“…?” in M&D Dialog

[u/mrtwotugtony]

I’m reading M&D for the second time, just finished Latitudes and Departures. I’m curious about the repeated use of lines of dialog trailing off to end with “…?”.

These lines aren’t questions, but declarative statements. And it seems to be limited to characters from County Durham (Dixon, Emerson, Dixon’s family, etc.)

Is this supposed to signify some part of the Geordie accent? Uptalk? Some physical gesture, like a shrug? Was this a convention in period writing?

I’d appreciate anyone’s insight into this particular linguistic quirk. How do you translate the “…?” in your head or what meaning do you see in it?

[u/Correct-Sandwich-633]

Just finished M&D, haven't done any actual research on why, but I simply interpreted it as indicating the inflection used by the character speaking. Was also a useful tool to determine whether the character speaking was Mason or Dixon.

[u/Vicious_and_Vain]

Dixon one liners. I can only refer you to football commentator legend Ray Hudson. But the great trailing non-sequiturs are hard to find footage bc he did those when the action was slow and the footage mostly available are highlights of exciting plays. Still some great examples of the Geordie accent and humor by Ray on YouTube. Stuff like: ‘Who wouldn’t have guessed it would be the magisterial, mini-maestro to stretch this defense like spandex on Miami Beach…?’

[u/mrtwotugtony → u/Vicious_and_Vain]

Quite helpful, thank you. I'll be imagining Hudson's vocal pattern as I continue reading. I much prefer the Geordie accent to the Scouse (who sound brain damaged) so I was disappointed NUFC couldn't pull out the win yesterday.

[u/Odd-Squirrel-7064]

good eye! I’m pretty sure it’s uptalk—I feel like Pynchon is explicit whenever a character is shrugging and in my experience there was no convention re: the ellipsis in 18th century writing.

[u/Gold_Ice_4620]

I think yes, it’s to do with the Geordie accent. Dixon tends to do it when he’s being sarcastic or ironic.