User Comments - BEBC

Profile picture

BEBC

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 30, 2009 at 9:37 AM

I always knew Elvis came from Barnsley - Don't Step on my Hobnail Boots.

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 29, 2009 at 8:34 PM

Sebire - Also, the way of speaking in Yorkshire has a lot to do with viking influence - York being, I believe, the capital of the DaneLaw. It used to be said not long ago that when a fisherman from Whitby met a fisherman from Denmark, or the Low Countries, in the middle of the North Sea, they could get the gist of what each was saying to each other by speaking their own local dialects. This is probably not true now because regional accents are much less strong, and dialect words used far less now than they were 50 years ago; due to the influence of TV, probably.  It's a real pity; soon we'll all sound the same - a bit like Tony Blair. BooHoo.

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 29, 2009 at 7:29 PM

Hey Tal ! You're a Lanky lad ? I once tried to visit Manchester, but couldn't get past the road blocks and 'copter patrols. I thought about digging a tunnel under Saddleworth Moor to get to Manc, but didn't relish the thought of having to plow through acres of rotting corpses.

Possibly, we haven't forgiven you for Bosworth Field yet.  :-)

Si thi,

Brick

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 28, 2009 at 9:37 PM

Well, I was born in Halifax, so yer reyt thear, lass. Not as green as yer cabbage-lookin, eh ?

How'd you get to Lancashire ? It's a bloody nightmare trying to get a visa to go there.

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 28, 2009 at 9:00 PM

By the way, there are definitely variations in dialect between neighbouring villages in West Yorkshire, but only a native would be able to pick them out.

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 28, 2009 at 8:58 PM

Tal - Here's the translation for all those philistines out there. Don't think pinyin is up to the task - it doesn't have glottal stops.

First day at school

My first day at school was horrible. My mate Jeff Flewitt went with me and the teacher wouldn't let us sit next to each other. When she went out, the cock of the class (best fighter) came up to me and said "I can fight you, can't I" (beat you), and I said he couldn't, and he said he could, and I said he couldn't, and he hit me. So I hit him back just as the teacher came in. She picked up the stick as you point at the blackboard with ( she picked up the stick with which you point at the blackboard ) and cracked me over the head with it and said "We don't have hooligans here." So I went home and told my mother, and she took me back to school holding my forelock.

Wonder what pretzellogics idea is ??

 

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 27, 2009 at 7:17 PM

Yeah, no such thing as a British accent. A little tale told in broad Yorkshire:

First Day at School

It wurorrible mifest day a t'school. Mimate Jeff Flewitt went wimi an teacha wunt lerrus sit next tureachother. Wen shi went aht cockut class cum up t'mi ansed 'Ah canfeytyuh cahnt ah?' An ah sed eecudunt; an ee sed ecud; an ah sed eecudunt, an eeit mi. So ah itim back just as teacha cumin. Shipickt up stick as y' point a t'bord wi an crackt mi ovver t'ee-ed weeit an sed 'Widontav ooligunsere.' So ah went omm at playtime an towd mimam, an mimam took miback t'school agin owdin mitab.

 

 

Posted on: Calling in Sick
September 24, 2009 at 7:57 PM

 If there is an outbreak of Swine Flu where you are, you only need to take a few simple precautions to avoid being struck down. Follow my advice, and you'll be fine. I have always found wearing a bucket over my head when leaving the house to be the most effective method of avoiding flu.  This prevents you from coming into contact with the spray from other people's breath; it also has the added advantage that people with flu avoid you because they think you are crazy.  Don't forget to cut eye-holes into the bucket, otherwise you won't be able to see where you are going.  Plastic buckets are much more comfortable than metal buckets, but if you must wear a metal bucket for added safety, then you can always pad the inside of it with newspaper - but don't use polythene, or you might suffocate.  I have found that yellow buckets with black stripes on them are most effective; the effect is even greater if you attach antennae to the top of the bucket. If you start to grunt, don't talk in the direction of other people, don't breathe down the phone, and wipe your emails clean before you send them.
 
You can always count on the advice of your friendly neighbourhood pharmacist.

Posted on: Chinese for Trekkies
September 8, 2009 at 6:23 PM

Deswei:   That's interesting info about the correlation of alleles and tonality. Please let me know if you remember which issue of Science and Nature it was in.  I'd be interested to know how the authors identify certain alleles as being associated with tonality, independently of the 'simple' co-existence of those alleles and greater "tonal ability" - a correlation between two variables doesn't prove causality. 

Fascinating. Live Long and Prosper !

 

Posted on: Going Dutch
September 7, 2009 at 9:52 PM

Precisely. And snobbery is a means of distancing yourself from your fellow man/woman and his/her life-experience. Once you do that, any action is permissable.