1. Trust_me_Im_a_linguist's Avatar
    Greetings from a Brit living the wonderful city of Norfolk, Virginia.

    I've lurked around the forums for a while, but just decided to pop in here and introduce myself. I've been a BlackBerry user since 2007 (Pearl > Second Pearl > Storm > Storm2 > Playbook > Passport > KeyONE > Second Keyone).

    I met my wife online, so six years and four kids later, what could be the harm in getting to know some other BlackBerry enthusiasts?

    The only online forum I've ever been a part of is an excellent community on boxingscene.com. Please excuse me if I accidentally double-post or have errors in using quotations, as my knowledge of these things is sophomoric at best. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

    Nice meeting y'all!
    Tim-ANC likes this.
    01-21-19 11:15 AM
  2. Tim-ANC's Avatar
    Welcome to CB! Y'all huh? I see you've picked up their lingo. Ah, but your a linguist.
    01-21-19 12:34 PM
  3. Trust_me_Im_a_linguist's Avatar
    Thank you! Yeah, I've always had a soft spot for that word. It's easily my favourite feature of American English. Some people hate on it, but I wish we used it more on both sides of 'the pond'. To be honest, linguistics is actually what got me into using BlackBerrys as my phone of choice. There's a real richness as to what you can accomplish with the physical keyboard in terms of special characters, phonetics, etc. which even the latest and greatest of 2019 lack. These devices have been a pretty big part of my life for the past decade. I enjoy the banter on this site, so, considering those two things, I thought it might be fun to get involved with a community that's unknowingly given me a lot for a very long time. Nice meeting you!
    Tim-ANC and Sigewif like this.
    01-21-19 12:48 PM
  4. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    Greetings from a Brit living the wonderful city of Norfolk, Virginia.

    I've lurked around the forums for a while, but just decided to pop in here and introduce myself. I've been a BlackBerry user since 2007 (Pearl > Second Pearl > Storm > Storm2 > Playbook > Passport > KeyONE > Second Keyone).

    I met my wife online, so six years and four kids later, what could be the harm in getting to know some other BlackBerry enthusiasts?

    The only online forum I've ever been a part of is an excellent community on boxingscene.com. Please excuse me if I accidentally double-post or have errors in using quotations, as my knowledge of these things is sophomoric at best. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

    Nice meeting y'all!
    Welcome to CB and we still use y’all in the central and northern parts of Florida as we get closer to Georgia or Alabama...... never mind @Tim-ANC, he’s still cranky during winter as The Alaskan 1/2 Canuck....

    Post early and post often....
    01-21-19 01:14 PM
  5. Tim-ANC's Avatar
    Welcome to CB and we still use y’all in the central and northern parts of Florida as we get closer to Georgia or Alabama...... never mind @Tim-ANC, he’s still cranky during winter as The Alaskan 1/2 Canuck....

    Post early and post often....
    Chuck! You did not go there! Rather be called half Russian. Канадский, Боже мой
    01-21-19 01:26 PM
  6. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    LMAO. I’m very impressed with the Russian characters or it could Klingon as I’d never really know the difference. All I know is, Donde esta Susana?

    Chuck! You did not go there! Rather be called half Russian. Канадский, Боже мой
    01-21-19 01:26 PM
  7. Trust_me_Im_a_linguist's Avatar
    Thank you for both the welcome and the advice! I'm very pleased to live in The South (granted, as I understand it, many people don't consider VA 'The South' anymore). Naturally, I came to embrace "y'all", lest I be anathema. No harm in being a bit annoyed at a hard winter. It's going to be -13F in my wife's home town on Wednesday. That would annoy me, too.

    I do hope to go to Florida at some point in my life. I've heard it's a bit hot, though.
    01-21-19 02:15 PM
  8. bakron1's Avatar
    Greetings and welcome to Crackberry, enjoy the forums and our great community.
    01-21-19 03:45 PM
  9. Trust_me_Im_a_linguist's Avatar
    Thank you, Bakron. I'm just really grateful to be here and I'm looking forward to having fun. As I've said I've lurked for a couple of years, and a post I read today just kind of compelled me to sign up. I've, for quite a long time now, been very thankful that there has always been a mobile phone producer (be it RIM or the new BlackBerry) that valued the same things I did in a mobile device. I think the people who appreciate these things are uncommon, and I think it's commendable what this company continues to do despite current trends in mobile technology. In my line of work, BlackBerrys still remain common, and I hope that this is a thing which inspires usage across demographics and user populations so that we can continue to get excellent products which improve with each and every year.
    Sigewif and bakron1 like this.
    01-21-19 07:12 PM
  10. Ragbert's Avatar
    Welcome to CrackBerry, linguist! I live in New England but I have family members who live in TX. Whenever I visit, I usually slip out an accidental "y'all" after a couple of days, and return home with a bit of a twang as well. I grew up calling second-person-plurals "you guys" regardless of gender, so "y'all" always feels weird coming out of my mouth. But it sure is handy, and everyone knows what it means.

