Word: dialection
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...Alaska's Mount McKinley (elevation: 20,320 ft., a mere 8,708 ft. lower than the Himalayas' Mount Everest). But centuries before paleface cartographers gave the peak that name, Alaskan Indians, Aleuts and Eskimos called it by another: Denali, or "the Great One" in the Athabascan Indian dialect. Now native Alaskans are lobbying hard to restore the original Indian name. The state legislature has adopted a resolution to rechristen the mountain Denali, and both Governor Jay Hammond and Senator Mike Gravel are campaigning to persuade the U.S. Interior Department to make the change official...
...tongues, Partridge was born into the proper English of New Zealand and was introduced to Australian slang as a student at the University of Queensland. He later served with the Australian army in World War I-thereby learning the military idiom-before ending his linguistic tour in the rarefied dialect of Oxford. To fill in the gaps, he relies on an extended network of correspondents. They also keep him abreast of changes that "on balance, I should say are to the good." He particularly likes "wonderful American expressions such as skyscraper" but dislikes the "pitiable" sociopsychological jargon of American professors...
Psychobabble, says Rosen, is the official dialect of the narcissistic cult of candor that is tyrannizing the culture. The language "is difficult to avoid and there is often an embarrassment involved in not using it, somewhat akin to the mild humiliation experienced by American tourists in Paris who cannot speak the native tongue." According to Rosen, self-help and sex books, instant therapies and self-improvement courses like est purvey psychobabble in pure form. The problem is not just that psychological ideas dominate national conversation, but that psychobabble is a deadened tongue with no words to express "the paradoxes...
Mcllvanney captures the speech of his Glaswegians with similarly high fidelity. At first glance, the dialect seems designed to try the reader's patience: "If there's no somethin' wrang wi' her the noo, there'll be somethin' wrang wi' her when Ah get ma haunds oan 'er." Gradually, though, the "hoot, mon" appearance of words on the page disappears, replaced by the odd, lilting music of street, sitting room...
...acceptance speech, the President surprised and delighted the crowd of 8,000 by beginning with a phrase in the local dialect: "Ha'way the lads," a popular cheer for the local soccer team. Said Callaghan afterward: "I don't know where you picked that up from, but I tell you that you couldn't find a way more quickly to the hearts of our people." Accepting his new privileges, Carter mentioned the name by which people of the region are known. "I'm glad to be a Geordie," he said -and the crowd roared...