I've just used the word 'gorping' in my novel. My WP underlined it in red and suggested I'd misspelled it. So then I went looking at online dictionaries and discovered the only one that has it listed is Urban Dictionary. It's obviously slang, but I was unaware it was quite so uncommon and I'm now wondering if it's a very localised colloquialism. It's very common in my neck of the woods: "You're such a gorp!" is to say, "You're a gormless fool!" And 'to gorp' at something is to stare, usually with mouth open. Tell me I'm not the only person to use this word, outside my home town.
Nope. Must be just in your neck. Gormless, yes, absolutely, but gorp? No. I actually assumed it was some bit of Sci-Fi lingo upon first pass of the thread title. There is a standard word, gawp, that has the same meaning as the one you give to gorp (v.). Given the tendency for rhotic and non-rhotic fluctuation to give rise to R's where they never were, are you sure it's not just a local variation in pronunciation for gawp?
I'm from London, now in Herts, and have never heard of it. With the staring, are you sure it isn't gawp? Edit: Cross-posted with Wreybies!
It must be a local spelling. Gawp is clearly what I'm thinking of. I'll get me coat... but before I do, just to prove I'm not a complete idiot:
"You're such a gorp" must be something else though? Gawp doesn't make sense in that context. Though from the sentence it's obvious it's an insult, so I don't think it matters too much to use a regional word
Here in the US, 'gorp' is used to describe a trail mix of nuts and dried fruits eaten usually while hiking, so i guess that wouldn't work at all.
Well, the R is a treacherous little bugger. Even in your country, there is contention as to whether it's asked or arsed in the use: "Tommy, take out the rubbish. It seems your useless brother just can't be asked/arsed." Neither word is used in this way in the U.S.
I've heard of gawp before. It is kind of a slang word but it's also in the dictionary. I think gorp is just an inaccurate spelling; after all, the Urban Dictionary isn't exactly a bastion of literal professionalism. People from southern England haven't heard of a lot of northern slang, either, and vice versa. For example, a friend from Ipswich didn't know what a butty was. For those interested, it's slang for 'sandwich'. As they say in Liverpool, 'Do us a bacon butty!' On an extra note, I find that gawping is usually used in a threatening or mocking manner. 'What the fuck are you gawping it?' he said.
I can assure you it's 'arsed' in the context of that sentence. 'asked' makes sense, but only grammatically. I can honestly say I've never heard anyone say '... can't be asked.' when referring to a lazy person.
It's complicated even further by the way some people say "arksed" instead of "asked". That was rife where I grew up in South East London.
Are you sure you're not just hearing it wrong? I'm English born and bred, and can assure you no one says 'That John is so lazy. He can't be asked doing anything.' 'asked' when said quickly, sounds a little like 'assed' (ass / arse). Are you sure this isn't where your confusion lies?
Nope. And the reason I'm not hearing it wrong is because it was heard within the context of an argument between two Brits as to which was correct and if they were both acceptable.
Well in that case, the one who was arguing it was 'asked' was wrong. Seriously, this person was simply mishearing it. It's 'arsed' believe me.
What you heard between those two people was nothing more than one of these moments. Fast forward to 3:05
I'm not arguring whether one word is correct or not. As an American, neither form would be used by me since we don't use this phrase in any form. Taking the matter back to its origin, all I'm pointing out is the way non-rhotic R can cometimes confuse as to whether there is or is not an actual orthographic R in a given word. Urban Dictionary itself hosts a page of scornful "entries" concerning this contentious use in the U.K. This page does not illicudate the correct form, but it does point to the existance of the contention in pronounciation. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cant+Be+Asked
So it's like I said then. A simple case of mishearing. And what's more, the page clearly does elucidate the correct form. It makes it perfectly clear that 'asked' is incorrect in the context we're discussing.
Assuming one takes the individuals making those entries as citable sources. And again, it's Urban Dictionary, not exactly a bastion of citable sources; that's all I'm saying.
So you refuse to take the word of an Englishman and a dictionary (albeit urban) - who both say exactly the same thing about this uniquely British expression? Show me a source which argues 'asked' is the correct term (or even an acceptable alternative) given the context, and I'll accept your argument.
Wowzers. Either I'm missing the jocular tone of your words, or you're missing the fact that I don't care which one is correct. That is in no way the argument I am making. If you read back up to where I entered this conversation, you will see that I offered the aforementioned contentious use solely as an example of how these things can happen and so that you didn't feel like your use of gorp (rather than gawp) was somehow lacking in any sort of linguistic precedent. My degree from uni is in linguistics. I cannot help but see the patterns of these things because these things are much less random than people usually perceive. That's it. That's all. Please return to your regularly scheduled Sunday afternoon.
Apologies if I sounded curt. I was just arguing a point, as you last post seemed to suggest that 'asked' was an accepted alternative to 'arsed', rather than something people simply mishear.
