appreciation of language

[ubuysa]

One version of English I refuse to speak or write is US English. I often say that I don’t have the IQ to do that

Ah, American English - the ultimate oxymoron. We used to say that you can always tell an American - but you can't tell them very much....

 

[NoddyPirate]

Lads - careful who yer slaggin' off - I have a box of unused vowels here that I can use as weapons..... 🇺🇸🔫

 

[Bigfoot]

Lads - careful who yer slaggin' off - I have a box of unused vowels here that I can use as weapons..... 🇺🇸🔫

Did you steal them from the Welsh language? They seem to be missing a few. I had previously thought that Scottish Gaelic had stolen the vowels and added them into mountain names. To ensure the theft was not noticed, most of the vowels are never actually pronounced.

 

[NoddyPirate]

Did you steal them from the Welsh language? They seem to be missing a few. I had previously thought that Scottish Gaelic had stolen the vowels and added them into mountain names. To ensure the theft was not noticed, most of the vowels are never actually pronounced.

Ha ha!!! That's great Bigfoot!

They sound as useless as the 'ueue' in Queue. How in the world did two pairs of vowels get stuck on to that word I will never know.....

 

[NoddyPirate]

The wonderful Stephen Fry again:

"A cut glass English accent can fool unsuspecting Americans into detecting a brilliance that isn’t there."

 

[SpyderTracks]

The wonderful Stephen Fry again:

"A cut glass English accent can fool unsuspecting Americans into detecting a brilliance that isn’t there."

I spent a summer in the Catskill Mountains outside New York when I was younger working in one of the Camp America's.

That sentence is so profoundly true. I was treated like royalty simply because of my accent. I was a bit of a wreck, in Britain most women ran a mile from me, but over there they thought I was A1

 

[NoddyPirate]

I spent a summer in the Catskill Mountains outside New York when I was younger working in one of the Camp America's.

That sentence is so profoundly true. I was treated like royalty simply because of my accent. I was a bit of a wreck, in Britain most women ran a mile from me, but over there they thought I was A1

It's a bit like being Irish in the US - first time you meet someone, just exaggerate the t's a little bit - and you're off and running!

Actually this reminds me of a story I was told years ago of an air traffic control interaction in JFK - who are well known for their aggresive and rapid fire instructions. The ATC guy reeled off a rapid and long list of instructions at this guy - then there was a short period of silence before the pilot came back with a long slow southern drawl:

"Boy, you hear the way I talk? Well, that's the way I think too....."

 

[Bigfoot]

While we don’t have the long Gaelic names of the west coast and islands, we do like to make it a bit difficult for visitors to pronounce place names. I have included a few examples below.
Garioch pronounced Geary
Finzean ... Fing’n
Maryculter ... Marycooter
Peterculter ... Cooter
Cults ... Cults
Footdee ... Fittee
Tough ... Tooch (ch as in loch, not as in lock)
Strachan ... Strawn

 

[NoddyPirate]

While we don’t have the long Gaelic names of the west coast and islands, we do like to make it a bit difficult for visitors to pronounce place names. I have included a few examples below.
Garioch pronounced Geary
Finzean ... Fing’n
Maryculter ... Marycooter
Peterculter ... Cooter
Cults ... Cults
Footdee ... Fittee
Tough ... Tooch (ch as in loch, not as in lock)
Strachan ... Strawn

Our favourites for tourists over here are:

Youghal.....Yawl
Cobh......Cove
Dun Laoghaire......Done Leary
Graiguenamanagh......Gray'g na mana (Jeez, even trying to write it phonetically is hard!)

and my personal favourite:

Hospital.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Graiguenamanagh......Gray'g na mana (Jeez, even trying to write it phonetically is hard!)

Wasn't that the hit single by the Muppets?

 

[NoddyPirate]

I was going to list some of Irelands funniest placenames - really just to test the Moderators censor reaction speed - but I thought better of it. You can look them up yourself!

But at the risk of getting back on topic, it got me thinking of two similar quotes from two of my favourite orators. Hitchens first:

"I'm very depressed how in this country you can be told "That's offensive" as though those two words constitute an argument."

