you can enjoy his variety of English, his yarns and his music.
    Frinstance, Mamie Desdoumes Blues – what a wee gem.

  5. Language, thanks for the “sox” explanations.
    I might write a treatise on the significance of long vs short trousers in world sports. (US football, baseball, cricket, golf, and tennis (in the old days): long. Euro football & rugby, basketball, table tennis, and tennis (nowadays): short). I’m wondering whether Dr Arnold of Rugby might be responsible for the shorts; it was his emphasis on sport in Victorian schools that began the craze for football. They may have worn long trousers then, though. Baden-Powell was keen on shorts, later. Fresh air blowing up the trouser legs etc.

  6. Yeah, I had to close down the other thread because spam was coming in at a ridiculous rate. (Anybody know why a particular thread will attract spammers who ignore all the others?) Anyway, feel free to discuss baseball here; it’s one of my favorite topics (at least when the Mets aren’t doing too badly).
    have you gotten around to Darryl Brock’s If I Never Get Back yet, and if so, what do you think?
    Yes, and I enjoyed it a great deal; I could have sworn I’d mentioned that somewhere on LH, but the search engine convinces me that (as frequently happens) my memory is playing me false.
    And dearieme is right about the Library of Congress recordings of Jelly Roll Morton—they’re wonderful to listen to on many levels.

  7. Maybe spammers were attracted by the mention of Jennifer Garner?

  8. Crown is too much a gentleman to mention the significance of panties in women’s tennis from Gussie Moran to Serena Williams, so I’ll remedy his omission.

  9. marie-lucie says

    I was surprised that Serena Williams’ self-designed outfit was described as a “dress”. It looked like she forgot to wear a dress over it.

  10. how do you say “fuddy-duddy” in French, M-L?

  11. marie-lucie says

    JE, i am not the person to ask for up to the minute French slang. However, I think that “un vieux croûton” or “une vieille croûte” (the latter not just for the feminine) would be more or less generic and understandable by all ages (but these words don’t have the possibly affectionate connotation of “fuddy-duddy”).

  12. “une vieille croûte” (the latter not just for the feminine)
    How is it used, then, m-l?
    these words don’t have the possibly affectionate connotation of “fuddy-duddy”
    Perhaps more like “old fart”, in that case.

  13. “Old fart” definitely has an affectionate connotation in certain circles, Crown; I myself am a certified (or even a registered) old fart of the Unicode Consortium, for example, as well as the Lojban community.

  14. Good point. I’m called an old fart by my family.

  15. There’s a thing in William Burroughs about whether the diminutive “Culito” (= “Little Asshole”) is really an affectionate one.

  16. Better than being a big asshole, I’d say.

  17. According to urban Dictionary, “culazo ” is flattering. It is what Jennifer Lopez was famous for.

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