Canny lass

It's an industrial injury, Tonyp. Personally i Always said scranchuns - pure dialect. Not a bit of accent involved.

I forgot to ask: I'd be interested to know, purely from a linguistic point of view, how your mate from Gosforth would pronounce the word hotel if it were to be pronounced 'correctly'? I'm assuming he knows this as he claims that you pronounce it wrongly. Try to write it down for me exactly as you did with hoe-tel. I'm particularly interested in how the 'o' would sound. What's he studying?

No, a welsh Dictionary wouldn't be of any help! Although, a welsh/English bilingual Dictionary, written for welsh stuents of the English language, would be perfect - providing it's not too old. Check to see that it uses the IPA system if you're looking for the symbol I described. If it uses some other system have a look at which symbol they use to represent the 'o'-sound in words like home, hoe, sew. That'll be the symbol to look for when you look up the Words and I guarantee it will be the same in all of them. I hope your son enjoyed Cardiff. I worked at Cardiff University Hospital for a couple of years. Loved Cardiff!

Then you're both wrong. I think you are confusing dialect with accent. It's a common fault and many people do it. It would make no difference to me if you wrote hotel or hoe-tel. In standard English the pronunciation would be the same. The 'o' would rhyme with the 'o- sound' in coke, coat, bowl, hoe and sew. The same can be said of standard English spoken with an accent. The 'o-sound' would have a North-East accent but would still rhyme if you said those words again. However, accent and dialect are two different things. Without needing to plumb the depths of phonetics you can prove it to yourself by looking in any good, modern Dictionary. I can recommend the Oxford advanced learner's Dictionary - used almost world-wide for students of the English language at University level. To assist learners with their pronunciation the dictionary uses the IPA system for writing words as they are pronounced in standard English. This system uses symbols instead of letters. The symbol for this particular 'o-sound' in the word hotel, spoken in standard English, is an upside-down e followed by u.Unfortunately I'm not able to reproduce it here. The dictionary gives standard English pronunciation for all the words I mentioned and the same symbol appears in all of them.

Tonyp, There are no rights and no wrongs when it comes to pronunciation - as long as you get your message across. As Maggie rightly says, language is all about communication. If you are pronouncing the word hotel as hoe-tel then you are using standard English, not dialect. When speaking standard English the first syllable in hotel (ho-) rhymes with the vowel sound in coat, home, bow and of course with the word hoe, which you yourself used in your phonetic interpretation. Look in any modern English Dictionary which gives a phonetic representation of the Word and you will find this is so but, note my use of the Word 'modern'. All too many people think of English as English and do not realise that it is changing constantly. Words come and words go, sounds become mutated and affected by other words around them and not least by the way we move about and rub shoulders with different dialects. Even the grammar is changing albeit at a very, very slow rate. Thanks to this lack of knowledge most people never bother to renew the dictionary they had at school. They think it will serve its purpose throughout their life and probably throughout the life of their children and grand-children. They are wrong! The life expectancy of a dictionary today is approximately 10 years. Of course the book itself may still be as good as new after 10 years but the information in it will not. Now, to get back to the Word hotel. If we take three people: one from Bedlington, one from London and one from Gosforth and ask them all to say the word hotel using standard English, chances are that they will all pronounce it differently. The reason is simple. They will all modify their dialect (we all have one - even the Queen). However, it's impossible - without an awful lot of practice - to remove all traces of our dialect. We always leave a trace behind. This trace is called our accent. The person from Bedlington will pronounce the o in one way, the Londoner in another and the guy from Gosforth in yet another. All will speak, what we in the trade call, 'standard English with an accent'. So, you can tell the chaps from Gosforth that they don't know what they are talking about and recommend they buy a new dictionary. As far as standard English is concerned the recommended pronunciation is hoe-tel. However, this doesn't make everything else wrong. Hut -tel, hot-tel, her -tel are all acceptable - not wrong only different.

In the meanwhile, Micky, would you like to share your story with us? How did you come to have a jackdaw as a pet and even more interesting to hear would be how you came to be swimming together!

Thanks Foxy! Don't you just love the Little girl in pink, demonstrating the splits. Fantastic!

It looks fantastic from the air as you fly into Newcastle Airport. Previously I've Always kept a look out for St. Mary's lighthouse, Whitley Bay but this is way better.

Hopefully they are just having a practice-run on Ashington so that they get it right first time when they eventually get round to Bedlington.

One of my favourites is' tappy lappy' especially in the verb-form , 'he went tappy lappying up the street'. Has a lovely ring to it. I feel a pang of home-sickness coming on!

It costs nothing to ask in pubs and shops if they'd mind putting a few on the counter and Tourist information centres are Always a good idea. Keep up the good work.

Most universities have a newspaper library on microfilm.

Couldn't find any date but I know I've seen this earlier - much earlier, Malcolm. My Point about distribution in pubs, cafes and shops was more related to the need to attract people from outside of Bedlington. I mean, people visiting or just passing through don't pop into the council offices do they - but they probably have a pint, a lunch or a packet of sweets etc. If they can also pick up a broschure then they know that it's worth coming back to the town with the family.

Sounds like a good Idea, Malcolm and I'm sure the terrier seats will be put to good use, at least on the up hill walk, and good luck with the electricity. It's a great venue for all sorts of things.

Thanks Malcolm! That's great! However, I have to ask why are these leaflets tucked away in the Council Offices? It's not always open and maybe there aren't many who know about the leaflets or their whereabouts. Get them onto the counters in shops, cafes and pubs where they will be more easily accessible.

They are indeed Maggie. Thanks Bedlingtonian and welcome to the forum. My vote also goes to the Market Cross with Trotter's monument a Close second.

I'll bet they thought they were superstars on such a nice stage.

Thanks Brett! It's looking Lovely. It's a place with a lot of possibilities. I particularly like the 'mural'. A few of Malcolms park benches would look great alongside.

While on the subject of Front Street, I noticed some "Heritage Trail" signs on the walls of some Buildings (Excellent initiative!! We should be proud of our heritage and Bedlington's got a great deal to offer). However, I only came across these 'by accident' as it were. Where do I find more information next time I'm in Bedlington - hoping to get in a longer visit next year when I finally shut up shop and become an OAP. Is there a brochure of some kind that outlines the trail, and if so where would I get one?

Pleased to hear it! I was well impressed with how Front Street looked during my "flying" visit in December. It had a nice homogenous feel to it with so many shop-fronts in the same style, matching lamp- and signposts and even matching plant containers! I'd love to see it now when Malcolm's got his hanging baskets up so get some photos up here please.

Nice pics Foxy. Thanks for thinking of us. Is that a new bandstand at Atlee Park?

... and from me too!

Hi Bedlingtonian. Welcome to the forum. Sorry i don't know any of these people.' I'm not old enough' - well that's my story and I'm sticking to it! There's many an old codger here who'll probably be able to help you identify some of them.

I wonder where they've hidden the en-suite? Pot under the bed perhaps?

It's the same Word Maggie. (Scandinavian origins: Old Norse hald which became Modern English hold by way of Old English heald). Compare 'The fire's taken a hold' and 'hold on' - both implying that a grip is taken.