by Louisa Coward on 03/09/2010 14:35:51 in CorpComms Online | share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet
Facebook and Twitter prompt a renaissance of regional dialects

Louisa Coward is the editorial intern at CorpComms Magazine

Regional colloquialisms are enjoying a nationwide resurgence thanks to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Etymologists have long suspected that greater mobility and exposure to mass-media would iron out regional variations and homogenise the national language but the rise of user-generated-content seems to be bucking this trend.
Linguists from the University of Manchester claim the immediacy and informality of communication via these forums is causing Internet users to revert to their most comfortable register, spreading once regional slang across the web and throughout the country.
Local slang for local people
A few terms that might not make it nationwide:
'Grockle' and 'Emmet' - West Country words for a tourist or visitor
'Vister' - Norfolk term for a tourist
'Culchie' - Dublin word for anyone from the country
'Jackeen' - a Culchie word for a Dubliner
'Queen's Park Ranger' - Cockney Rhyming Slang for a stranger
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