English language - a bit off topic

I'm a Southern Californian that spent a summer stationed with the British Army on an island off the West Coast of Scotland. Every evening after dinner I spent some time with a Brit, often discussing the English language. It was an enjoyable time, we both learned a few things. I had been there about a month when they a British Lance Corporal and myself to a base South of London to pick up a special fueling truck for the NATO project we were on. We flew to the mainland and while having a midnight meal in the U.S. Air force mess hall we were joined by a local lass. After a few minutes she asked me why I was in the U.S. Army. I thought it a weird question until she said I didn't talk like an American! In that short time I had picked up enough of the British accent that it fooled her! I didn't do it on purpose, but found it interesting. Although I was drafted into the Army, found it an interesting experience, and am glad it happened. This was in "peace time", 1961-62. that's your history lesson for today!
 
Last edited:
My mother was from Southern California, while the rest of the family were all from Texas. Whenever my mom would go for a visit with her sisters and brother, it usually took a month or so before she would talk "normal".
 
One of my best and longest standing friends married an American girl about 40 years ago and they live here, in Australia. When they visit the US, they are often asked where are they from (I've had it happen many times when I am there too). She says her favourite answer is to say she in American and watch the puzzled looks on American faces because her accent sounds to them, nothing like any version of American they have ever heard. To me, she is instantly recognisable as American by her accent. I guess we first hear what is different, not what is similar. We see things the same way. Another friend of Chinese extraction married and Australian girl 45 years ago and settled here. Their two children look quite Asian to me but when they go to China, the Chinese see Caucasian.
Crickey, it was only as I typed that I realised how diverse we have become without noticing and I'm quite relaxed about it. My wife and I had 2 bridesmaids and two groomsmen at our wedding 47 years ago. Those two men were our groomsmen - quite different in 1973.
 
Last edited:
We and a few Aussies were at Bonneville several years ago, a Texan had just set a street-roadster record and was very happy about it. He was inviting all passerby's to come into his pit area and admire his car. The Texan and Aussies were talking and the Texan stopped mid-sentence and asked "where ya'all from, ya sure talk funny"! Just one of my fond memories from the salt.
 
Jim Brierley said:
We and a few Aussies were at Bonneville several years ago, a Texan had just set a street-roadster record and was very happy about it. He was inviting all passerby's to come into his pit area and admire his car. The Texan and Aussies were talking and the Texan stopped mid-sentence and asked "where ya'all from, ya sure talk funny"! Just one of my fond memories from the salt.
Click to expand...

There have been times when I'm in the US that people have commented on my accent too. I like to reply that OK, while I'm in your country, I have an accent but if you come to my country, it will be you who has an accent. That is sometimes too much for them to figure.:) For those who understand, we have a laugh and reach for another beer!
 
It's all about vowels, r's and rhythm. Bronx and Chi have the same attiTOOD but barely understand each other.

And never accuse me of having a Texas accent. Them's fightin' words.
 
I don't think I sound like these people now but I was pretty close as a kid. I heard words that aren't used anymore. I picked up the foxfire books which are written using the words of Appalachian people. I understand that they audio recorded these people and then put to paper exactly what they said, stories and how they did things. At first I couldn't understand what I was reading and then the flood gates opened and I understood every word because I'd heard those words and how they were used as a kid. I used to be embarrassed because of the stereotype but I personally know people who many would think are idiots by hearing them speak that some of the smartest people I've ever met, especially considering their short time being educated by schools. I'm not embarrassed at all now except for the same type of people who would embarrass anyone and every culture has those people.

I still sound like a hick to a lot of you but,, through genealogy my roots have been traced back to Sir Richard Cox in England and Sir Richard Edwards who is possibly Henry IIIV illegitimate son and even if he's not his mother goes back to royalty even Charlemagne. Google either of those fellows to see they were important people of their time. Plenty of you have those exact same roots on one side or the other if not both. Don't let dialect fool you into thinking some people are morons although I do see why it could.:o

Check out this video, https://youtu.be/iHIJfbYhQFg. grew up in the exact same culture but not the exact location although not far. I think you can read between the lines and see these are good decent people who may sound a little simple. But independent doesn't begin to descibe them and they scratched out a living from almost nothing and survived.

People from california don't have an accent, everyone else in the world does.

