A bit of Brit-Speak/Ameri-Speak humour...
May 21st, 2002, 09:59 AM
#1
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A bit of Brit-Speak/Ameri-Speak humour...
It's an oldie but a goody, but in an attempt to brighten your day...<BR><BR>An American had been working in London for 3 months and was very homesick. He had nothing against the English but was frankly tired of the whole thing, the city, the country, the “odd” ways, and the sometimes-strange language.<BR><BR>On his way to Heathrow his cell phone rang. It was his boss back in Kansas City telling him that a new project was in the works and that he would be staying in London for at least another month.<BR><BR>Furious, our intrepid hero explained he’d already checked out of the hotel. The boss man said no worries, and gave him the address of his new lodgings.<BR><BR>Upon checking into the hotel the American found the clerk to be a Mr. Fawlty type. After the necessary preliminaries the American picked up his bag and said, “Where’s the elevator?”<BR><BR>“The LIFT, sir, is down the hall and to your left.”<BR><BR>The American bridled, “Where did you say the ELEVATOR was?”<BR><BR>“The LIFT, sir, is down the hall and to your left.”<BR><BR>Unable to stand it any longer the American dropped his bag on the floor, turned, approached the clerk and, teeth gritted, leaning over the counter, he said, “I’ll have you know that we Americans invented the damned ELEVATOR!”<BR><BR>Quite unruffled, shuffling some papers, the clerk looked up and matter-of-factly said, “Quite right sir, and WE invented the language. The lift is down the hall and to your left.”<BR>
<BR><BR>Thanks for the Fawlty Towers reference -- my grandmother and I used to watch it on PBS.
Aug 29th, 2002, 11:46 PM
#4
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Had to top this as it made me smile this morning! I think the differences make things all the more interesting! But we Brits have it easier, I think, in translating ameri-speak. I remember watching 'The Monkees' and the Banana Splits' when I was three (** years ago now!) and since then, US TV and films make it very easy to get into the lingo. Its like being bi-lingual ;O)
Aug 30th, 2002, 03:28 AM
#9
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Not language exactly but I like the story of a Briton and an American having a mild argument.<BR>Yank: "And you burned Washington!"<BR>Briton, guiltily: "Good grief, did we?<BR>I thought he died in his bed!"<BR><BR>An American friend pointed out that Washington is supposed to have had wooden teeth, so perhaps that's how he was set alight.
Aug 30th, 2002, 05:33 AM
#11
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>don't know about the rest of the brits >on here, but does anyone else dislike >british accents in films<BR><BR>Depends on the film. I can remember as a student killing myself laughing at American Bible epics. "Truly he is the son uv Gard" and the immortal "Beharld the Sodomite army".
Aug 30th, 2002, 05:38 AM
#13
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i remember being a teenager in London singing along to American Pie with my friends as we all wondered what the hell did he mean by driving his "Chevy" to the "levee" - i think we decided it was some kind of toll road (levy??)<BR>Thanks for reminding me about that truly awful "truly that was the sun of gaaaard" - that cracked me up
Aug 30th, 2002, 05:50 AM
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First, in the US we actually spell "aluminum" the way we pronounce it -- "you lot" put the "i" in after the "n" and think we've somehow botched it. As for "buttocks," not all Americans pronounce it with the accent on the second syllable -- just the uncultured (same ones who talk about a matched set of furniture as a "soot/suit" rather than a suite. <BR><BR>Now then, how does one pronounce "figure"? Americans at least recognize that there's a long "u" -- it's not "figger" let alone "figgah."<BR><BR>Then there's what many Brits do to words like "law" and "draw" -- they add an "r" to elide them with the next word (if it begins with a vowel) or a suffix like "-ing". Mike Myers was correct about those of you who like "drawring."<BR><BR>What about "leisure" which somehow comes out "lezzhur" or "schedule" which comes out "shedyul"? <BR><BR>As for accents in movies, we in the South of the US have been too polite for decades to mention that Vivian Leigh's "southern" accent in "Gone with the Wind" was quite embarrassingly wrong. She was so pretty, though, and she "got" Scarlett's spirit, so we haven't said anything.
Aug 30th, 2002, 06:01 AM
#16
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I hate to admit this but the American Aluminum is the original and correct, we at some point stuck in the I to make it sound like other elements.<BR><BR>The main difference between English and US pronunciation is that we (but not the Scots, or the Cornish) don't have the post vocalic or rhotic R. Father pronounced fathuh.<BR><BR>Lingua you're dead right! Strangely we get an R into phrases like "The Shah of Iran" = "The Shah Rof Iran"<BR><BR>A friend of mind had an old Triumph Herald (car) which he christened Harold. We had hours of fun getting his Canadian girfriend to say "Harold the Herald" and she was completely incapably of pronouncing the two words differenty.<BR><BR>We got more vowels though...hot shot, not haat shaat.
Aug 30th, 2002, 06:12 AM
#17
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Reminds me of the true test of a Boston accent, especially if you're trying to detect a fake one. When asked to read aloud "I parked my car in Harvard Yard," the faker will say "I pahked my cah in hahvahd yahd," whereas the true Bostonian will say "pahked my cah RIN . . . " Get the idear?
