#british dialect

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Love when British people say “about” instead of “around” like hell yeah. What’s goin about rn

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Review: The Black Locomotive — Ryan Hughes

Review

Okay, first of all, the graphics are gorgeous. I’m not a fan of brutalism at all, and even I was captivated by the way this book was illustrated, and the way the prose was written. It was written in a lot of detail, so if you’re not a fan of heavy prose I would be careful, but the way Hughes describes his characters’ surroundings make even the dull, grey industrial world of London breathtakingly beautiful. The author manages to convey a deep love for modern architecture; a love I personally don’t share, but I can certainly appreciate the love that went into describing it.

If the main draw for this book for you was a love of steam trains, I hate to disappoint you, but there isn’t a great deal of steam train-action in this book. Some, but it’s not exactly the main focus. But hey, if you’re a fan of really wild and unexpected plot developments, hop on board.

I enjoyed most of the characters in this book. They may not all be likeable, necessarily, but they’re all interesting, and sometimes that’s all you need. I particularly loved Georgia Ash, a welcome subversion from the classic “female no-nonsense boss to the loveable rogue employee”; Ash actually ends up being not only an important character, but an actual character, one with her own internal world outside of the protagonist.

But unfortunately there is one major area where The Black Locomotive fails. There are 2 characters of colours in this book; one pretty unimportant, and the other a black teenager who happens to be the leader of a crime gang. I mean seriously people, it’s the 21st century, how do some authors still have so little self-awareness? It’s disappointing, as I would absolutely love to recommend this book, but I just can’t ignore the obvious racism.

Language Level

Oh, and aside from that, Jesus Christ almighty the English in this book is complicated. I had to create a whole new difficulty category on this blog for this thing! Even I was googling words several times per chapter, and I am an English student. I was able to understand the words in the context of the sentences, but trust me, unless you’re a scientist (or you’re really into rocks), you are never going to hear someone say the word “stratigraphy” in your life.

If you’re a fan of science, this book might be for you, as a majority of the words I struggled be turned out to be words relating to physics.

It also uses neo-pronouns (in this case Xi/Xe/Xer), which if you’ve not seen before I should briefly explain. Standard English has three common sets of pronouns:

He/Him/His

She/Her/Hers

They/Them/Theirs

All three can be used as singular pronouns, although “They/Them/Theirs” is more commonly used with plurals. A lot of people will tell you, mainly for political reasons, that “They/Them/Theirs” can’t be used for single people. We have, however, been using “they” for a single person since at least the 17th century. If you didn’t know the gender of a person, for example, if you saw someone leave a table and forget their head, but the gender of this person wasn’t obvious, you could simply say: “Oh, they left their hat behind. I should pick it run over so I can give it back to them.” This is completely normal English.

Neo-pronouns were created by people who don’t identify as men or women, who are called non-binary people. Non-binary people can go by any of the pronouns I listed above, but many people aren’t satisfied with these choices, and so, neo-pronouns were created. Neo-pronouns are still very new and a lot of people will tell you they aren’t correct English, but you know what? Language evolves. People make up new words all the time, that’s how words are made up. But people who use neo-pronouns are very rare, and most people who are non-binary will ask you to call them he, or she, or they. Please be respectful and remember to call them by the pronouns they have chosen, even if it’s a bit confusing at first!

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Review: Here and Now — Santa Montefiore

Review

The cover of this book, at least the version I have, features leaves falling from cherry blossoms trees, which many readers will recognise as a symbol of impermanence, something beautiful yet fleeting, something to be enjoyed in the moment or not at all, and I couldn’t think of anything better to symbolise the beautiful qualities of this book.

Here and Now is a relaxing read that takes you to the cozy little world of a traditional British woman in her sixties, and if you’ve just finished reading about angry men throwing each other across rooms, it’s a very refreshing read! This is a touching novel with sweet, fun, likeable characters. For the most part. But sometimes a character can be too likeable. The people in this book are either literally flawless or obnoxious to an extreme degree. The main protagonist genuinely has no flaws, which is a great quality in real-life, a terrible quality in a protagonist, because in real life no one is flawless.

One of her daughters, Suze, seems to be have been written just so the author could complain about the younger generation. She also does not speak like a real person. I’m going over this again in the “Language Level” section, but I’m so serious about this problem I have to put it here too, if you are still learning how to sound like a native English speaker, do not speak like Suze. No one speaks like Suze. The other daughter has her own story in this novel, involving a romance with a young man at the village, who in all honesty made me squirm more than Angry White Pyjamas did. If you’re a fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope, and also a fan of spoiled rich men with floppy hair, this book is for you (hey, no judgement, we all have our thing).

But Montefiore’s story serves as a relaxing break from a heartbreaking story about a kind, intelligent woman slowly losing more and more of herself to dementia. That being said, the novel doesn't really convey the horrors of the condition, and was really grasping at straws to give the story a happy ending. I’m sure if you have a loved one with dementia it’s comforting be given a silver lining, but wow did this woman stretch for that silver lining. And frankly, I have trouble believe the scene later in the book where the entire village gathers together to celebrate Marigold, it’s the kind of scene you would imagine in a kid’s movie, not in a book written for adults (I mean seriously, have you ever been to a small British village? I grew up in one. Trust me, not everyone is that nice).

Language Level

The English level in this novel is very basic, the prose is breezy, and the novel is only 389 pages long. It’s book I would recommend for light readers, and older readers especially. But please, I beg you, don’t try to repeat any of the dialogue in this book. The worst example is near the end when Suze uses the expression “Keep my light under a bushel”. I had to look that one up myself. It’s from the bible. No one, and I mean no one under the age of 60 uses this expression. I read it to my 50-year-old mother and even she laughed. I mean seriously, this woman is in her twenties. When I read that part of the book I felt like I was second-language English.

(If you’re curious, the expression means: “To hide your talent/success from people”. If you wanted to say something like that today, I would recommend saying: “I don’t like to brag about myself”, or “I don’t like to blow my own horn”.)

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Best of British slang terms. Buy the book and have a gander!

For Americans who needs some help with British slang. 

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FEATURED STORY

Judess © 2002 Norman Samuda Smith.

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‘A moment of patience in a moment of anger saves you a hundred moments of regret…’

Judess is featured in Britannia’s Children – Volume II – A Collection of Short Stories by Norman Samuda Smith Buy your copy @ https://www.feedaread.com/books/Britannias-Children-V…

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The first of 5 or so dialects I will be working on this semester. 

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