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Granama1@1921

Hubbubs: I was amused to be told that the noise emanating from an upmarket pub or a posh cocktail party is 'Ears! Ears!' Not a bad approximation.

My hubby says tuth and he's Gloucester born and bred.
I'm from further south and have always said 'two th'.
He also says stu and I say 'st you'.
I've learnt to live with it!

PaulH. I like that one 'Ears! Ears!'

I suppose, if I have a point to make regarding accents, that they are many and varied. Therefore if a crossword setter does the 'floors/flaws' thing, it may not work for me but I know it does for others, so that's fine. I wouldn't expect them to compile a crossword with just an East Midlands (or any other regional) accent.
I may just break out the pitchforks and flaming brands if they use 'different to' though!

Orson@1923. When we were moving from Yorkshire to Newcastle we stopped at a pub to eat. My (South Londoner) wife thought the people at the next table were Swedish. I had to tell her they were Geordies!
I thought she might need a translator when she started work at a Newcastle hospital. (:o)

I have been otherwise engaged and have not looked at this forum for a while so apologies for a late reply.
In my youth (over 50 years ago), football matches that required tickets for entry were fairly uncommon. I do recall, however, that, at that time, tickets for Rangers matches in Glasgow had the home team described as The Rangers (long since changed). The company that owned them was The Rangers Football Club Limited. Results in the papers and on the radio never used the definite article but people would say (and still do, I think) "Are you going to see the Rangers on Saturday?".
I suspect that there may be a similarity with Arsenal.

Parallelogram

Nice to have you back. I think going to see "the Town, the Rovers" etc is quite common.

There is a dreadful homophone in the Times today.

Thank you for the greeting jigjag. Some time ago, as an economy, we decided to limit ourselves to The Times on Saturdays only and since I refuse to pay the Murdoch tax, I no longer see the weekday crosswords online either.
I was pondering further about the question of whether a definite article is used for a football team name in conversation or in writing. I thought that it might be used when the team is referred to by a nickname or a shortened version of the full name (as in your examples). I don't think people would say that thay are off to see the Plymouth Argyle or the Sheffield Wednesday but would go to see the Pilgrims or the Blades. Having said that, I used to go to Maine Road to watch City play but probably because there was no ambiguity about which City; also, friends in London go to see Spurs.
I now realise how much time I have wasted on trivia - almost as bad as doing crosswords.

Hi Parallelogram

I spent my student days in Manchester starting in 1969 - when I could afford it I went to see both `City` & `United` - City were on a par with United at that time, Colin Bell, Tony Book et al.
As you say the definite article seems to be used before nicknames - not the full name - apart from Arsenal, who seem to be unique in English football (arguably).

Football clubs and the definite article.

The Arsenal may now be unique, but as they evolved from Woolwich Arsenal I suppose they used to be on a par with the Villa and the Argyle, but the 'the' just stuck when they moved to Highbury and dropped the Woolwich.

Having had a manager, Arsene Wenger, with a name so similar to the club name must also be unique. If women continue to advance in the football world, perhaps one day Chelsea will have a manageress called...

Paulh

I think you`re right that the move north led to Arsenal dropping Woolwich from its name - don`t think Spurs were too impressed!

Charlton missed a trick by not appointing Bobby or Jack as manager.