Is this supposed to indicate that he is uneducated? Or is it some kind of slang?
shareNo it is Part of the Yorkshire dialect. Depending on which part of Yorkshire you live in its not unusual to hear people using the word were instead of was in every day conversation.
she just got up, broke wind and died
Yes, it's a Yorkshire slang. Alan is a local lad, and meant to be less sophisticated than upper crust Celia and Oxford-educated Caroline.
He says "Our Gillian" a lot too. Some say "Us" instead of "we" too, but that might be even more localized to the Sheffield area.
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He also says "summat" instead of "something." I also notice "me" instead of "my" from some characters. As in, me mum.
share"nowt" for "nothing" (actually "naught")
"owt" for "anything" (actually "aught")
I've watched a number of British shows over the years and have learned a lot of their "lingo." I usually watch with subtitles because even after all this time I still miss some words.
I also play a little game of noticing when a subtitle is wrong. I know it's because whoever was doing the subtitles didn't understand the dialog. And some of the errors are quite funny because they just don't make any sense.
He speaks colloquially in the dialect of his home region. He's not uneducated; if he wrote a formal paper or business letter, he'd use the proper words and grammar.
shareAlan and the other locals also say âour Gillianâ as if there were dozens of other Gillians around. Funny the only other people I know that referred to family members using possesive adjectives with people were families from the Southie neighborhood in Boston. They didnât use âourâ but âmyâ. âMy Bobby werks faw tha Fiyah Depahmentâ.
I love local accents.