Maybe it's just because I've been away or maybe it really has become more common. But my subjective, unscientific experience is that "wee" has reached epidemic proportions. It has always been used in its literal sense, and has long been part of the charm of the Ulster dialect. But it is increasingly often being used as a verbal tic, a piece of filler that says less about the text than it does about the subtext. Contiue reading...