    Anyway, nice to have you in the forums!

    Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204
    01-21-19 07:37 PM
  11. Tim-ANC's Avatar
    Thank you for both the welcome and the advice! I'm very pleased to live in The South (granted, as I understand it, many people don't consider VA 'The South' anymore). Naturally, I came to embrace "y'all", lest I be anathema. No harm in being a bit annoyed at a hard winter. It's going to be -13F in my wife's home town on Wednesday. That would annoy me, too.

    I do hope to go to Florida at some point in my life. I've heard it's a bit hot, though.
    I read something once that the US southeast language accent is an off shoot of the English accent. The Northeast in our short history was populated largely by German indentured immigrants whereas the southeast attracted the more affluent from England. Have you run across this in your studies?
    01-21-19 09:12 PM
  12. Trust_me_Im_a_linguist's Avatar
    Tim, What you said is pretty on point, and it's pretty intuitive that you noticed that. The different American (east coast) dialects are in large part products of those dialects which existed in 17th century England. A lot of the people who came to the Southern US would have come from the Devon/Dorset/Sommerset/Cornwall area. There would have been a pretty heavy articulation of the 'r' sound. So whenever someone gets on Southerners for their 'drawl', just gently remind them that this speech is what used to be completely standard in the days of Shakespeare.

    Those individual who colonised north of the Mason-Dixon line would have probably come from the East Anglia/Norfolk (the British Norfolk) area. That's going to be particularly apparent in vowel articulation (ever heard a Boston native say "Paahk my caaah?" [park my car].? It's just endemic of different immigration patterns and those dialects which are subalternated from each.

    Ever since I've moved to America, I've been really enamoured with y'all's attitude towards language. There are certain aspects which are remarkably functional (albeit ugly, if you take that position...). However, American English has really evolved to a state where it's, functionally, more capable of expressing precision than British English. Having four American kids its really cool how I get to see that language acquisition on a daily basis.

    Anyway, Tim, forgive my longwindedness
    Tim-ANC likes this.
    01-21-19 09:44 PM
  13. stlabrat's Avatar
    welcome OP. just wondering where one can learn to speak proper "queen's" language (used to listen new year's message, but even BBC didn't sound like the queen). thx
    01-22-19 05:14 AM
  14. Trust_me_Im_a_linguist's Avatar
    welcome OP. just wondering where one can learn to speak proper "queen's" language (used to listen new year's message, but even BBC didn't sound like the queen). thx
    Thanks stlabrat. To be honest, I'm not sure where you'd go, but HM The Queen is a really good example. The name for her particular dialect is "received pronunciation" (RP). It's a prestige dialect that's often used as a model, or a standard, to judge (not necessarily in a negative sense) other Englishes. Personally, that's not how I speak. I'm from a council estate (housing project) in the North of England. A person who speaks 'The Queen's English', or regards it highly, would probably find my accent/grammar/speech pretty reprehensible.

    RP is often a marker of social status in England. One of the things I enjoy about being in America is that there really isn't 'one' standard style of speech that's universally accepted as being indicative of a person's extraordinary social worth. Granted, there's a lot of discrimination concerning dialects such as Southern English, African American English, and those associated with the working class in Northern cities.. Things are trending towards eliminating that discrimination, which is positive.

    Now, as far as the pronunciation is concerned, I'm not a phonetician. My field is strictly morphosyntax (grammar). Phonology is hard, and those who've made their bones in the field are largely very talented. I'm not one of them. Also, even though grammar is my field, I have very little interest in editing my online speech as though it were something I'm submitting for publication, so y'all may forgive my rambling sentences and whatever ungrammaticality may occur in my posts. I feel online speech should be fun, not work.

    I'm not sure if linking to things is permitted, so I won't. PBS did an absolutely fantastic documentary on this, as well as what Tim_ANC said, called "Do You Speak American?". It's worth checking out, and is available on youtube.

    Long story short: If you want to learn to speak like Her Majesty, her addresses are the best place to start, because nobody does it better.

