I believe in the ability to pick up regional dialect. My freshman year, three of my closest friends were Texan, and since then "y'all" has been permanently embedded in my vocabulary, the flat, Midwestern delivery confusing every listener I encounter.
But y'all is a gap-toothed, down-home word to pick up. It doesn't scream "pretension," and "look at how worldly I am" and "I also use the word 'summer' as a verb."
Only "cheers" can fully do that.
I get it, you may have traveled at some point in the past, to Britain or one of its former colonies. But really, having been back in the states now since, oh…permanently, is it really necessary to replace "thanks" "bye" "hi" and any number of other basic, important words with a British catch-all? Did you start adding u's into your spelling of color when you got back from your 2-week tour of Europe, most of which was spent jetting between the 6 countries you managed to cover? Do you own a pair of "wellies" now, which you leave by your "brolly" in the hallway? Do you sing "God Save the Queen" instead of "My Country 'Tis of Thee?"
No. Because you're an American, happily living in the states, with no intention of changing that situation. You were probably the type that said "as if" and found a different impressionist artist to describe the way every guy looked right after you saw Clueless, too (he's a total Pissarro, you know what I mean? You don't?). Seriously – it doesn't make you sound hip, or cultured, or…anything but incredibly annoying.
And if you start dropping in appropriately chic French phrases, sans irony, I will totally challenge you to a fight on the tennis courts after lunch period. Alright? Alright. Cheers.
-Posted by Jilly
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
You are so right! I am totally behind you on this one. If you speak American, just stick to American.
ReplyDeleteCiao!