FORENSIC USE OF REGIONALISMS

can't say for locals, but the feds have linguistics experts that are rather sharp.

People in New England say "wicked" a lot. Like... wicked cool, wicked hot or "that was just wicked". They also like to invert their contractions for some strange reason. They say "doesn't" instead of "does" and "can't" instead of "can". It's the strangest thing. I have no idea where or why that originated.

since it was a kidnapping I assumed it was FBI. Have any examples that would id a small region?
The term "devil strip" is so much a localism that the napper had to be a real genius to even use it in the ransom note

in Maine they say "finest kind" when a meal is good or anything is better than acceptable.

written language is much tougher to dissect than auditory speech.

every place I have lived there were local references you could not put on a map.

most kidnappers are less than brilliant, imho.

I wonder whether they still cut up newspapers to make ransom notes? That would make regionalisms harder, (course it may help id the by the newspaper clips they choose.

my guess is most now are made with an HP or Epson printer on plain paper...

kidnapping is such a short sighted crime.

Interesting.

re farmerman:
the original macs, when they c ame out in 1984 or thereabouts, had a font called I think, "Ransom note", in which each letter looked like it had been clipped from a different paper/magazine, irregular borders like a ripped page and all.

There are several different dictionaries of American colloquialisms which also have the geographical extent of each one. The only one I remember offhand was that there were a bunch of terms for frying pans--skillet being one obvious althernative, and for some reason some places they called one a "spider".

Another New England regionalism is "tonic" for "soda" (or "pop" depending on where you're from)--tho that's nearly extinct now, even tho my local supermarket had a "tonic" aisle as recently as five years ago.

When I was in college, I know there were dialecticians who could give you a list of words and pin down where you came from to just a couple possible counties. I suspect that's somewhat less possible today, with the jugely increased mobility of the population and the homogenizing influence of the mass media.

Not a linguistic example, but I once saw a forensics documentary that featured an autopsy performed on a murder victim. In the victim's stomach, the surgeons pulled up a barely digested french fry that was so intact that a distinctive shape could be discerned, which in turn led investigators to a specific restaurant that was known to make their french fries in that shape, which in turn led to a list of suspects and eventually the killer. It blows my mind what these forensic scientists can do.

(and my personal fave "wicked pissah!"...)

haven't heard anyone do that... yet.
(and by "haven't" i do mean "haven't")...


i've worked with a few people who mis-pronounce "across" "acrossed".
i always assumed it was a religious thing -- not wanting to say the word "cross"?

I believe that "stand in line" is specific to NYC. (It's so natural to me that I had to look up what is standard--"stand on line"--and what's Noo Yawky. Or is it the other way around?

Interesting but not surprising that the FBI would do this. Makes perfect sense. When I read the content of the note, I knew from the use of the word "sack," that the sender was not from these parts.

It was opined by some observers (and the notion has remained persuasive with some) that Jack the Ripper was actually an American, because of the language of the notes received by the newspapers. My suspicion, based on the texts i have read of those notes, is that it was someone who wished to be thought of as an American--but that he wasn't. The notes don't ring true to me as the genuine American idiom.

Never seen any of his notes. MAybe he was sharp enough to fake just enough of an American vernacular to get tongues wagging. If Id commit a crime and had to communicate, Id try to avoid any regionalim unless I was trying to throw the cops off.

His first letter is called the "Dear Boss" letter. It seems to me that based soley on that use of the word boss, and some ineptitude in composition and spelling, it was assumed that this was an American (note that the English are making an assumption that the Americans are less likely to write "properly"). But in that same letter, he uses "shant" [sic] rather than "won't," which would be more likely for an American. He also speaks of "the proper red stuff" (meaning blood), which while not incomprehensible to an American, is not a locution an American would be likely to use.

There were hundreds of letters and notes received, but only three which have since been taken seriously by any author with a plausible line. The "Dear Boss" letter is the one which introduced the sobriquet "Jack the Ripper." In another letter (or perhaps it was the post card), he uses the name "Saucy Jack." Once again, while not unknown to Americans, it is not as likely be used by Americans. The Metropolitan Police believed that at least two of these three were the products of a local journalist, and said that they were certain that they knew who that was. Whether or not that were true, it is possible that, believing it, they intended to warn that journalist off creating hoaxes.

The post card was considered (and to this day, still is) conclusively from the Ripper, because it was said to contain a detail which no one could have known in advance. However, the Metropolitan Police pointed out that, however it was dated, it was postmarked 24 hours after the murder which it purports of describe in advance, and that details of the murder were quickly known in the neighborhood. Those who still claim it is conclusive evidence of the authenticity of the note are obliged to ignore the post mark. In a period of my life when i was fascinated by "true crime thrillers" (the obsession soon left me, thank Dog), i read several books on the Ripper. There's not much to choose between them. They fall generally into two categories. Those who claim to know who it was, and who therefore ignore evidence to the contrary, and also don't canvass other theories. And there are those who just survey the events and the evidence, and the subsequent historiography of the Ripper incidents. The first category i would toss aside immediately--no one knows who it was, and i don't have any interest in someone's attempt to cozen me. The second category is interesting, but once you've read two or three of them, there's not much point in reading any more.

The fictional career of Sherlock Holmes spans a period from 1878 to 1916, and some people have wondered "aloud" (that is to say, in print), why Conan Doyle never turned his pen to the murders. I would say that Doyle had a proper respect for the victims, and the sense not to involve himself in that mare's nest.

From Wikipedia:

The "Dear Boss" letter

The postcard, a.k.a. "Saucy Jacky"

The "From Hell" letter

farmerman, I think regionalisms and colloquisms are the same. My word, I remember when I was a kid reading about the Battle of Bull Run. Found out later that a run was a river. In Virginia they call a creek a branch. In England they call a raincoat a mac and often the USA calls it a trench coat. Love 'em.

Regionalisms and colloquialisms are not the same. A colloquy is a conversation. Expressions used conversationally can be common to speakers of a language from different regions.

I believe it's now a template on MSWord. Once you start typing, that little paper clip thingee pops up and says "It looks like you're typing a ransom note. Would you like some help with that?"