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Post by muddyfunster on Jan 18, 2023 15:14:50 GMT
I mean it’s not at all unusual to have a “work” voice, is it? I absolutely do, gets even stronger dealing with US clients for some reason. I’ve watched back my interviews and I sound like I went to Eton I have to go more RP when I'm in the US otherwise I may as well be speaking Swahili as they won't understand me. I've spent quite a lot of time out there and the average American really struggles with both placing and understanding generic south east English accents never mind the regional variations of colleagues. Quite often I have to artificially elongate my vowel sounds to be understood. For whatever reason some of them just don't seem capable of applying the context and making an educated guess as to what we mean. The classic example is asking for water in a restaurant or at a meeting. Waiter: Can I get you anything to drink? Me: Water is fine thanks Waiter (looks absolutely baffled as if I've ordered some sort of exotic cocktail): sorry sir? Me: Sorry, w-aah-ter please. Waiter: Oh w-aah-ter sure. This has genuinely happened so reliably that I now just translate it first time to save the hassle. Also if I introduce myself as Dan about 75% of the time I will be called Don for the rest of the meeting. Therefore I now introduce myself as Daniel or Daaan or Da-yan (if further south). No one ever guesses English but they do love to guess. Usually get 'Australia right?' (whilst looking very smug). It's endearing in many ways. |
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nexus6
Junior Member
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Post by nexus6 on Jan 18, 2023 15:29:37 GMT
Received Pronunciation
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Post by elstoof on Jan 18, 2023 15:33:29 GMT
Once introduced someone called Peter to an American girl and she asked “Pita like the bread?”
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geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Jan 18, 2023 15:49:30 GMT
Americans are absolutely dreadful at understanding accents. My grandparents spent a few months over there and always got asked "Australian?"
I've seen some US-based Brits say they just completely change their accent to be vaguely understood.
It's fascinating how completely ignorant they are of actual English culture.
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Post by elstoof on Jan 18, 2023 15:55:59 GMT
Why should they need to know more about English culture
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Post by muddyfunster on Jan 18, 2023 15:57:51 GMT
Once introduced someone called Peter to an American girl and she asked “Pita like the bread?” Haha, classic. He needs to get used to being Peeeter in the US. They just can't deal with short vowel sounds. And the context thing again! It just astonishes me why they don't have the internal monologue that runs on the lines of: ' weird, it sounded like they said pita, but pita isn't a person's name so I have almost certainly misheard. I know they are foreign so they probably pronounce words slightly differently. What is a name that sounds quite a lot like pita? Oh yeah, it's probably PETER, that makes more sense than Pita. Glad I didn't just blurt Pita at them, that would be embarrassing.' Honestly if the typical Brit were like this we'd have a total inability to function as an country given our accents change significantly within 50miles. EDIT - I agree in that I don't expect them to learn about our culture, just the extremely basic, patently obvious fact that the world is absolutely full of English speakers and people pronounce English words slightly differently based on where they are from. |
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Post by Whizzo on Jan 18, 2023 15:59:05 GMT
I can understand they can have trouble with how fast we speak English in comparison to how they do but I speak Estuary English, even when I slow it down I get confusion outside North East cities unless I start turning more Bertie Wooster.
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geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Jan 18, 2023 15:59:59 GMT
Well Brits can generally place accents, we're aware of different celebrations and things. I'd like to think, in general, we've got some idea about places around the world - Europe, at the very least.
I'm not saying I can go "oh you're from the outskirts of Valencia" but we can usually understand people and place them.
Considering the "special relationship", it's baffling how clueless many Americans are.
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Post by elstoof on Jan 18, 2023 16:05:12 GMT
I’m not convinced the average Brit could tell the difference between accents from the Balkan countries or anywhere in Eastern Europe tbh
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Post by muddyfunster on Jan 18, 2023 16:06:24 GMT
Another good one was going up to a Greek street food stall in a trendy bit of New York (we can say Seattle for thread relevance). They only sold two things, Gyros or Souvlaki.
I ordered Gyros. He just stared blankly at me as if I'd just ordered a crispy penguin. So I hesitated and asked politely (and somewhat meekly) again, now doubting myself. Still nothing. So I pointed at the sign and said, err one of these please?
The guy basically laughed in my face and said Ohh, GYRO you want a GYRO!
He was pronouncing it as in 'Gyroscope', yet somehow I felt like the idiot.
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Post by muddyfunster on Jan 18, 2023 16:10:07 GMT
I’m not convinced the average Brit could tell the difference between accents from the Balkan countries or anywhere in Eastern Europe tbh This is true, but I'm not sure it's an entirely fair comparison seeing as they don't have the same first language. I'd say it's more like how we're generally bad at telling whether someone is from Dublin or Cork or Limerick seeing how close the relationship is with Ireland. |
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geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Jan 18, 2023 16:22:00 GMT
At least we're getting the right continent, as opposed to Australia
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Post by 😎 on Jan 18, 2023 16:23:46 GMT
The reverse is very much true for what it’s worth, I’ve been in situations where someone from California is being asked by Brits if they say “y’all” all the time. Also where someone very proudly and smugly assumed someone was from Canada and went off on a “you must hate the yanks right” bit only for the person to explain they were from Minnesota.
