An article in today's Guardian tells us about a new guide for doctors in the North East of England, educating them about weird and wonderful examples of local dialect. And, as the article next to it in the paper tells us, people these days are living much longer than their parents' generations, perhaps we're going to face the need to "translate"dialect terms more and more in the future.
Why? Because, quite a few studies suggest that it's older people who cling onto the local and regional dialect forms of their areas, rather than the younger generation (who're moving towards multi-ethnic youth dialect/s, apparently). And as new doctors move into areas where regional dialects are still strong, they'll need all the help they can get to understand what the old codgers are chatting about (fast forward to me in 50 years, moaning about the price of Rich Tea biscuits and how Dizzee Rascal's fifteenth album is just waste, man...or something).
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