We have a charming Canadian guest, a close friend of Angela's. Taking a postgrad degree in Voice Production, she has an amazing facility for imitating regional accents. Unfortunately she has picked up from Londoners that awful phrase 'D'you know what I mean?' Which can mean only one of two things: that the speaker is aware he hasn't expressed himself intelligibly, or he's implying that you're stupid --d'you know what I mean? . Since our friend loves Shakespeare, I've been trying to root it out of her speech by giving her some modernised Shakespearean examples...
Hamlet:
'To be or not to be, that is the question--
D'you know what I mean?...'
Macbeth:
'O full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife--
D'you know what I mean?...'
Othello:
'Put out the light, and then put out the light--
D'you know what I mean?...'
Lear:
'For I am bound upon a wheel of fire,
That mine own tears do scald like molten lea--d.
D'you know what I mean?...'
I'm sure the phrase will soon vanish from her lips.
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