Pedantic question about standardisation

E. von Hoegh · Sep 1, 2012

scheimfluger_77 said:
Who, the men or the women?

Both. Also the sheep.

blansky · Sep 1, 2012

lxdude said:
The Mountbattens were definitely not Commoners. Lord Louis Mountbatten's sister was the mother of Prince Philip, the Queen's husband. Lord Mountbatten was a naval officer; from 1943-46 he was Allied Supreme Commander, South East Asia Command. It was/is not universally agreed that he was deserving of a high post.

BTW, it's Chamberlain.

Right, thanks.

I was typing while driving and I got auto-corrected, which is really nothing new. My wife does it all the time.

Sirius Glass · Sep 1, 2012

E. von Hoegh said:
Both. Also the sheep.

No the sheep did not care about the overpaid part.

Bill Burk · Sep 1, 2012

I think we might be the only group that agrees when things are black and white.

E. von Hoegh · Sep 1, 2012

Steve Smith said:
Whilst this thread is still running, here's another one:

The H in herb is not silent.

Steve.

In this country, if one asked neighbor Herb's wife for some of the herbs he grows in the garden, one would pronounce only one "h". The other "h" would be silent.

E. von Hoegh · Sep 1, 2012

Bill Burk said:
I think we might be the only group that agrees when things are black and white.

Nothing is ever black and white.

Diapositivo · Sep 1, 2012

E. von Hoegh said:
Nothing is ever black and white.

Not really:

http://www.juventus.com/juve/it/welcome

blansky · Sep 1, 2012

Steve Smith said:
Whilst this thread is still running, here's another one:

The H in herb is not silent.

Steve.

After taking a hit off of a joint, it is almost impossible to say, "Hey dude, want some HERB."

It always comes out as "'ey dude, want some 'erb."

Cough , cough.

lxdude · Sep 1, 2012

blansky said:
Right, thanks.

I was typing while driving and I got auto-corrected, which is really nothing new. My wife does it all the time.

Man, I was just ranting somewhere around here about that. Until autos can auto-correct (accurately, unlike your phone) you shouldn't do that shit.

I used to live up where you do and it's bad enough avoiding the half-soused wine-tasters.

Sirius Glass · Sep 1, 2012

blansky said:
After taking a hit off of a joint, it is almost impossible to say, "Hey dude, want some HERB."

It always comes out as "'ey dude, want some 'erb."

Cough , cough.

So when one herbs up in the US it is pronounced " 'erbing it up", whilst in Britian it is pronounced "herbing it up, governor". Blimey, what a bloody mess!

lxdude · Sep 1, 2012

Sirius Glass said:
So when one herbs up in the US it is pronounced " 'erbing it up", whilst in Britian it is pronounced "herbing it up, governor". Blimey, what a bloody mess!

Except a lot of them drop the "h".
Steve, 'e's not 'appy about 'at- 'he 'ates it, 'e does. Talk 'at way around 'im, and 'e'll be finkin' of killin' yer.

Photo Engineer · Sep 1, 2012

You got me all tuned up for an evening of BBC America, provided they quit showing repeats of "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves", you know, the one with the American cast! Or they may show STTNG, with only one Brit in the cast.

PE

cliveh · Sep 1, 2012

Photo Engineer said:
You got me all tuned up for an evening of BBC America, provided they quit showing repeats of "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves", you know, the one with the American cast! Or they may show STTNG, with only one Brit in the cast.

PE

In England we really enjoyed watching Robin Hood with an American accent. It was such a good laugh.

BrianShaw · Sep 1, 2012

That always sounded right to me.

Gerald C Koch · Sep 1, 2012

I wish PBS would air the British series Up Pompei again with the adventures of Lurkio, Ammonia, Hernia, Lecherus Maximus, ...

lxdude · Sep 1, 2012

cliveh said:
In England we really enjoyed watching Robin Hood with an American accent. It was such a good laugh.

We laughed, too. I mean, it's freakin' Robin Hood, fer gawd's sakes.

It was truly cringe-worthy. Even if Costner had affected a phony English accent it would have been better. A standard American accent without standard American sentence construction just sounds weird.

When I first saw Robin Hood, Men In Tights, when Cary Elwes said, "Because, unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent", that got a big laugh from the theater audience.

