Why do they pronounce "my" as "me"

Dave   Tuesday, April 29, 2003, 02:02 GMT
Go to northern England and you'll get expressions like

Where is me car?
Could you drive me to me home!?
Do you want me to call me mate?
I'm taking me dog for a walk?
Me leg hurts.

They never pronounce "my" as "my" but just as "me". I think this is lazy and it get's on my nerves!

The only time "my" is pronounce correctly, is when the word "me" is put right next to it.

For example
Pass me my shoes....

Although others would say...
Pass me me shoes.....
cmhiv   Tuesday, April 29, 2003, 05:23 GMT
That is not just Northern England; it is most , if not all, of Britain.
cmhiv   Tuesday, April 29, 2003, 05:25 GMT
However, you will hear things like, "he lent it me" meaning "he lent it to me" in Northern England.
Simon   Tuesday, April 29, 2003, 07:11 GMT
Historically MY would have been pronounced more like ME. Maybe that's it. Dutch had the same thing. IJ sounds like something between AY and EYE depending on the area. But previously it sounded like English EE. In fact the j or i originally just lengthened the vowel. That's why you see Huus in touristy Bruges for example, instead of Huis. It's Ye Olde Flaenders for the tourists.
all the sheep   Tuesday, April 29, 2003, 11:54 GMT
mie(n) shoes =coastal flemisch dialect
it sounds like the english dialect me shoes
"my shoes" sounds like "mijn schoenen" the neat language
Carl   Tuesday, April 29, 2003, 12:56 GMT
Laziness is what makes many regional accents different to one another.

In Yorkshire you might hear.....

"The" could be pronounced as "te" (ten without the "n")
"To the" could be pronounced as just "te"
"To" can also be pronounced as a "te"
"going to" = gonna
"For" could be pronounced as "fe"

I'm going te park (I'm going to the park)
I'm going te work (I'm going to work)
I'm gonna pick up car. (I'm going to pick up my car)

I once heared my grandad who was from yorkshire once say:
"Will yer go te shop fe papur" (Could you go to the shop for the newspaper)

But when people from Yorkshire speak properly, they are the most easiest to understand in England IMO.

The worst are the Cornish for lazy speakers, some local farmer said to me "Ul rit be". Apparently that means "How are you", properly translated it means "How are you boy", boy referring to a man or a boy.

In Liverpool a lot of people just add a "y" to things.
I'm gonna get some petty. (I'm going to get some petrol)
She got a job as a secy (She got a job as a secretary)
I bought some trainy's (I bought some trainers/sneakers)
I need a ciggy (I need a cigarette)
Martin   Tuesday, April 29, 2003, 20:28 GMT
I wander how much of this is regional dialects and not laziness. After all when the English language was first detailed in a dictionary it was based
upon a form of english spoken by few and did not represent the average
Briton.
cmhiv   Wednesday, April 30, 2003, 00:09 GMT
I guess you could call it laziness; but I would not. I would call it language evolution.
Simon   Wednesday, April 30, 2003, 07:51 GMT
Officialised dialects tend to have fixed rules of grammar. Regional varieties do not have grammars.

Have you ever noticed how some poets rhyme say "love" with "prove" or something like that?
Carl   Wednesday, April 30, 2003, 11:47 GMT
I dislike the way southerners in England forget about the "t" in "water" THey just pronounce it "war'er"

Or...
Little - Li'il

It's worst than the Cornish or American soft "d"


Simon   Wednesday, April 30, 2003, 11:50 GMT
Not all southerners but I do pronounce BUT as [b-schwa-glottal stop]

I really hate the way educated southerns have adopted pronouncing British as Briddish.
Carl   Wednesday, April 30, 2003, 11:59 GMT
I've always heard some pronounce it as "Briddish".
Carl   Wednesday, April 30, 2003, 12:03 GMT
What I'd like to know, is where did the word "bloke" come from, and why in Yorkshire do they refer to women as "las or lasses"?
Simon   Wednesday, April 30, 2003, 12:21 GMT
A quick look on the web seems to indicate that people don't know the origin of your two words.
Carl   Wednesday, April 30, 2003, 13:04 GMT
In spanish

los = masculine
las = feminine

Maybe that's were "las" to describe a girl came from?