Regency Speak

I have spent the last couple of years writing contemporary mysteries and before that, Victorian romances. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve attempted Regency cant. I have an entire thesaurus of words, but my head simply isn't picking up the speech patterns that allow boxing cant or catty insults the way it used to do. Worse yet, the hero is American, and now I have to wonder how much of Regency-speak an American might use. Or a spinster who spends more time in books than society. Oh, and then there are the Frenchmen and the country folk. . .

I may have unconsciously created this gothic mansion in the middle of nowhere rather than confront Regency society again! Admittedly, I’m not fond of fops and dukes and snobbish misses. Been there, wrote that, read it one too many times. My Muse needs to flit.

So, I’m sitting here looking at the Regency thesaurus and trying to find ways to insert the expected slang. My hero is already grumpy. There’s a word that carried over into modern language. Calling him a cross patch and saying he’s in high dudgeon sounds bird-witted when he’s shooting bats off the ceiling.

My chemist and accountant are constantly wrangling (a word in UK English since medieval times), and I can’t imagine my  American calling it a row or my spinster saying argufy. Perhaps she might think the hero is in prime twig or in good form but if my very proper maiden lady thinks he’s well-built or broad-shouldered, doesn’t that say the same? Why go the extra mile?

And I’m pretty sure my battle-hardened American hero won’t be calling my tart-tongued spinster fetching, out of the common way, or passing fair anytime soon.

So, is the Regency-speak we most associate with Regency romances basically a citified form of speech? How much of this slang would have been in common use? Maybe some of the colorful phrases for drunk: half seas over, in his cups, jug-bitten. . . A lot of that probably emerged from the common folk and young dandies picked it up. Boxing cant most certainly emerged from a lower lifestyle and young rogues adopted it and presumably passed it on to the rest of society. But I’m thinking my spinster will just call the captain a drunkard.

Don’t get me wrong—I like using various types of speech to sharpen character. I’ll eventually bring in some London types, I suppose, although I can’t imagine any proper matrons calling the American a rum touch. Perhaps she’d see him as a caution? Doesn’t eccentric say it better? I do like outside of enough for excessive, though. Maybe I can slip that in.

But I have no handy thesaurus for Americanisms of the Regency era. Once upon a time I knew a lot of slang for cowboys in the wild west, but that was essentially after the Civil War and not the same, even if I could remember it, which I don’t. And while I may be familiar with accents and regionalisms in contemporary America (notice, I don’t write British contemporaries because that’s a language all its own. I’ve attempted UK characters and know whereof I speak!), I don’t know what accent my American from 1815 might have.

Once upon a time I used to hunt down the speech patterns of various regions of the UK, but I don’t believe anyone but me noticed. And since I’m not exactly designating the specific location of my mystery manor, it hardly seems worth digging up local slang. If I signify uneducated speech by dropping “h’s” and slurring “ing,” will anyone care if that’s correct for an unspecified area of the country?

How much do you noticed slang and accents when you read? Do they add to the tone of a book or just annoy the heck out of you?

Comments

[Tim Illingworth]

For Regencies, my expectations are probably set more by Georgette Heyer than by historical reality...

[Mary M.]

I love love love it when an author attempts the local. Since I'm not "there," though, the attempt is all I need. If I were a Brit, I'd probably care more about the detail. As long as it's not over-the-top/too deliberate (e.g., dropping an 'aitch five times a sentence), I'm happy to be dropped into the scene.

[Alice]

A bit of accent is just fine but the thing that drives me crazy is when a regency lord swears in American. They had serious blasphemy laws there and no one said Damn like here. They were using Bloody or whatever but not Religious swearing. "I don't give a Damn." From Gone With the Wind wouldn't have happened in Britain. Mark Twain wrote in character and Ambrose Brice but all the American ones I think of are Civil War or later. You might try letter wrings of Andrew Jackson for possible informal vocabulary.

