The addresser carries on creates the scene to be narrative. He does this by using words such as ‘I’d’ which attracts the attention of the listener. As he describes his way to the fish and chip shop, he uses descriptive language to build up the context like Charles Dickens and also creates a contrast between the ‘fog’ and the hotness of the fish and chips. The speaker cleverly interacts with the user by generalising the context and making you involved in the context and by using ‘you’d’. Here, he is trying to persuade us onto what he will inform us, he is simply saying that if you were there, you would see that same thing.
The speaker also emphasises the brightness of the light against the darkness of the winter nights by using the term ‘spilling’. This makes it sound that the light kept on flowing brightly for the whole period of time and therefore he does not use the word spilled which is in its past tense. The speaker then again uses ‘you’d’ to allow you to imagine the scene.
He describes the chips being cooked extremely eloquently. The adjectives used are gerundive, they are made from verbs. He uses onomatopoeia to describe the scene perfectly – ‘lovely hissing’. As he is describing the chips, he uses the word ‘batch’ to show us that they were not just a few chips, but a whole loads of which customers will want, this informs us that others might also think that these chips were the best ever. As the chips enter the ‘fat’, the speaker uses prosody to create tension by raising his voice and tone.
In his excitement and enthusiasm, there is an ellipse where he forgets to use the word be, he speaks eagerly explaining that ‘you’d queuing up’ instead of you’d be queuing up. He simply gets carried away. When queuing up, he explains that you would be ‘leaning’ which indicates that this was ongoing and a continuous movement. He presents a contrast of the warmth that you would feel when leaning on the serving cabinets with the cold of the winter nights.
As he describes that you walked away with ‘this vinegar smelling parcel of fish’. The use of the compound adjective creates a more descriptive environment. He also uses the noun ‘parcel’ to show that these fish and chips were not the usual, they were important. As he concludes, once again he uses prosody in the adjective ‘straight’ and in the noun ‘boat’ to emphasise that these fish and chips were fresh. However, by informing us that they came from the boat, he is contrasting the past and the present. To summarise his dialog, he ends on an adjective stating ‘and it was terrific’. The adjective ‘terrific’ gives us an idea that the speaker is not young due to the fact that many youngsters do not use this adjective. His excitement can be seen clearly as he squeezes his last few words into a long utterance by using the conjunctive ‘and’.
What is truly ironic is the fact that he is supposed to inform us of the best fish and chips he has ever had but he does not at all enlighten us on how it tastes like. He uses his other senses to describe to us the environment. He does indicate that they were the ‘best’, however this does not tell us how it tasted like.
The speaker uses hyperbole to illustrate his account of the best fish and chips he has ever had. He presents his nostalgic memories which do not show us the horrors of the past which he may have forgotten and therefore only illustrates the bright side. He informs us of these perfect memories which might have been nothing but perfect.
