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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsAny linguists here?
Anyone know how "business" became "bidness" in some locales?
Not urgent, just curious.
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Any linguists here? (Original Post)
madamesilverspurs
Feb 2017
OP
Tanuki
(14,918 posts)1. And it's not just bidness, but iddn't and waddn't for isn't and wasn't!
pkdu
(3,977 posts)2. Its apparently one of these ..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_dialect
"Eye dialect is the use of nonstandard spelling for speech to draw attention to an ironically standard pronunciation. The term was coined by George P. Krapp to refer to the literary technique of using nonstandard spelling that implies a pronunciation of the given word that is actually standard, such as wimmin for women; the spelling indicates that the character's speech overall is dialectal, foreign, or uneducated.[1][2] This form of nonstandard spelling differs from others in that a difference in spelling does not indicate a difference in pronunciation of a word. That is, it is dialect to the eye rather than to the ear.[3] It suggests that a character "would use a vulgar pronunciation if there were one" and "is at the level of ignorance where one misspells in this fashion, hence mispronounces as well."[4]
The term is less commonly also used to refer to pronunciation spellings, that is, spellings of words that indicate that they are pronounced in a nonstandard way.[5] For example, an author might write dat as an attempt at accurate transcription of a nonstandard pronunciation of that. The rest of this article will discuss the former definition."
"Eye dialect is the use of nonstandard spelling for speech to draw attention to an ironically standard pronunciation. The term was coined by George P. Krapp to refer to the literary technique of using nonstandard spelling that implies a pronunciation of the given word that is actually standard, such as wimmin for women; the spelling indicates that the character's speech overall is dialectal, foreign, or uneducated.[1][2] This form of nonstandard spelling differs from others in that a difference in spelling does not indicate a difference in pronunciation of a word. That is, it is dialect to the eye rather than to the ear.[3] It suggests that a character "would use a vulgar pronunciation if there were one" and "is at the level of ignorance where one misspells in this fashion, hence mispronounces as well."[4]
The term is less commonly also used to refer to pronunciation spellings, that is, spellings of words that indicate that they are pronounced in a nonstandard way.[5] For example, an author might write dat as an attempt at accurate transcription of a nonstandard pronunciation of that. The rest of this article will discuss the former definition."
sarge43
(28,941 posts)3. FWIW
I first saw it during Shrub's malministration. His way of pronouncing "business". Probably regional, such as 'thang' rather than 'thing'.
Aristus
(66,329 posts)4. I'm a cunning linguist.
'Bidness' is just a regional pronounciation of 'business'. It has calcified into permanent usage. I occasionally say 'bidness' when I'm doing 'Texan', just for fun.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)5. Darn, I thought this was going to be a pasta thread
2naSalit
(86,589 posts)6. And it turned out to be just a bunch of clams.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)7. My name is Connie.....nt
mnhtnbb
(31,386 posts)8. Molly Ivins used it a lot in her writing about Texas politics.
Whether she "nationalized" it from its origins in Texas, I don't know.
nolabear
(41,960 posts)9. It's colloquial in interesting places.
In New Orleans a "yat" accent (from the habit of saying "Where y'at?" as a greeting) is a lot like. Brooklyn one and "bidness" is the way it's said.