Scout’s Speech Patterns / Rules for Writing in a Brooklyn Dialect: Things I’ve noted from listening to Scout and other Brooklynians talk for about nine hours. or Making writing TF2 fanfiction more complicated and/or stress-inducing than it ever needed to be. Because somebody had to do it. (Yes, Scout is from Boston, but his accent is distinctly Brooklynian. Whether this is purposeful or comes from a lack of research on Valve’s part, I don’t know.) 1.) The ‘and’ Rule ‘And’ is simple. There are two rules to follow: and = an’ Ex., And he said = An’ he said And a bag = An’ a bag ______ and ______ = ______ ‘n _______ Ex., This and that = This ‘n that Him and her = Him ‘n her 2.) The “—ing†Rule Now, the “—ing†Rule is slightly more complex because it only applies to action verbs where“—ing†is added . “—ing†= “—in’†Ex., Running = Runnin’ Tossing = Tossin’ Pouring = Pourin’ The few words that naturally end in “—ing†are left alone. Ex., Ping = Ping Sing = Sing Fling = Fling 3.) The ‘of’ Rule The ‘of’ Rule is odd. There are two ways to say ‘of’: of = ‘a Ex., Because of you = ‘Cuz ‘a you Sorts of stuff = Sorts ‘a stuff Lots of eggs = Lots ‘a eggs All of you = All ‘a you of = of Ex., yeah, what of it? = yeah, what of it? Some of it = Some of it The thing about this rule is that it is mostly judged by how well it flows when you say it out loud. If it gets stuck in your mouth, change it. 4.) The ‘other’ Rule This is simple replacement. each other = eachoddah Ex., Going at each other’s throats = Goin’ at eachoddah’s throats another = anoddah Ex., Another guy = Anoddah guy some other = some oddah Ex., Some other way = Some oddah way 5.) The ‘—ould have’ Rule More simple replacement. could have / could’ve = could’a Ex., I could have done it = I could’a done it should have / should’ve = should’a Ex., I should’ve done it = I should’a done it would have / would’ve = would’a Ex., She would have done it = She would’a done it 6.) The ‘you/to’ Rule Another simple one. you = ya Ex., I see you = I see ya to = ta Ex., What to do = What ta do 7.) Rule 7 (I can’t think of a name) got to = gotta Ex., You’ve got to = Ya gotta have to = hafta Ex., You have to = Ya wanna want to = wanna Ex., I want to = I wanna need to = need ‘ta Ex., He needs to = He needs ‘ta 8.) The ‘th— ‘ Rule: The ‘th— ‘ Rule is the most complex rule, and applies to the following words: Then That This These Those Them The All these words are always spelled normally— Ex., I wish that = I wish that It was then = It was then I saw those = I saw those —unless followed by a word ending in ‘d’ (except ‘and’; see below.) Ex., Fold the = Fold ‘da Had that = Had ‘dat Said this = Said ‘dis ‘Them’ has a special part of this rule; instead of writing “‘demâ€, it is written “’em,†no matter what word it comes after unless it’s “and.†Ex., Sapped them = Sapped ‘em Had them = Had ‘em Saw them = Saw ‘em Him and them = Him ‘n them And them = An’ them As touched on above, ‘and’ is an exception to this rule, because the way it is pronounced by Brooklynians leaves the ‘d’ sound off the end. Ex., and that = an’ that and these = an’ these And to make it even more confusing, ‘then’ is an exception to this exception. Ex., and then = an’ den 9.) Various Other Tics because = ‘cuz Ex., Because I can = ‘Cuz I can isn’t = ain’t Ex., That isn’t right = That ain’t right with = wit’ Ex., With you = Wit’ you I hope this helps anyone looking for something like this; it took me a good three hours just to do this! If there’s anything you’d like to add, please tell me!