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Psiloc
Junior Member
Posts: 1,567
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Post by Psiloc on Jan 18, 2023 16:25:16 GMT
Whenever I come across a real life American I'm struck by how - and there's no diplomatic way to say it - dumb they sound. I say this as someone with a black country accent so suffice to say I know stereotypes aren't always accurate, but it's weird how they sound exactly like you'd expect from TV and movies, but in a real world context it's just a loud vapid noise like you're talking to a child.
It could be more of a boorish tourist thing than an American thing specifically. I doubt English tourists make good impressions on the whole
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Post by elstoof on Jan 18, 2023 16:26:42 GMT
Do you have the sideburns like Noddy Holder, or do you just sound like him
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Post by elstoof on Jan 18, 2023 16:30:28 GMT
I remember the first time I went to New York as an adult, I had visions of being the exotic foreigner, Love Actually style, I was ready to hit the town. Then I saw some dickhead in an England shirt of 5th avenue getting dragged around into Tiffany’s by his juicy couture tracksuited missus and all my hopes were instantly dashed
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Post by muddyfunster on Jan 18, 2023 16:33:15 GMT
The reverse is very much true for what it’s worth, I’ve been in situations where someone from California is being asked by Brits if they say “y’all” all the time. Also where someone very proudly and smugly assumed someone was from Canada and went off on a “you must hate the yanks right” bit only for the person to explain they were from Minnesota. Indeed. I'm reasonably confident I can identify North East and Southern US accents but Canada can be hard to differentiate in many situations. However does that not also apply to Americans themselves? Can they immediately spot a Canadian? There are more obvious Canadian accents like Nova Scotia and Quebec but then there are plenty with no obvious tells that just sound totally indistinguishable from US to me. Katherine Ryan and Ryan Reynolds being good examples. Edit: What's absolutely not true in reverse are the water and pita examples. I'm confident an American from any part of the US could go into a restaurant anywhere in the UK and ask for water, pronouncing it however comes naturally. and the waiter will just nod and get them some water. Likewise I'm pretty sure that when Peter from Ohio introduces himself over here, the average Brit won't be thinking that 'Peeeterh' is some sort of unusual exotic American name. |
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geefe
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Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Jan 18, 2023 16:51:38 GMT
Oh, it's easy to miss Canada, all tucked away down there
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Post by Trowel 🏴 on Jan 18, 2023 21:27:42 GMT
Wait until you hear Kelsey Grammer's accent now he's moved to Portishead my luvver.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Jan 19, 2023 1:52:17 GMT
I'm terrible at placing accents, but pretty good at at least understanding them or inferring meaning.
I'm not convinced Brits are as good as they think though, at least once you get outside of UK regional accents. Every country is pretty self-absorbed tbh.
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Post by mothercruncher on Jan 19, 2023 8:45:48 GMT
He said: “Inabidi niende zaidi RP nikiwa Marekani vinginevyo naweza pia kuwa nazungumza Kiswahili kwani hawatanielewa.” |
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Blue_Mike
Full Member
Meet Hanako At Embers
Posts: 5,408
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Post by Blue_Mike on Jan 24, 2023 12:48:59 GMT
I'm up to season 9 now. So far Kirby is the worst character to have been introduced.
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cubby
Full Member
doesn't get subtext
Posts: 6,403
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Post by cubby on Jan 24, 2023 13:08:49 GMT
I'm up to season 9 now. So far Kirby is the worst character to have been introduced. Yes this is part of the decline phase. Now the story arc spans several episodes, but really just elongates what would have been one episode before for no real benefit. |
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Post by rhaegyr on Jan 24, 2023 13:17:09 GMT
S9 and S10 are definitely the worst seasons - I thought S11 picked up a little in quality (although Freudian Sleep is the worst episode of the entire show).
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Post by Reviewer on Jan 24, 2023 13:29:24 GMT
I’d completely forgotten Kirby. He was shit.
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Blue_Mike
Full Member
Meet Hanako At Embers
Posts: 5,408
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Post by Blue_Mike on Jan 24, 2023 13:55:39 GMT
I was enthused by a few late season 8 and early 9 episodes as they seemed to actually be focusing on the practice of psychiatry rather than Zany Antics.
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Post by 😎 on Jan 24, 2023 15:02:36 GMT
It has high waterlines earlier for sure but there are a handful of stinkers all throughout every season. The one where he randomly turns out to have Greek relatives felt like it was written for a different show.
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cubby
Full Member
doesn't get subtext
Posts: 6,403
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Post by cubby on Jan 24, 2023 15:55:50 GMT
To be honest any time they focused on other family members it dipped.
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Buu
New Member
Posts: 407
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Post by Buu on Jan 24, 2023 16:26:50 GMT
My favourite insult is when he speaks about the microscope that can see the atom
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geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Jan 24, 2023 16:39:12 GMT
I think it has a decent ending, too.
But yeah, it ran out of steam around the time Niles and Daphne got together. Introducing her family was shit
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