MUMMERSET
MUMMERSET [A blend of mummer, one who mutters and murmurs, or takes part in a mime, and SOMERSET], also Mummersetshire. An imaginary rustic county of England and its dialect: ‘Nowadays you can't be sure if they are eggs, even when somebody on television says they are in B.B.C. Mummerset’ ( C. Mackenzie, Paper Lives, 1966). This form of stage WEST COUNTRY is drawled and emphasizes retroflex /r/ (‘Arrr, that'll be roit, zurr’). It replaces /s/ with /z/, /f/ with /v/ (‘We ain't zeen 'im zince last Vroiday’), and uses special forms of be (‘We be happy yere, bain't we?’). Comedians sometimes add pseudo-dialect words to the brew. See BURR.
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MUMMERSET
