New words

There comes a time for some when the usual television volume is not high enough, but turning it up to make actor conversation audible would mean driving others from the room. That is where closed caption comes to the rescue.

As long as the words on the screen bear some resemblance to what is being said. Too often in a news interview someone is saying, “Somboli dasciby three times in the last week, a plivel rascally sud.”

We expect a literal display of what a person says, but too often lately literal has nothing to do with real words.

One of the best non words in British English is “innit.” Or maybe it’s “init.” Whichever, it is not a real word, but accurately compresses “isn’t it” into a quick and understandable reference.

“Innit” now shows up as a closed caption word in some UK television programs. Yes, it is a literal recitation of what someone said, and, if a viewer has a hearing problem it is possible he or she would not hear the actor’s word. But, TV and movie words have a way of wedging into accepted English speech. I do not expect “innit” to become a common word in, say, the Bronx, but possibly more common in American speech.

“Ima” also shows up more frequently than before. That is a large compression, “I am going to” into three letters. “Gonna” is another not-favorite.

Used to be, people Up North decided the difference between acceptable English and how everybody else spoke. Many years ago, a columnist for the former Dallas Times Herald wrote that she had lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area long enough that she was comfortable with Texasisms and Southernisms in her speech. She wrote that during her holiday visit to her former home in New York City, she said “y’all.” Her mother immediately said, “Don’t say that. It sounds so ignorant.”

Yeah, all y’all in Brooklyn or the Bronx have a monopoly in judging, don’cha. You’s should watch My Cousin Vinny at least one time a year. It’s an instructive movie, innit.