“A right”







10 responses to ““A right”

  1. I’m not sure I agree with the OED (is that allowed?)! I think ‘a right [something]’ means ‘a veritable…’ or a ‘a real…’ something, not an absolute or total something. Take “He’s a right wally” as an example of a colloquial expression where the words veritable, real or proper could be substituted for ‘right’. (Not that I’ve ever heard anyway say ‘a veritable wally’.) It’s more a way of saying ‘he really is a wally’ than ‘he’s a total wally’.

  2. To me (BrE) ‘lathered up ‘ and ‘in a lather’ are beasts of a different lather. ‘In a lather’, as you say, is horselike. ‘Lathered up’ means applied with soap.

  3. You’ll know it’s a real Britishism when they qualify the qualifier … it’s a right royal mess.

  4. I grew up in Baltimore County, MD. (1960s and 70s) People often said, “That was right good,” with no irony.

    • I feel like the difference between American and British uses is the absence/presence of the word “a.” Like in a Western, a cowboy would say, “That was right kind of you, ma’am.” But Oliver Hardy says “a fine mess,” not “a right mess.”

  5. “Right” is used in the Atlantic provinces of Canada in the sense of “really”, “truly”, “veritably.”
    “Right nice day!”
    Of course, the language of the Atlantic provinces ie, the Maritimes plus Newfoundland, is a mix of Scots, Irish and west of England.

    • Off topic I suppose.. But last year my wife and I flew from Exeter UK to St John’s NL via Dublin. At Dublin airport there was an announcement over the PA system which was so broadly Irish we were unable to understand it. I asked a couple sitting next to me if they could explain what was said. They replied in a clearly recognizable Canadian accent that they didnt understand a word either but they were traveling with friends from Newfoundland who had no difficulty understanding the announcement! As far as South West of England and Newfoundland goes, my daughters, all born in Plymouth Devon, were immediately struck by similarities in language in Newfoundland that they did not hear anywhere else in England.

      • It happens in other places too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhOUbTfin3I
        (From M. Hulot’s Holiday.)
        There’s a BBC reporter from a part of Canada – I think Nova Scotia – where there is a distinct Irish influence in the local speech. People here often speculate about her accent and that she might be Irish but no one thinks of Canada.

  6. That will be Lyse Doucet. She has part Irish ancestry but was born in New Brunswick. I have friends who do exactly as you say and assume she is Irish. Mr Hulot’s holiday is an excellent film! Demonstrating the point admirably!! Although we did manage to go to the RIGHT ramp first time in Dublin!

  7. I think the best way to understand this is is to consider ‘right’ as being equivalent to ‘real’ or ‘really’. The German language uses the word ‘recht’ in exactly the same way – to mean right as in correct), right as in not left, and right as in real or really.

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