08:30 A late start, as regards getting out of bed, for Lois and me. I've been looking at my smartphone and at the fascinating quora website.
the immensely informative quora forum website
I'm pleased to say that one of my favourite pundits on the website, Ben Waggoner, has broken his silence, and he's been weighing in on the vexed subject of the so-called "cot-caught" merger in General American (GA) English.
Sounding off about this hot topic with his trademark directness, Ben explains that the US is divided broadly into two populations, one of which pronounces "cot" and "caught" identically (following the rules of the so-called "cot-caught merger"), while the other population, which pronounces them differently, uses a short vowel in "cot" and a long vowel in words like "caught".
Here are two maps produced by linguists who have studied the phenomenon:
When I saw these maps today, I was struck by the higgledy-piggledy-ness of the two populations - I expected it to be more clear-cut geographically, but it obviously isn't at all.
I must say, I personally was already vaguely aware of the so-called "cot-caught merger", but what I didn't know was that, according to Ben, there's actually a third group, that keeps the two sounds separate in general, but makes an exception if the vowel is followed by the letter 'n'. This is called the "don-dawn" merger, so this group would pronounce, for example, the words "don" and "dawn" identically, while making a distinction between, for example, "cot" and "caught".
See? Simples!!!
As far as I'm aware, speakers in the UK Australia and New Zealand all belong to the "red group", that consistently distinguishes the two sounds. I'm not sure about Canada, however. Perhaps we should be told? - and quickly!
But what a crazy language we speak !!!!!
10:45 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's two Sunday morning meeting on zoom, while I go up to lie on the bed and start on the so-called "List A" of exercises which Connor, my NHS physio has scheduled for me.
14:00 We suddenly realise we haven't used the car for 8 days, so we take a drive out to Tewkesbury to give the car a bit of exercise. We stop outside the 15th century Gupshill Manor to take a couple of selfies.
us outside the 15th century Gupshill Manor, Tewkesbury
this afternoon
Lois and I have dined frequently at the Gupshill in happier times, i.e. before the pandemic.
flashback to December 2018 - Lois and I enjoy a Christmas meal at the Gupshill
However, the Gupshill has recently become of heightened interest to us. Last year my sister Gill and I discovered we had a cousin David (1959) that we didn't previously know anything about - the son of our Aunty Joan and her sometime boss Peter. David was adopted as a baby, and our relationship to him has only recently come to light thanks to a DNA test.
A few months ago Lois discovered online that Peter, David's father, owned and managed the Gupshill Manor hotel-restaurant in the 1960's. She also discovered that a few years later Peter was living just about a mile from our current house. What are the chances of that happening, eh?
excerpt from the Tewkesbury Register and Gazette from 1966.
with photograph of Peter (centre) - and note the prices in
Grants' sale - in pounds, shillings and pence: those were the days!!!
flashback to July - Lois and I seek out the house where David's father
lived in the early 1970's according to the electoral register
16:00 We see an email from my sister Gill's daughter Maria and her husband Tom, inviting us to their "second" wedding.
Maria and Tom actually got married in a very much pared down ceremony last year, pared down because of the pandemic, but they're planning to have more of a traditional celebration next August with many more friends and relatives taking part.
How great is that!
flashback to July 2021 - Tom and Maria's "first" wedding
20:00 We watch some TV, the last ever episode of the 1980's sitcom "Chance in a Million", which revolves around the romance between bluff cricket-loving Englishman Tom Chance and his shy but sexually forward librarian girlfriend Alison.
Lois was a librarian herself so always enjoys all the library-in-jokes, much of which pass directly over my head, which is a pity, but Lois always explains them to me, which is nice.
This was the last ever episode of this sitcom, first aired in December 1986, and culminates in Tom and Alison's wedding, although lots of things go wrong, as always in this series. And the above synopsis of the episode doesn't really do justice to the complexity of the beautifully constructed plot.
Various things go wrong - on the evening before the wedding, Alison dresses up as a tart for a pre-wedding decadence-themed party with her library colleagues in the "restricted reading" room of the library, a space normally barred to all but the chief librarian. Lois remembers these rooms from her past career - it was where they kept the saucier books, like "Tropic of Cancer", and she sometimes had to go down there to retrieve books if they were asked for by a customer.
Alison debuts her pre-wedding party "tart" costume for Tom
On the evening before Alison's wedding to Tom, when she ventures outside to go to this party at the library, she unfortunately gets mixed up with a group of real tarts waiting outside a phone box, where a police van spots them, and they all get charged and carried off to jail at the local police station.
Alison (centre) gets mixed up with a group of real tarts,
when unfortunately a police van (left) stops by and takes them all in
Tom also ends up in the police station, having got himself involved with a mixed group of phoney vicars and also some real vicars - the real ones have arrived to take part in an Anglican synod.
...and Tom gets involved with a mixed group of real and bogus vicars,
who also get arrested after a fracas in an off-licence
(notice a very young-looking Stephen Fry as one of the vicars (2nd from left)
Another major blow happens when Alison's parents and her bridesmaid get trapped in the town sewers with the wedding dress and the wedding cake, and miss the actual wedding ceremony at the local church.
trapped in the town sewers and unable to take part in the wedding ceremony:
(left to right) Alison's mother, her bridesmaid,
an aunt (with the cake) and Alison's father
Against all odds, however, the wedding takes place, and even Alison's parents and her bridesmaid get out of the sewer just in time to appear in the official photographs, which is nice.
the happy couple emerge from the church to be welcomed by
a mixed group of vicars, tarts and policemen
the bridal party runs across when they see Alison's parents and
bridesmaid begin to emerge from the town sewers,
in time for the official photographs, which is nice!
And although the restaurant where the reception was due to take place is unfortunately destroyed by bank robbers attacking the bank next door, all is not lost. The police sergeant's wife sets to work and makes banana sandwiches for an expanding guest-list: when townspeople realise that Tom and Alison are going away, they all join in to wish them goodbye, which was touching - the final guest tally reached about 300. And the reception venue was moved to the police station canteen.
part of the scene at the reception, hastily moved to the police station
canteen: (left to right) Alison's father, a tart, and a policewoman
Lois and I are left wondering where on earth the police sergeant's wife found enough bananas to make banana sandwiches for 300 guests, but we're going to let that one slide for now, because we do love a happy ending!
We wish Tom and Alison all the best for their marriage, even though it later comes to light that they were in fact married by one of the bogus vicars and not one of the real ones. [They haven't really got married anyway, have they - remember, it's only a story, Colin ! - Ed]
And the couple also came away with some wonderful wedding pictures from their special day, luckily mostly taken after the last-minute appearance of Alison's parents and her bridesmaid from the sewers, which made for a happy ending, that's for sure!
a selection of Tom and Alison's wedding pictures
Gorgeous pictures!
And it was nice to see a very young looking Stephen Fry as one of the vicars. But we can't remember whether he was a real one of a bogus one. Oh dear, our memories are not what they were, that's for sure!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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