License to Ill

Last night I finished reading The Story of English. It was a great read in many respects. Firstly there was the sheer novelty of discovering the origins of many a word. The word "swag", which is something of hip term nowadays as near as I can tell, originated in Australia, for instance. Secondly, there was the history lesson involved. Anglii, Saxons, Jutes, Normans, etc. invading England. Then you have the resulting mix interacting with the Scots, Welsh, and Irish. Zoom ahead in history to the English Empire and you've got English being spread to India and the Americas. They send prisoners to New South Wales and Australian develops. Although the book doesn't go into great depth, it did address some cultural concerns. English continues to pervade the globe as the lingua franca of business, trade, and science yet people in many countries use it as for just that while speaking a native tongue at home and in casual conversation. For some people, English is seen as an intrusion. Yet others view it as a path out of poverty and a step onto the road of modernization. I really had to laugh at some of the quotes from cultural elites throughout the ages who have bemoaned that the general populace doesn't speak Standard or "correct" English. There are quotes from various members of the House of Lords as well as folks like William Safire. Rather than seeing language as an organic entity which is used by people to suit their needs and something that grows and evolves, they castigate the lower classes for remaining ignorant of the "proper" way to speak English. Fucking conservatives. They're probably Xtians too.

I really want to find the TV series on DVD and watch it as I had a blast reading various dialects, such as patois, and trying to understand them, trying to relate them to the Standard English that I use. I wish I had the book here to quote something but, alas, I do not.

One of the many tangents my mind went off on while reading the book was to think about the flavor of English that I speak. I'm reasonably well-spoken in Standard English yet, especially in college, I've had conversations that people who weren't my friends wouldn't understand completely. This isn't because we'd developed our dialect or any such thing but rather because we used an incredible amount of slang and colloquialisms.

Like many young folk, we quoted (and continue to) the many films, songs, and TV shows like Stanley kubrick's films so lines from 2001 and Full Metal Jacket were common. Plus we picked up some Nadsat from A Clockwork Orange. The Simpsons has always been a favorite. Monty Python and a whole host of English TV shows provided fodder for our linguistic exploits. Sometimes quoting wasn't even needed - just an accent or some change of voice.

But we also adopted or came up with our own words and phrases. For example, instead of exclaiming, "Shit!", we started using "Daily!" Originally it referred to something that went wrong on a quotidian basis but it evenutally we started to use it as a general expression of frustration. "Hoolie" is another one. I got it from a former roommate, Wally, who got it from a friend of his in Oconomowoc. It's a synonym for "thingamajig" or "whatchamcallit".

Christ! A co-worker who'd been out ill for a few days came back today. There's a chance he had the whooping cough. Although he's not infectious, he may have been in that stage last week when he was here so I may have been exposed to it. Fuck! I don't wanna have to go to a doctor as I have no insurance and I don't want to be quarantined. There's the Jay Farrar show tonight and then Copenhagen tomorrow. God dammit! The guy is expecting the results of a test today so I hope to find out soon. Since I may not go to the Jay Farrar show tonight, I've put in Stone, Steel & Bright Lights. "Fool King's Crown" is a-rockin'! I must remember to head over to Mad City Music to see if they have a copy of that Live EP.