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The bringer of plurabilities

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this flinger of plurabilly teas

sang twice upon a time

good time it was two pigeons in a line.

a fat man a-coming downa road

toadja who was a-coming downa road

a nicens-a-little boy named paddy buckoo.

her mother sneak him that story

rather clucked him in deep glory:

series-us-ly sin, sin, O! Jesuitical-sin

nothing quite like it for keeping yous thin

through a grass darkly chat smartly

whatsthat group of slimes and turnips

fat, thin, fat, thin; always melding, erstwhile grimm

in a circus a bonny wee face at t'table i trace

doilies n tea pots n black holes in space
she has a bonny-babymoocowface,

white milk, lemon tea, black knight, big fright,                                       opposite me

she sangalong sweetly sinewed so she'd shine

line by bloody line:

Oh why is my life in a minor key?

Oh! why do words all-a-mutter to me?

Half a pound of twopenny rice

Half a pounded tree-fell

That’s the way the monkey blows

Plop goes her nerve-cell.”

Had she a goblin’s pretty shoe
Had she taught him what to do? yellow plaits, dumb with fright, came to see her late at night

green-cross handy-codes for all the tippling cosy toads; she sad a wood beneath her fleet oh! she had only her seams to dream on
spread her seams like a sickly mess
be careful of a well-pressed dress.

?

🌷(2)

◄ No country for young men

Time will say nothing ►

Comments

Devon Brock

Thu 11th Jul 2019 23:09

No problem. It would seem we have a common interest.

D

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John Marks

Thu 11th Jul 2019 22:43

So much I thank ye. Yeah that voice'd be associated with rural parts of SW England now, but then , it'd be the voice of ol'London town. I have an abiding fascination with historical linguistics, ties in with demography, as well. Thank yer kindly DEvon.

Devon Brock

Thu 11th Jul 2019 22:02

John, a great place to go hear that voice in a near pure form is Tangier Island, VA. The same seven families have lived there since the C17. I spent a wonderful weekend there back in the early '90's, just listening. They were quite isolated for several centuries, being 14 miles from the nearest major landmass. Here is a link to a brief video. Listen and enjoy'

D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E

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John Marks

Wed 10th Jul 2019 23:42

Yeh. Devon. Apparently in Appalachia the accent is close to that of C17 London. Many of the Jamestown-Virginia colonists originated in the slums of London that Dickens was later to write about. Also many of the folk songs from that part of north America are/were alive long after their demise in old England. Interesting also, that James Joyce was a Dubliner and many Catholic Dubliners were descended not from Celts and Gaels but from the Old English, English settlers who had lived in the Pale, the area around Dublin, during Plantaganet times.

Devon Brock

Wed 10th Jul 2019 23:23

Damn that was fun to read. Ok, so what really grabs me is "downa". Where is the use of "downa" prevalent? Where I am from, initially, Maryland, we use "downa" a lot..."downa shore, downa Camden, etc.". The reason I ask is that this may give some clue as to how certain dialectical idiosyncrasies survive in the States as evidence of the origins of the first colonists. And damn, that was fun to read.

D

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