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Unread 07-02-2011, 07:36 AM
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Maryann Corbett Maryann Corbett is offline
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Roger, the idea behind the Betjeman poem is that the speaker is trying to be U (upper class) but is choosing all the wrong terms, the ones that mark her (it's got to be a her, I think) as non-U. The poem probably worked to best effect when the topic of U and non-U words was being actively discussed in popular media--which was quite a while ago.

The only idea that's coming to me so far is a poem that's an obvious attempt to talk to young people in current slang, but that fails pathetically because its slang is very badly outdated. I can't get excited about it, but let's see what others do.
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