The New & Improved Book of CC

Thoughts and observations from Maine.

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College student, writer, photographer in Auburn, Maine.

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Maine linguistic studies seminar

As the pre-eminent amateur adjunct associate professor of Maine linguistic studies, I have just created a name for the local dialect. I hereby call it Aubiston Creole. Native to the Auburn-Lewiston area, it is a mixture of French, English and complete gibberish mumbling.

As the language has not been extensively studied outside of amateur academia, there is no translation dictionary yet (give me time). For now, one can only extrapolate meaning from the context in which it is heard.

Yesterday, I observed an old woman on the Auburn Mall bus. Speaking to the bus driver, she used the occasional Aubiston Creole phrase. Apparently the phrase "Dree-DARE-tee" has some temporal/spatial meaning, referring to a time or place at which the woman caught the bus.

Unfortunately, it is a dying language. Parents have not passed Aubiston Creole down to their children. On that same bus, I overheard a conversation between a woman and her daughter.

Mother: Have lunch yet?

Daughter: Yeah.

Mother: Jaff?

Daughter: What?

Mother: Jaff?

Daughter: ...

Mother: WHAT. DID. YOU. HAVE.


My very important research shall continue.

1 comments:

  1. Misha said...
     

    I am always learning something from you.

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