In London, Cheetos Tans and a Codpiece Are in Fashion

To an American ear there is something intoxicating about what linguists call “Th” fronting, the pronunciation in British dialect of “th” as “f” or “v.” Like the Bronx or Brooklyn accents that are now more an artifact of folklore than part of living language, the custom is localized both in geography and class.

Though the upper-class English are known to ape it, the habit of saying “fink” for think and “fought” for thought is the proper province of what dwindling numbers of authentic Cockneys remain or anyway of East Enders, as well as those from Essex, a county that is to London roughly what Queens once was to Manhattan. That is, the place across a river never crossed.

“He finks he’s an Essex girl,” a member of the paparazzi said on Saturday outside the Shoreditch Town Hall in East London, as Luke Day, the editor of British GQ Style, exited the JordanLuca men’s wear show at the start of fashion week.

Anyone here would have gotten the reference; Essex girls are a British phenomenon. Vigorous social media campaigns have been mounted to counteract negative perceptions and pejorative dictionary definitions of them.

Source: The New York Times

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Keywords:

London • Cheetos • Th-fronting • Dialect • The Bronx • Brooklyn • Accent (sociolinguistics) • Artifact (archaeology) • Folklore • Modern language • Norm (social) • Thought • EastEnders • London • Queens • Manhattan • Essex girl • Paparazzi • Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch • East End of London • Luke Day • GQ • GQ • Fashion week • Essex • Social media • Pejorative •