    Anyway, I really appreciate the welcome, and am looking very much forward to seeing how my experience with my KeyONE evolves over its tenure of usage. I've had it for a year now and have been satisfied enough to justify not upgrading to the Key2, simply because the device is such a pleasure to use.
    01-22-19 10:14 AM
  15. stlabrat's Avatar
    aha, I guess I might as well stuck with my gammon and peas more suitable for gnome. thx.
    01-22-19 12:29 PM
  16. Trust_me_Im_a_linguist's Avatar
    Gammon is delicious. I've not had a good gammon in years. I do miss the food from back home. Cheers!
    01-22-19 02:16 PM
  17. conite's Avatar
    Greetings from a Brit living the wonderful city of Norfolk, Virginia.

    I've lurked around the forums for a while, but just decided to pop in here and introduce myself. I've been a BlackBerry user since 2007 (Pearl > Second Pearl > Storm > Storm2 > Playbook > Passport > KeyONE > Second Keyone).

    I met my wife online, so six years and four kids later, what could be the harm in getting to know some other BlackBerry enthusiasts?

    The only online forum I've ever been a part of is an excellent community on boxingscene.com. Please excuse me if I accidentally double-post or have errors in using quotations, as my knowledge of these things is sophomoric at best. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

    Nice meeting y'all!
    Cunning.
    01-22-19 02:23 PM
  18. Trust_me_Im_a_linguist's Avatar
    Cunning.
    I see what you did there :-)
    01-22-19 02:24 PM
  19. JJBBgreat's Avatar
    High school humor.
    01-23-19 07:51 AM
  20. Golfdriver97's Avatar
    Welcome to the forums.
    01-23-19 09:54 AM
  21. Sigewif's Avatar
    Thank you, Bakron. I'm just really grateful to be here and I'm looking forward to having fun. As I've said I've lurked for a couple of years, and a post I read today just kind of compelled me to sign up. I've, for quite a long time now, been very thankful that there has always been a mobile phone producer (be it RIM or the new BlackBerry) that valued the same things I did in a mobile device. I think the people who appreciate these things are uncommon, and I think it's commendable what this company continues to do despite current trends in mobile technology. In my line of work, BlackBerrys still remain common, and I hope that this is a thing which inspires usage across demographics and user populations so that we can continue to get excellent products which improve with each and every year.
    Welcome to the forums. I am also a KEYone owner, and someone who has an interest in grammar. It makes sense to have a BlackBerry with a physical keyboard, and the editing features it has. I have been involved in translating and editing for a number of years, mostly volunteer work.
    Do join us over in the KEYone forums.
    01-24-19 12:36 AM
  22. notObamasBerry's Avatar
    we still say y'all in West by God Virginia. Dividing between north and south runs along US 33 in West Virginia, then into Maryland. just go up I-79 and listen to the accents of the clerks at the gas stations you will hear the accents shift once you get about 30 miles north of Charleston.
    the west virginia hot dog slaw mapping project also demonstrates the north/south line, it runs just south of the slaw line
    http://wvhotdogblog.blogspot.com/p/w...nians.html?m=1

    Welcome to crackberry!!!! Norfolk is a beautiful place. You know it's on the edge of a huge meteor crater, right?
    02-10-19 09:16 AM
  23. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    we still say y'all in West by God Virginia. Dividing between north and south runs along US 33 in West Virginia, then into Maryland. just go up I-79 and listen to the accents of the clerks at the gas stations you will hear the accents shift once you get about 30 miles north of Charleston.
    the west virginia hot dog slaw mapping project also demonstrates the north/south line, it runs just south of the slaw line
    The West Virginia Hot Dog Blog: Slaw Mapping

    Welcome to crackberry!!!! Norfolk is a beautiful place. You know it's on the edge of a huge meteor crater, right?
    I’m crazy for hot dogs, primarily Chicago dogs of all kinds... this is what I appreciate most about CrackBerry threads....
    02-10-19 10:12 AM
  24. Tim-ANC's Avatar
    I’m crazy for hot dogs, primarily Chicago dogs of all kinds... this is what I appreciate most about CrackBerry threads....
    Hot dogs aren't food
    02-10-19 12:09 PM
  25. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    Hot dogs aren't food
    Chicago style from Portillos are complete meal. We have authentic Portillos from Chicago now in Tampa now. I do like grilled seal on stick though as close runner up....
    Tim-ANC likes this.
    02-10-19 02:00 PM
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