Gerald C Koch · Sep 1, 2012

What's worse than a fake English accent is a fake southern accent. There is a show on broadcast tv here in the US where an actress Kyla Sedgwick plays a police detective or something. Her accent is so overblown as to be a complete turnoff. I stopped watching the show after the first 5 minutes.

Photo Engineer · Sep 1, 2012

cliveh said:
In England we really enjoyed watching Robin Hood with an American accent. It was such a good laugh.

At least it was a better movie than something like Merlin!

PE

Photo Engineer · Sep 1, 2012

Gerald C Koch said:
What's worse than a fake English accent is a fake southern accent. There is a show on broadcast tv here in the US where an actress Kyla Sedgwick plays a police detective or something. Her accent is so overblown as to be a complete turnoff. I stopped watching the show after the first 5 minutes.

Jerry, I was all over Georgia and Florida from Albany GA to St. Pete and the Cape. I would have to say that in some places I could not understand the people. In fact, My wife lived in FL for years and still has that problem (and when she wants to, that accent and it is real).

Have you ever heard Paula Deen? OMG.

So, I'll have to disagree with a bit of what you say.

What I hate is the growing trend of Valley Girl accents on TV.

PE

blansky · Sep 2, 2012

Gerald C Koch said:
What's worse than a fake English accent is a fake southern accent. There is a show on broadcast tv here in the US where an actress Kyla Sedgwick plays a police detective or something. Her accent is so overblown as to be a complete turnoff. I stopped watching the show after the first 5 minutes.

Kyra Sedgwick , the Closer,

police chief, Brenda Lee Johnson.

blansky · Sep 2, 2012

Gerald C Koch said:
What's worse than a fake English accent is a fake southern accent. There is a show on broadcast tv here in the US where an actress Kyla Sedgwick plays a police detective or something. Her accent is so overblown as to be a complete turnoff. I stopped watching the show after the first 5 minutes.

Kyra Sedgwick , the Closer,

Deputy police chief, Brenda Leigh Johnson.

Bill Burk · Sep 2, 2012

blansky said:
Kyra Sedgwick , the Closer,

Deputy police chief, Brenda Leigh Johnson.

I would baulk at watching either of those.

Steve Smith · Sep 2, 2012

All American actors speaking with English accents should have Dick Van Dyke's chimney sweep character in Mary Poppins as a róle model.

Steve.

Steve Smith · Sep 2, 2012

lxdude said:
Except a lot of them drop the "h".
Steve, 'e's not 'appy about 'at- 'he 'ates it, 'e does. Talk 'at way around 'im, and 'e'll be finkin' of killin' yer.

A few years ago we looked after a friend's child for the day so she could go to a wedding. The friend comes from Manchester where it is common to drop the h in speech. The surprising thing was that she dropped the h in writing too. She left us a note along the lines of:

"e as is tea at five then e will ave a sleep at about alf past"

It took quite a bit of reading to work it out.

Steve.

blansky · Sep 2, 2012

One of the styles of speech not mentioned here yet is the strange speech of Valley Girl and also of Surfer Dude.

One feature of Valley Girl was the drawn out "er" at the end of words like Heatherrrrrrrr or whateverrrrrrrr or OHMYGODDDDD. There is usually a trend to raise your voice the end of every sentence. Its amazing how this has permeated the way girls/women all over the US talk now.

For those who don't know "the Valley" means San Fernando Valley, an area of LA that is over the hill from the Westside and obviously Malibu at the beach. Sort of the New Jersey of the west coast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHf089jl9H4

Surfer Dude is pretty well known and is usually a result of too much sun, too much surf and no real idea that the real world exists.Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High comes to mind. Also this dude http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-5F_7DwPpo

Actually one of my favorite sayings came one day while down at the beach in Venice CA and some guy was just going to step out to walk across the street and another guy in a BMW was trying to turn right. Just as the guy stepped off the curb the BMW accelerated and hung a right almost hitting the guy. He was livid.

I was standing on the curb as well as a surfer dude, on his beach cruiser bike. The guy that almost got hit was yelling and screaming at the BMW who was by now down the street.

Then out of the mouth of the surfer dude came the enlightenment. He just looked at the guy and said to him, "acknowledge, and move on dude" in his slow surfer drawl. And then proceeded to ride his bike across the street.

Other forms of English that are pretty distinctive are the Bob and Doug McKenzie, put up of Toronto area speak. The whole "hoser" , "is that right eh" dialect of the underemployed Canadian, Leaf fan.

Pedantic question about standardisation

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