Formula One races in the United States are currently broadcast by Speed Channel. One member of their commentating team is a fellow by the name of Steve Matchett. Matchett was born and raised in England (Loughborough in Leicestershire, according to one of his books), and he has a peculiar usage of English that I can’t recall ever hearing before - from either side of the Atlantic.
Specifically, he uses the word “stop” in situations where “stay” or “remain” are more commonly heard. For example, “I was sick, so I stopped home today,” or “There are rain clouds near, but so far the track has stopped dry.”
Or, more confusingly at first, when a driver passes the pit entry and remains on the circuit for another lap (as opposed to stopping in the pits): “Schumacher stops out.”
Now, it didn’t take long to figure out what he meant, but it does leave me curious. Like I said, I can’t recall ever hearing anyone using the word “stop” this way, and this includes a fair number of British folks of many stripes.
Is it some regionalism from the English midlands? Common as hell, and somehow I’ve missed it? A peculiar Matchett-ism? Any insights would be welcome…
My grandmother (Australian born and bred with no connection to the English midlands) used to make use of that construction, but she’d always say “stop **at ** home”.
Yep, I’d place it in the Midlands. I’d never ‘stop home’. However, I would ‘stop by’ somewhere, or ‘stop off’ to see somebody. And I’d never ‘stop out’ (you don’t want a reputation as a “stop-out” )
I’ve noticed the use of “stop” for “stay” whilst reading British writing enough that I assume it is (or at least was) fairly common usage over there, though it’s one of those things that Just Sounds Wrong to my American ears.
An American friend of mine, now living and working in England (S Yorks) was caught out by this one over the question of whether she would be working late. “Are you stopping?” she was asked “No I’m staying” she replied. When she told me it took me a moment or two to understand why she was confused.
Doing what I probably should have done before even starting this thread, I consult Merriam-Webster. Stop has quite a number of meanings in English, of course (They list 8 transitive senses and 4 intransitive, and that’s just the verb).
I don’t use that form of ‘stop’ much these days as I live in France but whenever I return home to Ireland then it comes natuarally to stop at home or stop in to someone, seeing as that’s how my family use the word.
I don’t think I can ever remember my grandmother using the word ‘stay’ when ‘stop’ was just as good
Not quite born & bred, but close. The more I think about it, the less sure I am of what I actually say! I think I do possibly use ‘stopped’, in the past tense only. Mind you, we’ve got onto the weirdness of the Suffolk accent before (you’re from Sudbury, aren’t you?) - I’m currently teaching kids in Stoke-by-Nayland and Hadleigh, and their accent is definitely different from up’ere 'n corst.
But doesn’t stop in that sense mean “visit” rather than stay? We say that too, at least in the North East. " I stopped by the office before going to Portsmouth for a meeting." " Your mother misses you, you ought to stop by the house soon."
To my ears “stopped by” is used to denote a “quick short-term visit”, as in “I stopped by my parents house to give my mother some flowers”. Implication is that I am not staying for any length of time (not taking my coat off).
I used to live near Braintree and there was a feeling amongst a lot of residents there that they would like to declare UDI , break away from the rest of Essex and possibly join up with Suffolk. Essex is certainly a county of two halves. On the one hand you have the wasteland that is Basildon , Canvey Island and Southend and then you have the better part of the county north of Chelmsford.
I now live in the East Midlands . Although people speak with an accent at least they pronounce all the letters they are supposed to , as opposed to the very lazy speech patterns you hear around London.
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