[Ruchama B]

For an American you would definitely need to establish the state or at least the region in the US. Up until TV became ubiquitous for everyone including toddlers learning to speak, regional accents were quite different. My mother, from the South, for example, called Sears on the phone to get tires for her car. She was sent to the menswear department. One mother we knew who had moved from the South to California received a note from her child's primary school teacher urging the mother to take the child to a speech therapist because no one could understand what the child was saying. When the mother, perplexed, spoke to the teacher personally, the teacher realized where the "strange speech came from." Other regions had accents and slang particular to them. This sadly is much less prevalent because Television and radio have spread a standardized American speech. For your American, establish his origin and then try to find fiction about the period, preferably written during the period.

[Binnie Syril Braunstein]

Pat-I do enjoy slang, if it's done well, whatever the century. I became aware of Regency cant when I immersed myself in my first recency novel, Georgette Heyer's The Devil's Cub. I enjoy slang where it's appropriate to the genre. I don't enjoy being pulled out of the fabric of a story by slang that turns out to be an anachronism. I also have to admit that I'm often a sponge when it comes to recency slang. Bits often find their way into my speech. I'm all at "sixes and sevens" just thinking about it. Thanks for a fun column!

[TexasGal]

Accents are a good way to indicate a character's social status or place of origin. My pet peeve in historical novels is the glaring use of anachronisms. If a character in a Regency novel says "okay", I probably won't read the rest of the book. Recently, I read a Regency where one character described another character's mental state using mid-20th-century psychiatric terminology.

Note to authors: Research absolutely everything your characters might think, say or use in the world you create for them. And please get an editor who has a background in something beyond a BA in teaching English.

[Kathy Lynn Emerson]

Pat,
For my historical mysteries (Tudor era), written 20 years ago now, I tried to be as accurate with speech as possible, short of sounding like bad Shakespeare, and like you researched regional accents and speech patterns and local expressions, but when I recently started editing for reissue in omnibus editions that all sounded way too formal. A few uses of 'tis, for example, go a long way. Since it's wasn't yet in use, I ended up changing them all to it is. Will anyone notice? Will anyone care? I have no idea, but I can guarantee some reader will complain the result still sounds too American. To me, anyway, the revised versions read more smoothly. I think your instinct to go with less slang is sound.

[Karin]

I think the Georgette Heyer style Regency cant can be overdone, it can sound like an author is trying to imitate her. A little bit goes a long way. I do enjoy some colorful expressions that are specific to the character, for instance naval slang if the book is set in that world, or vernacular that is specific to a certain region.

[Robin R]

I started poking around at online diaries. I quickly found out, though journal writing was reportedly popular, no many before the 1860's seem to be transcribed for ease of reading.
This one by a young lawyer in Massachusetts in 1830 struck me as sounding very "normal" with only a few words like flummery thrown in. I was struck by his descriptions of traveling by various conveyances, occasional immoderate drinking with friends and and how many, many times he took tea, often with single young ladies.
He also lists various books, e.g. Boswell's life of Johnson, and periodicals he is reading over the period.
I wish I had a social life like his!
https://www.teachushistory.org/second-great-awakening-age-reform/resources/christopher-columbus-baldwin-diary-entrees-about-leisure

[Camille Biexei]

Although I don't need a slavish devotion to accuracy, I do appreciate a reasonable attempt at historically accurate language. I know can be vernacular be overdone, as previously noted, but a story heavily sprinkled with anachronisms annoys me enough that I quit reading. In such instances the story is often silly and poorly written, anyway, and I feel little respect for the author.
I recently tried to read one which takes place in 18th Century Scotland. The dialogue was all a strange Scots-English gobbledygook. They would not have been speaking English with a Scots accent to each other!

[Nancy Mayer]

When one considers that books written in modern day conversational speech have done well, I don't think all readers are concerned with what the characters say. Some are and their expectations have been set by Heyer and Austen. Austen uses very little slang. Most of the slang would only be used by men and most comes from sporting events. Egan's books are the source of much as is Grosse's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. The vulgar here means common and it is very common-- speech of laborers, pickpockets, whoremasters,and grifters. The upper classes used such things as the Devonshire drawl-- a sort of lisping speech. There are phrases that females might use such has "she has more hair than wit" -- where wit means intelligence. Gentlemen didn't swear or use cant in the presence of ladies and ladies didn't do so in public. Lady Lade might be a lady by marriage but all knew her low origins so few outside the horsey set recognized her existence.