There is some model a action in the video also.:)
 
Last edited:
My older brother has spent a fair amount of time in Europe, Germany in particular. His wife, a Canadian, lived in Germany for a number of years, so they have plenty of German friends. My mother was 'Cat sitting' for them once and she answered the phone. When my brother got home, mom told him, 'you had a call from a foreigner, I couldn't understand a word he said', then she asked if it was one of his German friends, No he replied that fellow is from England!
 
One of the more interesting accents to identify along these lines is that of someone from the British Virgin Islands, or thereabouts. I met an older woman at a bar here in NC a while back and had to ask, which must be done tactfully because you know someone like that is asked some probably more crude version of the question on an almost daily basis. The accent doesn't sound like anything else; British yet Bahamian, English though Caribbean, and with an almost pirate-like undertone to it that is unmistakable. Myself being originally from South Florida I asked her if she hailed from the Caribbean, to which she seemed at once surprised, impressed and not a little relieved that someone so far away from her home had nailed it on the first try. We ended up having a very nice conversation following that. Interesting gal with lots of character.


She was a white lady, but think of the black actress from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, though not nearly as exaggerated or heavy as that. Closest comparison I can think of offhand. You hear her speak a couple times and go, "wait a minute, what is that?".
 
Last edited:
I was in Spain, specifically the Basque country a number of years ago, and met a lady that was originally from Scotland. After we had gotten to know each other, I commented on how I loved her Scottish accent.
She commented that I might heer a lot of Scottish accents in the area. We I ask her why, she proudly proclaimed: "Cause I'm the English teacher!"
 
Jim Brierley said:
We and a few Aussies were at Bonneville several years ago, a Texan had just set a street-roadster record and was very happy about it. He was inviting all passerby's to come into his pit area and admire his car. The Texan and Aussies were talking and the Texan stopped mid-sentence and asked "where ya'all from, ya sure talk funny"! Just one of my fond memories from the salt.
Click to expand...

Jim, that almost exact thing happened to me when Burt Munro came to the salt the first time.(I forgot the year) We were all standing around looking at his bike. My buddy who was quite outspoken, asked Burt where he was from because he talked funny.
Pete
 
Years back I was planning a trip to Germany. I picked up some old Berlitz tapes and got to work listening to them. I had a Korean friend, married to a German firefighter and she spoke Emglish. He didn't. I found she had never studied English in Korea, learned what she knew during a 24 hour lay over in Alaska. My German was foul, so I never got good at it. I loaned the tapes to a young guy and his bride who had taken a job in Germany and he became quite fluent, with out realizing the tapes were quite old. Words like "gnediga frau" were from before the war, not even recognized by some of the younger folks where he worked.Languages do change with time. The uncle that raised me spoke gaelic at home in Scotland, but I never remember him having an accent, tho' I know he did. It was just how he spoke all my life. I would go to the sheep camps sometimes for a few days with Irish folks and pick up an Irish accent. Kids in Calif. schools never could figure where I was from, France, Scotland or Ireland, tho' most guessed I was Irish. Found out that is mostly true, tho' I have yet to go there.
 
I was stationed on Benbecula in the Summer of '62, a small island off the West coast of Scotland, on a NATO project. One Sunday myself and another GI decided to attend Mass in the local church. It was the smallest church I have ever been in, and Mass was said in Gaelic, we didn't understand a single word!
 
Updraught, very good! We were visiting friends in Broken Hill, everything was going well until the neighbor's husband came over he and his wife started talking to each other, speaking much faster than when just us and his wife were talking. All of a sudden we had trouble understanding them! Fond memories!
 
During the early 1970's I worked for the airline movie system division of Bell & Howell. On a trip to Sydney, Australia I was given a tour of their Bell & Howell manufacturing plant. I noticed that they were manufacturing 500 series 16mm projectors and commented that we used the same mechanism for the projectors on the aircraft. The tour guide said they sell a lot of these projectors to the school districts, however, the female teachers don't like them because of the white. But, they are green I said. No, no, no, he said, I am not talking about the color, I am talking about the fact they are eavy.

Tom Endy
 
The Aussies call a flashlight a 'torch', that can sound scary if they tell you they have duel leaks so got the torch out! And don't ask them to spell a word that you are having trouble understanding, it is of no help at all, as Tom found out.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top