"Nooah, the first thing they'll ask is, 'Did thoo understand 'em the weeay theey talk, down theere...?"
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Line 121 Vulgarized:
"Actually, the first thing they'll ask is "Pip pip, cheerio! Wat ya say, guv? 'Ave a butchers! Apples and pears! Could ya even comprehend a thing the berk's say?!" Dixon says imitating Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
Subtext:
Dixon hilariously mocks Mason's London accent as his "registering of annoyance." Instead of making a show of offense, Dixon simply mirrors Mason's behavior so that Mason can experience what he just did to Dixon.
Yes, yes. I know he wasn't doing a Cockney accent. But I can't really tell what British accent he's doing with Pynchon's written version of it. Elongated vowel sounds? Maybe if I heard somebody speak this, I'd have an "A-ha!" moment of recognition. But there are so many accents in the United Kingdom and I'm not great at identifying them. It helps if I know famous people from the areas so that I know Rhod Gilbert's accent is Welsh and Ozzy Osbourne's accent is Brummie and John Lennon's accent is Scouse and all dwarves in fantasy films have a Scottish accent and all leprechauns in cereal commercials have Irish accents and Dick Van Dyke's Bert accent is aggravated Cockney. But there are so many more, like Posh and Geordie and Yorkshire and a whole bunch I can't remember or don't even know!
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