[Nancy Mayer]

As for regional speech, I haven't found a good source for that. Many author-- even those born and raised in the UK give all the lower classes Cockney speech which makes me cringe. Another author uses the word sex ( meaning sexual intercourse) in the modern way. Plays of the day are even better than letters or novels because people wrote more formally in novels and letters than they did when representing characters on the stage.

[Patricia Rice]

LOL, thanks for the honesty. I'm pretty sure many readers do the same.

[Patricia Rice]

yes, just a taste to add flavor!

[Patricia Rice]

oh my, you just sent me down an entertaining bunny trail. I know Regency characters used ridiculous euphemisms and I've heard of the blasphemy laws but I never had reason to research. I kinda thought they were medieval and no one bothered with them. But they were still prosecuting in 1846 (from a real fast search), so whee..... a new plot bunny, thank you!
Hmmm, Andrew Jackson... there was a character. I'll dig in and see what I find there.

[Patricia Rice]

I don't know if I'm sad about the accents being less prevalent. I distinctly remember moving from NY to KY when I was nine and not understanding anything anyone said. I have a very bad ear for accents and it was a horrifying experience!
But that does eliminate the Andrew Jackson suggestion above! And the written word probably wouldn't reflect the spoken, so I'm still up a creek.

[Patricia Rice]

You point out part of my problem... I really haven't been reading much Regency lately. Too many modern ones are just that--modern. I would get out my Heyers but I left them in our cross-country move. Guess I'll have to buy them again!

[Patricia Rice]

Agreed! I remember when I wrote my first historical and had to research the word "okay," back before Brother Google was available. We now have a plethora of means to research words and little excuse for using psychological terms prior to the 20th century! Although sometimes, some words are so established that it's hard to recognize that they're not used in our current form. Try roughshod, see where that gets you.

[Patricia Rice]

I think you're right. I think we have a whole different reading audience now than we did in the early days. Media have opened up our worlds in so many ways that we really don't need to describe what we can see or hear on a regular basis. We just need to dig into the story and go from there.

[Patricia Rice]

Thank you! That's my impression too. I just have to recall what I've long forgotten...

[Patricia Rice]

oh my heavens, did that guy ever work? Hunting and sleighing and balls and drunken visits and... And he's a lawyer? Wow. I need to work through this, but written language is a lot more formal than spoken, so not sure how far I'll get.

I am struck by how many times Brits take tea in cozy mysteries!

[Patricia Rice]

LOL, laughing at the image of English with a Scots accent... Yes, I fear too many writers are writing more for story than for anything resembling reality. We may have TV to blame for that.

[Patricia Rice]

I have Grosse but never found him useful for my more proper characters. And it may be that my early reading was all Austen and no Heyer that gives me reason to puzzle over usage. Good to know that I'm not all about in my head then.

[Patricia Rice]

oh plays, good thought! That's more spoken speech. I have found very small local volumes on dialects for some areas of the UK, but since I'm really only using a few local characters and they don't speak much, I've not dug deeper into the area I'm working with. Generally, all I like is a local word for common things like "potatoes."

[Lil Marek]

Generally speaking, I prefer that authors just say something like "He spoke with a strong Dorset (or French or German) accent" or something of the sort instead of trying to reproduce the sounds. And I'm not all that fond of Regency slang, especially when the author pays no attention to who is likely to say what. What I truly dislike is contemporary expressions coming out of Regency mouths. I was thrown out of one story when the hero said, "Well, that was a fun afternoon."
What I expect of Regency characters is slightly more formal speech than is used today, just as I expect the characters to stand up straight and not slouch around.

