Another way of speaking English disappears as fisherman's death spells demise of rare dialect

Fox News ^ | 10/3/2012 | Associated Press

[FeliciaCat]

In a remote fishing town on the tip of Scotland's Black Isle, the last native speaker of the Cromarty dialect has died, taking with him another little piece of the English linguistic mosaic.

Scottish academics said Wednesday that Bobby Hogg, who passed away last week at age 92, was the last person fluent in the dialect once common in the seaside town of Cromarty, about 175 miles (280 kilometers) north of Scottish capital Edinburgh.

The Biblically-influenced speech — complete with "thee" and "thou" — is one of many fading dialects which have been snuffed out across the British Isles.

[Gaffer]

Not to worry...maybe Irish Islam dialect can replace it.

[circlecity]

So? Big deal.

[Fido969]

Yeah, but no one could understand a blasted thing the bloke was saying anyway...

[Proud2BeRight]

But we now have ebonics, Cajun, Boston, and like totally valley girl.

[married21]

The thing to do if you do not have an interest in language is to simply skip the article.

I actually like to read the articles on FR that are about history, ancient cultures and languages, etc. There are a bunch of us who do.

[Tijeras_Slim]

In a note left on his mantel, Mr. Hogg wrote “I had all you boffins fooled for 90 years.”

[ClearCase_guy]

Was it a dialect? Or was he just drunk?

Mother forgive me.
RIP Mr. Hogg

[circlecity]

"The thing to do if you do not have an interest in language is to simply skip the article."

You use message boards the way you want and I'll use them the way I want to.

[JoeProBono]

[billorites]

Excuse me Miss. I speak Cromarty.

[stuartcr]

Snuffed out?! He was the last guy and no one else apparently wanted to learn it.

[kabumpo]

A huge deal. It astounds me that you don’t see it. It’s the last link to a people, a way of life and a mode of thought - an entire world was in that language.
I will never get used to the philistinism and reveling in ignorance of some members of FR.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

That’s a shame.

However....there is still some of that left in the Yorkshire dialect (thee and thou) in the older generation. Took me a couple of months to tune my ear to it when I first moved there. ;-)

[ClearCase_guy]

True story -- I knew a couple for a few years. Not too well, but my oldest daughter was friends with their daughter so we saw each other from time to time. I knew the mother was from Moscow. Heavy Russian accent, very little English, so conversation with her was very limited. Her husband was easier to talk too. Often hard to understand, but it seemed he knew more English, and his accent was not quite so heavy.

I knew them for over a year before I found out that he was not Russian. He was born in Canada, a native English speaker, but between very bad teeth, a speech impairment, and a drinking problem, I would have sworn that the guy was a Russian immigrant.

[FeliciaCat]

LOL!!!

[discostu]

But the way you want is being a jerk. Really if a topic doesn’t interest you don’t click on it, it’s not hard. If you do click on it that’s your fault, if you don’t like the topic, that’s your fault, if you tell everybody it’s dull then the dullness actually comes from you.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I speak two languages. English and profane.

[Vision]

Sounds like a fun guy to drink with.

[yarddog]

I noticed in National Geographic a month or two back that a man in Oklahoma is the last fluent speaker of Euchee. That is an Indian dialect of what was once a very large tribe.

The county seat of Walton County, FL used to be Eucheeanna. It was moved to DeFuniak Springs sometime after the War Between the States.