ark at ee

English

WOTD – 5 August 2018

Etymology

From hark (“listen”) + at + thee (“archaic second-person singular”) or he (“third-person singular”); imitative of the pronunciation used by some natives of Bristol and the West Country of England.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ärk ăt ē IPA^(key): /ˈɑː(ɹ)k æt ˌiː/

• Audio (GA):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

Phrase

(deprecated template usage) ark at ee

1. (Bristol and West Country, informal) Listen to you; listen to yourself; listen to it.
   • 1995, Brian Jacques, The Outcast of Redwall: A Tale from Redwall (A Tale of Redwall; 8), London: Hutchinson, →ISBN; republished as Outcast of Redwall, London: Red Fox, 2007, →ISBN, book 3 (The Warrior’s Reckoning), page 305:

     ‘Look at that water! No wonder Duddle said he wouldn’t dare take the raft down this way; it’s dreadful!’ / Togget pointed ahead. ‘Yurr oi think et wursens yonder, ’ark at ee roaren et makes!’

   • 2013, Ben Gwalchmai, chapter 15, in Purefinder, Lanham, Md.: John Hunt Publishing, →ISBN:

     ‘Is that you … Bristol George?’ / ‘Ark at ’ee – Bristol George, hah! Jus’ George, laaad jus’ George.’

2. (Bristol and West Country, informal) Used to draw attention to something or someone.
   • 2012 March 29, Emma Kasprzak, “Yeah but no but: Is the Bristol accent gert lush?”, in BBC News‎^[1], archived from the original on 6 July 2017:

     Then a lady came into the shop and saw the T-shirts and said ‘ark at ee’ so that was the next one we did.

   • 2014 February 4, “Jooohn Ag”, “Failed Charity Boss Announces 2014 Tour! Unionised Workers Not Invited!”, in The Bristolian‎^[2], archived from the original on 22 October 2017:

     Ark at ee, it’s our old friend MARK ‘NOT THAT ONE’ OWEN, the moribund boss of troubled equine charity HorseWorld!

Translations

listen to you; listen to yourself; listen to it

• Latvian: klausos tevi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Serbo-Croatian: pazi sad (phrase), pazi ovamo (phrase)

used to draw attention to something or someone

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}