Dear lord, I've never seen somebody break this down before. This is pretty awesome. Nice job codifying it, HoloSnipe! You're right. Accent aside, he speaks like a New Yorker. Funny thing is: it's not strictly Brooklynian, either. This is an accent thing you see a lot in the mid-atlantic region. New Jersey (save for the really over-the-top stuff you see in the larger cities, particularly those with large Italian populations), and eastern Pennsylvania (particularly along the NJ border, though often sprinkled with Pennsylvania Dutch slang) talk like this a lot. I'm from midway between Scranton and Philadelphia. I can see New Jersey from my block. And I talk just like this. That rule for "another" and "each other" also works for other words with a t followed by an er. "Water" becoming "waddah" is a favourite, though in New Jersey they pronounce the er. Loose, is probably the best way to describe the cadence of speech. If you can run syllables together, or drop gerunds and consonants at the end of words, do so. To be honest, for a quick crash course in this kind of speech, and its tendency for weird slang ("Fuckin' A!"), just watch any Kevin Smith movie for a few minutes. The way Jay talks? There you go. Throw on a Boston accent and you have a pretty good idea of Scout's cadence.
This has been incredibly helpful. Will you do the other classes too? I'd love to see Demoman's accent broken down like this.
I tried an online Scottish dialectizer once, but that turned Demo's dialogue into a rather difficult read. As for Scout, I usually just use Bugs Bunny's accent (which is as much Bronx as it is Brooklyn, but still).
oh man one of these for Demo, yes please!
I'll give it a shot! May take a little while, tho.
I just wanna make sure that the rules and formulas I recorded plugged in right; tell me, does this sound like a good Demoman (accurate in the accent without being difficult to read)? (section taken from a fanfic I'm working on) "Ah did nae mean ta do it!†Demo reiterated. “Th' wick jes'... burned short a wee sooner than expected. An' besides, tis' nae like Ah was aimin' at ye, tha bloody thing jes' took off!†He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, suddenly craving a good swig of scrumpy. “Look,†he continued, “Ah'm nae thrilled aboot tha situation m'self, jes' look a' this mess here!" He pointed over his shoulder to the billowing cloud of smoke behind him. "Mah lab's a wreck! Tha’ damn rocket sparked somethin’ fierce when it done took off an’ it lit up mah workshop like a roman-bloody-candle! D'ye have any idea how many volatile substances wos in there? There’s nae a stick ‘o dynamite left after tha’ blast!"
I could not write a full-out accent like that, I think it makes dialogue unreadable, when every other word requires mental sounding out to be understood. At the same time, I agree getting the accent and verbal tics down right is pretty essential to capturing the style of the game, otherwise it's just not TF2 fanfic. My personal compromise is to use full-out accents for exclamations or adventure stories in which understanding the dialogue isn't as important as the description of the action/setting, and then tone down the accents into halfway normal English for relationship stories in which understanding exactly what is being said between characters is a little more important. But that's just me and my skill/comfort level, there are at least a few writers who include a lot of the accent but still maintain clarity.
>>7 It sounds scottish, but it's hard for me to read. It's my personal philosophy, when it comes to writing accents, that a little goes a long way. Dinnae's and Cannae's and Ye Ken's are great, but when it's thickly written like that, it's accurate, but it's taking me a lot of effort to "translate" it, which distracts me from what he's actually saying, so I have to reread it, which breaks up the flow of the writing. (Unless we're from the POV of someone who really can't understand Demo, then I think it would make sense to lay it on thick.) I think I read somewhere that we can pick up a lot about a person's accent through syntax alone? Scout's "We got a major problem over here," vs. Heavy's "We have big problem." I'm not sure though. Yeghh, Sorry for kind of ranting. I think what I'm trying to say, is that we know and love these characters, and we aren't going to forget what kind of accent they have, so you can afford to go a little easier on it.
>>9 I have to disagree; I find it easy enough to flow through, as long as you read it phonetically.
I think I've usually seen "not" written as "no'" rather than "nae" (it's "no" that gets turned into "nae"). And "it done took off" strikes me more as something Engie would say than Demo. Other than that I find it perfectly readable. (Have you read Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett? The Nac Mac Feegle characters have Scottish accents that I think are pretty well written.)
I have to say I agree with the school of thought that finds fully-written accents simply too dense to really work well. I think what I'm trying to say, is that we know and love these characters, and we aren't going to forget what kind of accent they have, so you can afford to go a little easier on it. That's what I think exactly. Too much effort into parsing dialogue and I find myself getting distracted.
Alright, I know how I'm gonna write this now, thanks for the feedback, guys! However, sorry to say, don't expect it too soon; I'm stacked with homework since I've missed a lot of school because of the flu, so I'm not gonna have much free time. (Also, for future reference, I'm going by the screenname CrappyFanfictionInc.)