A Comprehensive Guide to Writing Gina Dialogue!!!
Do YOU like writing tgaa fics, but find yourself struggling to understand the speech habits of Gina Lestrade? Well, fortunately for you, I love linguistics and accents almost as much as I love Gina - so I've compiled a breakdown of every quirk in her speech!
(Full analysis under the break!)
Most of Gina's speech patterns can be broken down by three fundamental facts:
She speaks with a thick Cockney accent
She's uneducated, which leads to various grammar troubles
She uses a lot of informal cockney terms/slang
Let's get into it section-by-section!
(Note: Formatting looks a lot better on mobile!)
Section 1: Cockney Accent
So Iβm an theater kid, and I've done dialect training for Cockney accents before - it's one of my best ones imo - so that certainly helped me write this section! Even without that, though, it's pretty easy to identify how her accent appears in her speech. Let's break it down!
Drop h's
Example: Here becomes 'ere
Drop gβs at the end of words
Example: Going becomes goin'
A few other word ends that get dropped:
Of becomes o'
And becomes an'
Th changes depending on the word - Thank you to annoyingloudmicrowavecultist for properly explaining how this works in the tags!
Voiced th becomes v
Example: With becomes wiv
Unvoiced th becomes f
Example: Nothing becomes nuffin'
For writing purposes, if a word would become unrecognizable with this change, it's left the same (but in actual speech, it would be pronounced differently)
Example: Father remains as father (but would be pronounced like fovva)
Th always remains intact at the start of words
Example: Thing remains as thing (but would be pronounced like fing)
Miscellaneous word changes
Something becomes summat (but other times is just somefin' - she's not consistent with either)
What becomes wot, whatever becomes wotever
Tomorrow becomes tomorra
Because is often shortened to 'cause, which becomes cos
Isn't almost always becomes ain't
Thank you / no thank you becomes ta / no ta
Some words spill together or are slurred
With that becomes wivvat, with it becomes wivvit (This one isn't actually used in-game, so you don't have to use it either, but it reflects how she'd actually be pronouncing it)
Isn't it becomes innit
Doesn't it becomes dunnit
Suppose becomes s'pose
Don't know becomes dunno
Probably becomes prob'ly
You might change - Another loose/inconsistent rule. Can depend on how the sentence would be pronounced out loud, but mostly is just a vibe
You becomes ya
Your/you're becomes yer
Yourself becomes yerself
Section 2: Grammatical Errors
Gina is an uneducated East End orphan, so it should come as no surprise that she makes mistakes here and there. Here are her consistent ones! Some of these are confusing/hard to explain, so I included specific examples.
Will say me instead of my, and meself instead of myself
Example: "I dunno much about guns meself."
Incorrect tense usage of was/were in negatives - Instead of I/it wasnβt, sheβll say I/it werenβt
Example: "I was up in a balloon, weren't I?"
Incorrect tense usage of does/do in negatives - Instead of he doesnβt, sheβll say he donβt
Example: "Somefin' wot 'e don't want people readin'."
Double negatives
Ever becomes never in negative statements
Example: "I swear on my life, I ain't never laid eyes on that dandy before."
Never + anything becomes never + nothing
Example: "I never done nuffin' o' the sort!"
Never + anyone becomes never + no one
Example: "All me life, growin' up in the slums, I've never trusted no one."
Haven't you ever becomes ain't you never
Example: "Ain't you lot never gone over an 'ouse lookin' for dough when the owners are out o' town?"
The word that or who in the context of ascribing a feature to a subject is replaced by the word what
Example: "She's always goin' on about all them cases wot Sholmes is lookin' into."
Other example: "I think I wouldn't fancy me chances wiv a lawyer wot lives in a place like this."
Will say them instead of those
"All them skylights open, dead easy."
Will say no more instead of anymore
"Ya dropped it, so it ain't yours no more."
Sheβll sometimes mess up bigger, unfamiliar words. This one's entirely in your discretion what words she might mess up. Some canon examples:
βSuppermentβ instead of supplement
βMantlescriptβ instead of manuscript
On a similar note, she'll sometimes confidently get sayings wrong and think she sounds smart
βToby's...'ow did they put it...? ...Oh, yeah! A 'bone-fide' detective!β
Section 3: Cockney Terms/Slang
In addition to her thick dialect, growing up in the East End means Gina has also adopted a plethora of unique words and phrases. This'll be more like a vocab section!
