One of Ian Rankin’s readers chided him for using the word “slurp” so much in his books. This was not a common term in the south of England, they told him.
Rankin sought opinion on Twitter, where the consensus among the 1,000-plus replies — slurp is evidently a word people are rather fond of — was that this was nonsense. Southerners said they slurped all the time, as did a few Australians, pointing out that they were even further south than England.
Some polished the chips on their shoulder, on the lines that the books were set in Scotland, so whit’s your problem, pal? Others suggested Rankin employ “swally” instead, while the bon viveurs remembered that Keith Floyd had slurped a lot.
One wit suggested