Language Variation: Focus on Uses

Example 8 Judge : I see the cops say you were pickled last night and were driving an old jalopy down the middle of the road. True? Defendant : Your honour, if I might be permitted to address this allegation, I should like to report that I was neither inebriated nor indeed was I under the influence of an alcoholic beverage of any kind. The formal and Latinate vocabulary used by the defendant and appropriate to very formal settings – inebriated , alcoholic beverage and allegation – contrasts for humorous effect with the inappropriately informal vocabulary used by the judge. Words such as pickled and jalopy are normally heard in much more casual contexts.