Welcome!

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Hello, Rockrunnerthecard, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions, especially what you did for Great Vowel Shift. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:

Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! Boogerpatrol (talk) 20:46, 6 October 2013 (UTC)Reply

Thanks much.

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From a kindred-soul in speech. I also don't have the "merry, Mary, marry" merger. :D Tharthandorf Aquanashi (talk) 19:12, 24 April 2014 (UTC)Reply

  • Cool stuff! I actually do have a slight merger ("Mary" and "marry" for me are nearly complete, but I exaggerated the distinction in the recording). What area are you from? I was looking at your user profile, by the way, I agree with your desire to bring "thou" and/or "ye" back, for convenience reasons (mostly since we have no standard plural "you" in English), but I disagree with you criticism of double negatives. Double, even multiple negation, is used in most other languages (even Old English!). In Spanish "No he hablado nada con ninguna persona nada" ("I haven't spoken at all with any person ever" or, more literally, "I have not spoken nothing with not any person never") is a grammatically typical and standard sentence. Sorry, I just did a presentation on this kind of thing, so I'm all riled up! Other people speak with ethno-cultural or regional dialects that are beautifully complex, and I fear that we despise them as "erroneous" just because they are not like our own native dialect or like the formal academic "standard." Also, just think how speakers of Southern American English have basically brought back the plural "you" to their dialect by saying "y'all" or "youse," which so many consider incorrect or improper. I'm a recovering grammar Nazi myself though, so I understand the feeling that a language must be preserved the way it is. I wonder why we have these compulsions. Languages are always evolving! (Also, I'm an English teacher, so having to read confusions with too / two / to is, yes, a very common headache.) Rockrunnerthecard (talk) 15:16, 26 April 2014 (UTC)Reply
I've updated my userpage to include more information, including a paragraph or so that answers your questions. I'm aware that many other languages use double-negatives, for I am quite knowledgeable in Ealde Ænglisc myself and am relatively well-versed in French (as well as having a basic knowledge of Spanish, though I don't particularly like the language.)
I am a big supporter of regional dialects (aside from that drivel that Californians call "talking", the unforstandy utterings of London and [though my dislike for this is not as stark as with the former two] AAVE.) I particularly like the dialect of Rhode Island, Hiberno-English, the dialect of Oklahoma, (sometimes) the Virginia Piedmont dialect, the Yooper dialect, the West Country dialects, Scottish English and Jamaican English.
I don't like "y'all" whatsoever, though I do find "youse" and "yinz" somewhat charming. I still personally use "thou" with close friends and the like, however, as I've found that (at least in my area) more or less everyone is aware what it means.
'Tis a pain! However, people using "your" for "you're" (though I've always pronounced the latter similarly to how I pronounce "you were"; minus the "w", though) and "their" for "they're" (once again, I pronounce the two differently, with "they're" being more like "they were"; minus the "w") is more annoying and detestable. Tharthandorf Aquanashi (talk) 22:10, 27 April 2014 (UTC)Reply

Original research in New England English?

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Hi Rockrunnerthecard,

I noticed your edits to New England English and they are not cited and appear to be your own original research. While they may be your observations, please include citations for your changes, as the citations in the article don't support your statements and the map you added.

Thanks, BCorr|Брайен 14:59, 15 August 2014 (UTC)Reply

Stop.

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Sir, Wikipedia currently has a systematic bias towards Midwest and West Coast American English. Please refrain from furthering that bias by rewriting entire pages that have already been rewritten so as to remove that bias.

Thank you, and have a good evening. Tharthandorf Aquanashi (talk) 03:22, 15 February 2015 (UTC)Reply

A brownie for you!

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  I am sorry about my hostile message earlier. We should all assume good faith of one another, and I failed to do that, which was unacceptable on my part.

Please see my talk page for my response to your questions. Tharthandorf Aquanashi (talk) 16:20, 15 February 2015 (UTC)Reply