Quote:
Originally Posted by crich70
I remember reading somewhere that back in the old days (before the railroads and canals) the differences in accents etc. in different parts of England were so large that once when some sailors were shipwrecked some 50 miles from London the local people thought they were from a foreign country and possibly spies or something. Seems hard to believe today but I guess in the past when people didn't move about so much such was commonplace.
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It was a story related by William Caxton in the preface of a book printed in 1490. He tells how a ship sailed from London bound for the Netherlands, but was forced to put into shore in Kent (on the south coast on England) because there was no wind. A merchant from the ship went ashore, and went to a local house, and asked to buy some eggs. The woman in the house didn't understand him, and thought that he was French. Luckily, another person who was with him, understood the local dialect and asked for "eyren", which was understood. Caxton goes on to complain that this makes like very difficult, because what is a printer to do when English varies so much from one part of England to another. Should he print "eggs" or "eyren"?