U and Non-U

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U, yani "Upper-Class English" ve non-U, "Non-Upper Class English" arasındaki farkı açıklayan şu Wikipedia sayfasındaki tabloya bir bakalım. Bir tuhaflık yok mu, sanki U'lar Non-U'ların altına yazılmış gibi??? Hani zengin demek için "rich" demek, "wealthy" demekten daha non-U bence? Hatta "Ice Cream" "Ice"dan, "serviette" "napkin"den, hele "pleased to meet you" "how d'you do?"dan hayli hayli U. Değil mi?

U	Non-U
Bike or Bicycle	Cycle
Dinner Jacket	Dress Suit
Knave	Jack (cards)
Vegetables	Greens
Ice	Ice Cream
Scent	Perfume
They've a very nice house.	They have a lovely home.
Ill (in bed)	Sick (in bed)
I was sick on the boat.	I was ill on the boat.
Looking-glass	Mirror
Chimneypiece	Fireplace
Graveyard	Cemetery
Spectacles	Glasses
False Teeth	Dentures
Die	Pass on
Mad	Mental
Jam	Preserve
Napkin	Serviette
Sofa	Settee or Couch
Lavatory or Loo	Toilet
Rich	Wealthy
What?	Pardon?
Good health	Cheers
Lunch	Dinner (for midday meal)
Pudding	Sweet
Drawing-room	Lounge
Writing-paper	Note-paper
How d'you do?	Pleased to meet you
(School)master, mistress	Teacher

(tablo şuradan)

Değilmiş.

"The upper classes don't have to be "sophisticated". There's no mistaking who they are, and it doesn't particularly matter what anyone else thinks. In this way they're much like the lower classes. The middle classes, however, are subject to all these peculiar affectations. Non-U terminology is one manifestation of their insecurity; another is their attitude to swearing. Upper and lower swear with abundance; the middle regard it as shocking and unacceptable. --DrPizza 13:05, 9 August 2006 (UTC)"

...hatta ve hatta:

"The non-U words such as serviette, pardon and toilet derive from the French, and the upper classes associate them historically with the Napoleonic War when anything French was considered very tacky indeed" demişler Wiki yorumlarında.

Şimdii gözlerimi kapatıyor ve son 198 yıldır genç kızların ve "yaşlı kızlar"ın en sevdiği kitapları yazarken bir taraftan da dönemin Britanyasının sosyal durumunu bildiren Jane Austen'in kitabından uyarlanmış 2005 yapımı "Pride and Prejudice"'deki "non-U" kız tarafı ile pek bir "U" olan teyze Lady Catherine de Bourg'un nasıl konuştuklarını düşünüyorum..


(Resim buradan.)

..doğru yahu.