A Question about British English (Page 3): Funny...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Sendai5355 wrote:

In Texas, accents vary geographically. Years ago, I worked temporarily in Baton Rouge and it took me sometime to understand the locals.
My wife is from Thailand and after spending many years in the States, when she returned to Thailand for a visit people thought she spoke Thai like a Japanese.

Funny

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

therwol wrote:

Probably more than you want to read but informative.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English

By the way, I grew up in Alabama, and even there, people make fun of others with extreme southern accents. The predominant accent where I grew up was a soft, lilting gentle southern accent, not the twangy accent you might hear in Appalachia.

Yes, we talk slowly and listen even more slowly. Fast jabbering folk think we're retarded.

therwol Loc: USA

Alafoto wrote:

Yes, we talk slowly and listen even more slowly. Fast jabbering folk think we're retarded.

It's a shame that many people view the Southern accent as a sign of limited intelligence. It's just an accent. Some of the smartest and most successful people I've met in my life live in Alabama. Some of the dumbest too, but those people are everywhere. Their accent has nothing to do with it one way or another.

Garson Loc: Tampa, FL

jerryc41 wrote:

I'm fascinated by languages and accents. For the ... (show quote)

My maternal grandparents were born and raised in England - grandmother in Liverpool and grandfather in London. Their accents were different and my grandfather spoke with a bit of a Cockney accent because he grew up in the East End of London in the early part of the 20th century.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

therwol wrote:

It's a shame that many people view the Southern accent as a sign of limited intelligence. It's just an accent. Some of the smartest and most successful people I've met in my life live in Alabama. Some of the dumbest too, but those people are everywhere. Their accent has nothing to do with it one way or another.

Barney, Goober and Gomer didn't help.

therwol Loc: USA

alberio wrote:

Barney, Goober and Gomer didn't help.

Their accents were genuine, by the way. Barney was from Kentucky. Goober and Gomer were from Alabama. I hate it when I hear actors trying to fake a Southern accent. If you grew up in the South, you can spot it a mile away.

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

therwol wrote:

It's a shame that many people view the Southern accent as a sign of limited intelligence. It's just an accent. Some of the smartest and most successful people I've met in my life live in Alabama. Some of the dumbest too, but those people are everywhere. Their accent has nothing to do with it one way or another.

Thank you.

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

alberio wrote:

Barney, Goober and Gomer didn't help.

Agreed. It's similar to black comedians talking like they've never been to school. Incidentally, my wife used to work for George Lindsey (Goober). She directed a fund raising venture for Alabama Special Olympics which consisted of a celebrity golf tournament, tennis tournament (for the wives) and stage show called "The Great Stars Show." It took most of the year preceding to set the whole thing up. I did a lot of the photography for all the events. Great fun!

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

therwol wrote:

Their accents were genuine, by the way. Barney was from Kentucky. Goober and Gomer were from Alabama. I hate it when I hear actors trying to fake a Southern accent. If you grew up in the South, you can spot it a mile away.

I moved here (transferred by the company I worked for at the time) from Oklahoma and I'm considered by the locals to have a strange accent. I tend to accent the first syllable of a many words. I.e.: Ho' tel, ve' hicle.

PaulBrit Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon

Garson wrote:

My maternal grandparents were born and raised in England - grandmother in Liverpool and grandfather in London. Their accents were different and my grandfather spoke with a bit of a Cockney accent because he grew up in the East End of London in the early part of the 20th century.

I love the Cockney accent or the rhyming slang as it used to be called.

AviRoad Loc: Westchester County, NY

I went to Ireland some years ago and my good friend told me to see his mother near Galway. "Just ask anyone where the Hughs Farm is...EVERYONE IN GALWAY KNOWS!" So, I asked and asked and no one could tell me...Turned out that all they heard from his American was "Where's the YEWS farm"! Only when I got frustrated and showed someone the note he had given me and I forget I had did someone was I able to get the "Hughs Farm". They said, "You don't mean the Yews Farm...You mean the Hughs Farm!"

therwol Loc: USA

AviRoad wrote:

I went to Ireland some years ago and my good frien... (show quote)

I've had some problems in Ireland too. Most of the people there have no trouble understanding American English. Many of the shows on TV there are American reruns. The TV news presenters have very light Irish accents, almost sounding American. On the other hand, some of the natives speak with such heavy accents that I had trouble understanding them. As for getting directions before GPS, it was a disaster. In the old days, it seemed that people knew where they went every day and how to get to where they were going and back home, but beyond that, they were as lost as I was. I was once on the side of the road looking at a map when a truck drive pulled up behind me to ask if he could assist, thinking I was broken down. I explained that I was trying to find my way to Kilkenny Castle. "I can't help you with that. I could tell you how to get where I'm going, but that wouldn't do you no good." Then he just left. There were multiple other examples of asking for directions and getting nowhere for exactly the same reason.

John Hicks Loc: Sible Hedinham North Essex England

There are many different dialects of language in the UK almost every county in the country has a different dialect, the secret of understanding what people say is to listen very careful what they say.
If you do not understand be thankful you do not live in Wales, because having lived in England all of my life is 75 years I cannot understand the Welsh language.

therwol Loc: USA

Bloke wrote:

My family home is about a mile from Wallsend, which of course is where Hadrian's Wall ends. Or starts, depending on your perspective!

Perhaps this is a bit off topic. I looked up where your town is located. I'd consider visiting there, but I found driving in Newcastle to be nerve wracking. Of course, this was before GPS. The one way streets and roundabouts were confounding. In driving to the city centre, I made so many wrong turns it was a miracle that I eventually found myself outside of the football stadium where there was an open car park. When trying to return to the road going to Carlisle, I found myself on the A1 driving toward Durham. On future trips, I would park near the airport and take the train in. Painless.

Here is a picture I took on the train.

(Download)

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

PaulBrit wrote:

This is an interesting thread. My contribution fol... (show quote)

Great story!