[Constance]

Your post is most interesting, Pat, and the comments have been fascinating. The discussion has made me wonder if contemporary romance authors will begin to, like, use “like” in, like, every other phrase of dialogue? I would immediately cease reading a story that did that, even though it would be a true reflection of current speech. But maybe I’m just, like, a grumpy old lady! ;)

[Annette N]

First, thanks for the post....very interesting. I am not very interested in reading some author's idea of how someone sounded. Generally, since I wasn't there, I am willing to grant leeway to someone writing speech patterns. Within reason.
But, the use of modern speech within any historical novel makes me decide that author is not interested in me as a reader. "Like! You know what I'm saying?" That's rather like Scarlet O'Hara whipping out her cell phone in order to call Ashley Wilkes.
This post makes one consider how important speech is to the enjoyment of a story. And it also makes me realize I am not the only person who does not want to have anachronisms in the midst of a story.
Thanks

[Patricia Rice]

I have used "she spoke with a thick accent" bit but it's not quite as satisfying as knowing what the accent sounds like. But life is short.

Formality is good, although I suspect my American solider would be less formal. And slouching... that's a good point!

[Patricia Rice]

oh dear, oh dearie dear, I do hope not, perish the thought! That's discerning, not grumpy.

[Patricia Rice]

You are very definitely not the only one who prefers to eliminate anachronisms! I think wench readers have made that plain. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, writers will toss off phrases that don't particularly sound modern to our ears but really are for our characters. Those are hard to catch. And some terms can be traced to ancient times, but their meaning was different. So I'm willing to allow some leeway when I run across those, should I actually recognize them.

[Kareni]

What a fascinating post, Pat, and a fun set of comments.

I am all for the occasional slang or Regency era saying. They can easily be overdone as can accents, ma bonnie lassie, y'ken?

[Patricia Rice]

ye daft wee lassie, did ye na ken the Scottish, eh?

[Lynn Pollard]

As an English (i.e.from England) reader I get very frustrated with glaring American usages in books set in Regency or Victorian England.
Taking "fall" as the starting point, that battle was lost in England in the late 18th century, in favour of the more 'educated', that is Latin derived autumn. Thank goodness we missed aestas! I like fall but in Regency or Victorian language it is just plain wrong.
More hideous is 'normalcy' a modern abomination and the only true Americanism (a pejorative term), I can think of. All nouns formed from from adjectives ending with -al have the suffix -ality.
The other one that stops me in my tracks is 'obligate'. As a retired lawyer I know that in the UK I am obligated to drive on the left. Obligate is only used where there is a legal obligation. I suspect Jane Austen never heard the word. A social obligation does not have obligate but 'oblige' as it's verb, most likely pronounced 'obleege'
It's the carelessness that gets me.
To go to the 'Regency'American, I suspect that as long as the language does not contain anachronisms, such as 'conniptions' one can get away with confusion on his part as to English usages. Perhaps 'corn' as the British generic for all edible grain would make the point. To the English upper classes he would have probably been looked on as rather barbaric, cocooned as they were in self righteous snobbery.
If anyone is interested in how Jane Austen actually sounded look on the Internet for a, now dead, cricket commentator called John Arnott. He came from Hampshire and still had the Hampshire accent. It's rare in these days of TV but in Regency England country accents, even in the educated classes were common. Like incest they 'flourished where the roads were bad', but unlike incest their passing is much mourned.

[VickiL]

I think any kind of local speech pattern can be over done. Kind of along the theory that less is more with only lite hints that flavor the writing.

If you are writing a book set in the south (meaning in the United States), if you want to make it feel more "local" a Bless Her heart once or twice would be all you would need. That is if you used it appropriately. Though I don't know how far back in time that would be historically correct.

Whenever a writer has used what I consider too much "accent" it does throw me out of the flow of the book.

Though if I started reading a book and there were ton's of Like's in a sentence/paragraph I would have to immediately set it down otherwise it might get thrown across the room. Not even if the character is being historically correct would I be able to read that book.

[Patricia Rice]

I've not run across those words used in fiction, and I'm not entirely certain I'd use them in American English. But thank you for the reminder on "corn." I knew it was one grain or another but my memory falters and I haven't looked it up yet.

It's quite amazing a country seemingly so small as England manages to have so very many accents. We notice regional accents here, but many of our regions are twice the size or more of the UK!

[Patricia Rice]

LOL, with you on the "likes." And I know the correct usage of Bless your heart and I imagine it dates back through the 20th century, at the least. But trying to write for an international audience... those little touches don't always translate well. Like y'all.