Read This Blog to Filth...

I was helping Clifford – my Northern boyfriend – at the garage where he works when, out of the blue, I turned to him and said: “I’ll read you to filth…”

“What…?” Clifford looked puzzled.

“Would you say that I’ll read you to filth is a sentence of English?”

“Never ’eard it b’for. It don’ mek sense.” 

I’ll read you to filth is often uttered by the queens of Rupaul’s Drag Race (see Drag Queen’s English). The first time I heard it was during the first mini-challenge ‘the library is open’ (s. 02, ep. 07) when Jujubee, hands on hips, pledged: “I’m not nervous. I’ll read a bitch. I will read you to filth."

…to filth, I suppose, means ‘utterly, to the bitter end.’

Rupaul’s Drag Race only aired in the UK in 2009, on E4, and no further season was aired on a British channel. It was natural that Clifford, born and bred in West Yorkshire, never heard of reading as ‘the drag high art form of shrugging off insults’ (see DragQueen’s English: Vogue).

As a non-native speaker of English myself, I understand Clifford’s reaction to I’ll read you to filth.

Reading, by the way, is one of the highlights of RPDRace in terms of English language. Each instance of reading in RPDRace becomes a fertile soil for linguistic strangeness. Here are some interesting ones taken from the ‘library’ mini-challenge.

Jujubee reading (throwing shade)

Season 2:

2.1 “Ms Tyra, was your barbecue cancelled? Your grill is f***** up.” Jujubee.

(grill referring to teeth)

2.2 “…legendary you think you are? Legendary… looks like leg.en.dary” Jujubee. 

(leg en dary

is homophone to

leg 'n' dairy).

Raven reading (throwing shade)

2.3 “You got a grill that could put Black’n’Decker out of business.” Raven. 

2.4 “You wanna call me a top model mommy? Bend over and take it like a man! I’ll be your top… model.” Raven.

Season 3:

Yara Sofia reading (throwing shade)

3.1 “It’s not because you’re Asian. It’s because I need some patian to deal with you!” Yara Sofia. (Yara pronounces ‘patience’ as patian purposely, and patian rhymes with Asian).

3.2 “Is that your teef or your feet?” Yara Sofia. (Yara pronounces ‘teeth’ as teef purposely).

Manila Luzon reading (throwing shade)

3.3 “Your blue contacts are so creepy, that it makes my skin itchy itchy itchy-pa’lante!” Manila Luzon. (Manila makes a reference to a phrase in Spanish used by Sofia: ‘echa pa’lante’)

3.4 “It’s Dinner time Delta, and you are serving body-ody-ody” Manila Luzon.

3.5 “I know you call yourself top model, but I think Tyra Banks and I would agree… you’re just fashion roadkill.” Shangela.

Season 4:

4.1 “Dida Ritz, I don’t know if that’s hot couture or hot coutorn ’cause there’s holes in that shirt.” Dida Ritz.

4.1 “Jiggly Caliente, BMW... Body Made Wrong.” Latrice Royale.

Each instance falls in different categories (which will be dealt with in future posts) of strangeness: while 3.4 has an unusual echo (body-ody-ody), 4.1 has a modified word or neologism (coutorn), etc.

Also, the degree of linguistic strangeness among these instances varies. And some may even disagree that they’re strange at all - comments welcome.

As I'm looking forward to the season 5 (January 28), next post will be on the top runways readings involving strangeness on RPDRace.

Appy Nu Year!

It’s a new year off course. Twenty thirteen! We’re living the future. And nothing spells future better than SPELLING DEVIATION.

Appy Feet shop at Meadowhall in Sheffield

Now, when SMS (Short Message Service), email, and Facebook are part of our daily lives, when we are constantly communicating with others using a computer keyboard or mobile keypad (virtual or not), spelling deviation is an undeniable trend. Actually, this is the most ordinary type of deviation one may find in English. 'Sox' - Stall at Doncaster Market 'YULE' - Sign in Front of The Library pub at Headingley Ln_Leeds To explore spelling deviation in English properly I’d have to start a blog exclusively on the topic. So, within the limitations of a single post, I invite you to observe pics of signs with spelling deviations that, perhaps, reveal tendencies for a new Standard. Stalls just a few metres from each other at Doncaster Market These two stalls, at Doncaster Market, sit just a few metres from each other. In the left ice cream and dough nut are spelt as two separate words each, whereas in the right ice cream is spelled as one word, and the spelling of dough nut is simplified to donut. Standard spell is a question of convention and formalisation for reasonable use of writing in society.  OK Comics: Livraria no Thorton's Arcade (Briggate_Leeds  Spelling deviation is generally an issue of practicality and economy – i.e. communicate a word with less effort, omitting the spell of unheard consonant or vowels sounds.  Example of this is the spelling of Daughter as Dotter in the title of Mary Talbot's book.  'Quiz Nite' The Centurion pub at Vicar Cross_Chester  Nite is a word that has its own entry in the Concise OED, under the label ‘informal’, as “a non-standard spelling of night”.   'Midnite' & 'Coffee 'n' cake' - Café at Headingley Lane_Leeds  And Nite seems to be quite favoured in signs - at least, this is the evidence I've got in the North.

Shop at Sunbridge Road_Bradford

’n’ or ’n, is another example that has a formalised entry in the Concise OED as a contraction of and.

Naturally, there are types of spelling deviation which actually points to a different type of linguistic deviation. 

LEASAGNE is a perfect example.

Outdoor em Bradford Interchange_2011

But this is topic for a future post.