Cockney rhyming slang - Some words are replaced with phrases that rhyme with them. She uses a few in canon:
Instead of believe, sheβll say Adam anβ Eve
βWould you Adam an' Eve it, eh?! Wot a mug!β
Instead of face, sheβll say chevy chase
βYeah, I can see it written all over yer chevy chase!β
Interjections/Exclamations
Blimey - Express surprise or shock
"Blimey, yer right! That streak o' light in the photo looks just like an arrow, dunnit?"
Cor - A general interjection, kind of a euphemism for god
"Cor, listen to you! Ya stumble across a bit o' balloon an' suddenly yer the best investigator in the world!"
Oi - I doubt I need to define this one, but it's basically the equivalent of "hey"
"Oi! That's off limits up there!"
Words for people
Cove, bloke - A boy or man. Gina tends to use cove more often than bloke.
"That's where the cove ended up after 'is 'instant kinesis' or wotever they call it."
"When I lifted the last bloke's purse, 'e got wise to me."
Dandy - A conceited, fashionable upperclass man. Can be used as a noun or adjective.
In reference to Ashley Graydon: "I swear on my life, I ain't never laid eyes on that dandy before."
Dee - Thank you to uzukirie for figuring this out in the replies of this post - dee is short for detective!
To Sholmes: "I don't need no 'elp from some stuck-up dee!"
About Gregson: "Yeah, the dee let me keep it. After I looked daggers at 'im for long enough."
Swell - A wealthy or elegant person. In canon, Gina uses this exclusively in reference to McGilded.
"It's because o' that, this swell found me. β¦'E did 'elp me get away, mind."
Miscellaneous vocab
Dodgy - Suspicious
"It was amazin' when you showed that dodgy professor's dodgy experiment was a total fix!"
Rum - Odd or strange
"I mean, wot's the point of spendin' a joey to make a few bob, eh? That's a rum idea, innit?"
Coppers - Cops
"If you do wot the grown-ups tell ya, it'll get yer mates dragged off by the coppers. Or worse."
Scarper - Flee/run away/leave in a hurry. Also comes from rhyming slang - Scarper = Scapa Flow = Go
"If I did that, 'e said 'e'd let me scarper before the coppers showed up."
Have a butcher's - Take a look. Also comes from rhyming slang - "butcher's hook" = look
"Most days I push the cushion up wiv me 'ead an' look out the crack. Then I can 'ave a butcher's at who I'm gonna fiddle."
Rude words/phrases :)
Gordon Bennett - Expresses surprise or contempt - kind of a euphemism for goddammit.
"Gordon Bennett! You lot!"
Flamin', bleedin', - General emphasis. Pretty much just gentler ways of saying fucking.
Note!! You might be tempted to make Gina say "bloody", since that's well-known British slang, but she never says that. She says bleedin' in its place.
"Don't be so flamin' rude, 'Oddo!"
"It's lies every bleedin' place ya look in this world, innit?"
Bleedinβ Nora - A variation of "Bloody Norah", a surprised/irritated interjection.
"Wot the bleedin' Nora, 'Oddo?! Wot 'ave you gone an' done?!"
Bogtrotter - A derogatory term for an Irish person. She uses this to refer to McGilded.
"Look at the mess it's got you into, believin' in that bogtrotter!"
Mug - An idiot.
"You can't do it from inside, you mug."
Blue blazes - An alliterative exaggeration of "blazes". A euphemism for hell.
"Where the blue blazes 'ave you been, eh?"
Cobblers - Rubbish/nonsense. Literally, it means testicles - derived from Cockney rhyming slang, where "cobbler's awls" = balls.
"All this nonsense about the boss plannin' to kill people⦠It's cobblers!"
And 1.2k words later, that's pretty much it! Now you can write Gina dialogue spot on <3
Feel free to suggest anything I'm missing/got wrong - I come back and edit this for accuracy's sake every time I notice something I left out, or when people in the replies/tags point things out!
