C W Northrop
Dedicated Member
Clegg stumbles when going down to his cellar with Howard. I suspect this was unscripted as Peter's eyesight has been failing for years.Thoughts?
Clegg's stumble in Defeat Of The Stoneworm
- Thread starter C W Northrop
- Start date
dick
LOTSW Fanatic
Me in a similar mind Ellen :-\
That scene always reminds me of the scene in Wallace and Grommit's A grand day out where they are going down into the cellar where the moon rocket is. Where the stairs are located and the poorly lit cellar are so similar. Has anyone noticed this?
Elmc
Dedicated Member
Ohhhh, I've never seen that series/movie . . whatever. Should I buy it? Would I want to watch it over and over like LOSW?
It`s an award winning animated film series with Peter Sallis providing the voice of Wallace. Here`s a clip.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jvOTsi3i64
Yes Ellen, I have often wondered that myself. Also sometimes they use the word "aught" but other times they say "anything".
I cant really answer that one Ellen, other than to guess that maybe working class folk might say 'summat' and people like Eadie would say 'something', especially if she thought the neighbours were listening
but that just a guess. I`m sure there are some good north of England folk on the forum here who would be better placed to answer your question 
Surely we are just talking dialect here. Use of the words "summat" or "awt" is use of the Yorkshire dialect.
Definitions:
"The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class. The other usage refers to a language that is socially subordinate to a regional or national standard language."
(It is the first usage which is applicable to our discussion.)
"A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation, the term accent is appropriate, not dialect."
"Standard American English, Standard Canadian English, Standard Indian English, Standard Australian English, and Standard Philippine English may all be said to be standard dialects of the English language."
A nonstandard dialect, like a standard dialect, has a complete vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, but is not the beneficiary of institutional support. Examples of a nonstandard English dialect are Southern American English, Western Australian English and Scouse."
Scouse - the language used in the Liverpool area for the benefit of the uninitiated.
In some cases it might be that a word of dialect comes from a corruption of the correct word. Take the correct word "nothing". The opposite correct word might be "something" or alternatively "anything". Then for "nothing" substitute "nought" or mathematical "zero". Now corrupt nought to the Yorkshire "nowt". Now go back to "nought" and consider its opposite to be "ought", i.e. discard the negative "n". Now we can corrupt that to "owt". So now we can have "owt else" for "anything else". And so it goes on. Other regions might well say "ought" (or "awt") instead of "owt".
And yes, for the record, "bawbies" is a bit of Scottish dialect.
Adanor
Dedicated Member
Well, taking all things into consideration, Mr. Sallis was probably concentrating on many things at one time; such his lines and who he was saying these lines to, the incredible number of crew members buzzing around, the camera and the mike, etc. Probably the last thing on his mind were the steps. And if these were real cellar steps, it's possible they were not exactly even.
Elmc
Dedicated Member
True, Ad . . and the light bulb ! lol
Nit-picking point - just watched episode and felt geography of cellars was wrong or more that in both cellars Howard was tapping on wrong wall - not that between his and Clegg's.
Would wall between cellars be solid and expensive stone? I would have thought brick dividing wall more likely.
Adanor
Dedicated Member
I think that sometimes a director will accept a stumble or a cough under the heading of "It seems to fit." Julie Andrews stumbled in Sound of Music and they left it in because it seemed to fit. Sometimes actors will come up with something, either accidentally or on purpose and the director will leave it in because it was better than what was in the script.
Sarkus
Dedicated Member
Where do you get that idea from? Clegg's house is to the left of Howards (looking from the front), and when they go down the stairs (in both units the entry to the basement is under the stairs that go up in front of the entry door), Howard taps on the wall at the bottom of the stairs on our right. Which is the correct wall. When he goes back to his house he crosses to the opposite wall (our left), which would also be the correct wall.
Returning to the stumbling, there are a few occasions in the early series when Clegg stumbled or tripped. The earliest I can recall was "The new mobile trio" right at the end when they were all running away from the latest crash I think Clegg was carrying a steering wheel. so maybe he was just a bit accident prone :-a bit like me I'm always tripping over my feet !!