And Fry:

"It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that." As if that gives the certain rights. It's actually nothing more....than a whine. "I find that offensive." It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I am offended by that." Well, so %$&@(£# what?"

I think the above is an ever growing problem in the modern world.

 

[AleTax]

I spoke German as a younger lad - all long lost skills now - but would love to get a proper handle on a different language as you say too. Portugeuse would be target.

My wfie speaks fluent French - years ago we were on a holiday in Paris and she got the ultimate compliment when the recptionist asked her what part of France she was from! She says that she sees pronunciation like being in a play on a stage - you have to throw yourself into the character and just have fun - far too many of us normal people I think just don't make the effort for fear of getting it wrong - which means we always get it wrong!

Later on that trip we were at a French restaraunt and she was blabbing away to the waiter in French He then turned to me and said something and I stared at him blankly as usual - he then realised we weren't French - so he stubbornly refused to speak to us in anything other than English from that moment on. My Wife took a similar tact but the other way around. So, I was stuck in the middle of an angry French guy insisting on speaking English and an angry Irish girl insisting on speaking French. 'Twas a weird experience!

I can teach you Italian if you want alongside some other languages as well 😂

 

[NoddyPirate]

This was in my YouTube recommended list. I assume it was watching us here!

 

[AgentCooper]

Back up north, I used to live close to a town called Cockermouth. Hilarity ensued.

 

[ubuysa]

I spent a summer in the Catskill Mountains outside New York when I was younger working in one of the Camp America's.

That sentence is so profoundly true. I was treated like royalty simply because of my accent. I was a bit of a wreck, in Britain most women ran a mile from me, but over there they thought I was A1

This is so true. I taught a great many mainframe operating system support classes around the US. They immediately think that because you're not American and have flown in specially then you must be the world expert. With a British accent you've won before the first coffee break! If my end of class evaluations were not 10/10 for everything then I'd really screwed up.

To be fair it worked the same the other way around. If a class in the UK had an American teacher (as they sometimes did) then he or she was an instant 10/10 as well. Strange isn't it?

 

[Bigfoot]

I always find it strange when Americans get so excited about a British accent. Florida isn’t actually short of visitors from the UK, but I have had Americans exclaim “WOW!!!! THEY’RE FROM SCOTLAAAAND!!!!!”. I know the Gulf Coast is not the usual haunt of Brits, but this did seem a bit over the top. (Capitals and exclamation marks were intentional).

 

[slimbob]

I spent a summer in the Catskill Mountains outside New York when I was younger working in one of the Camp America's.

That sentence is so profoundly true. I was treated like royalty simply because of my accent. I was a bit of a wreck, in Britain most women ran a mile from me, but over there they thought I was A1

What you say reminds me about that clip in the movie “Love Actually” where the British bloke picks up 3 hot American chicks in a bar because he was English and his accent. Appreciate it is just a movie and I have no first-hand experience myself personally but I am sure there is some truth to it.

 

[ubuysa]

What you say reminds me about that clip in the movie “Love Actually” where the British bloke picks up 3 hot American chicks in a bar because he was English and his accent. Appreciate it is just a movie and I have no first-hand experience myself personally but I am sure there is some truth to it.

I almost had this happen in Baltimore MD. A very attractive woman came over to me at the bar to ask if I was British. Sadly she just wanted me to talk to her for a while because "she loved my accent".

BTW I've done tons of work in the USA over the years and that's the closest I've ever come to that Love Actually scene.

 

[slimbob]

I almost had this happen in Baltimore MD. A very attractive woman came over to me at the bar to ask if I was British. Sadly she just wanted me to talk to her for a while because "she loved my accent".

BTW I've done tons of work in the USA over the years and that's the closest I've ever come to that Love Actually scene.

Thanks for shattering my illusions UBUYSA , oh well I can still pretend it is true I suppose.

 

[Martinr36]

I started to learn French again the other year using an app called Duolingo, and was doing ok then Covid came along and i stopped (must start again).

I can speak some American and also a smattering of Australian..................... 😂