What local people have the hardest to interpret accents?
Apr 18th, 2002, 03:06 PM
#27
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I had a heck of a time deciphering some of the locals in Barbados. I thought I was prepared from years of watching British shows such as Coronation Street...but the combination of island sing-songy and British had me open-mouthed and speechless several times! I'm sure it's something you'd get used to quickly if you were immersed in it.
Apr 19th, 2002, 11:03 AM
#29
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So far the hardest accents for me to decipher have been those of East Texas and Southwestern Scotland. My problem understanding East Texan is more embarrassing because I that's where half my family's from, and I lived in Houston for a total of 26 years.
Once I was sitting in a waiting room in Houston, and this teenage boy kept asking me questions in some sort of Germanic language I didn't understand. I kept telling him I didn't understand, and finally I realized he was speaking to me in East Texas English.
Another time I was going through a hospital cafeteria line in Houston, asked for chicken-fried steak, and the serving lady asked me the same question several times. I had no clue what she was saying, and finally answered "yes", hoping that would do. She rolled her eyes and got another lady to translate. It turned out that the first lady was trying to tell me that it wasn't chicken fried steak I had pointed out, but pork tenderloin. Her version sounded like "paw ten lawn?" repeated rapidly with no other words on either end of the sentence to help me put it into context. I hoped they just thought I was hard of hearing.
Once I was sitting in a waiting room in Houston, and this teenage boy kept asking me questions in some sort of Germanic language I didn't understand. I kept telling him I didn't understand, and finally I realized he was speaking to me in East Texas English.
Another time I was going through a hospital cafeteria line in Houston, asked for chicken-fried steak, and the serving lady asked me the same question several times. I had no clue what she was saying, and finally answered "yes", hoping that would do. She rolled her eyes and got another lady to translate. It turned out that the first lady was trying to tell me that it wasn't chicken fried steak I had pointed out, but pork tenderloin. Her version sounded like "paw ten lawn?" repeated rapidly with no other words on either end of the sentence to help me put it into context. I hoped they just thought I was hard of hearing.
Apr 21st, 2002, 09:08 AM
#31
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Once, when in Charleston, SC, I sat at a lunch counter and asked for a ham sandwich. "Wi muttered ur mine eyes?" I was asked. "Huh?" I replied. "Muttered ur mine eyes!" Oh, I got it. Mustard or mayonnaise. I vote for Charleston...and the local Gullah Black accent. Impossible. But amusing.
Jun 11th, 2002, 12:25 PM
#35
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Am still looking forward to hearing more accents but for me the hardest in order: Cajun - impossible and it was a lovely older gentleman at a museum renactment showing me how to make a net - really wish I could have understood him, I just hmm hmm'ed along.
England - When they spoke to us I generally had no problem but eavesdropping on the bus or Tube there were times I couldn't pick out a single word!
Deep Southerners - I always feel a bit dim, while I wait for my brain to process what they have said to me - but of course by then I have missed then next three sentences.
Some New Yorkers - it is such a common joke but jeez do they have to talk quite so fast!
While I accept the differences in accents with humor sometimes I wish people would slow down or not just keep repeating it over and over. If I didn't get it the first time I probably won't get it the tenth!! I try to remember that for people I am talking to as well.
England - When they spoke to us I generally had no problem but eavesdropping on the bus or Tube there were times I couldn't pick out a single word!
Deep Southerners - I always feel a bit dim, while I wait for my brain to process what they have said to me - but of course by then I have missed then next three sentences.
Some New Yorkers - it is such a common joke but jeez do they have to talk quite so fast!
While I accept the differences in accents with humor sometimes I wish people would slow down or not just keep repeating it over and over. If I didn't get it the first time I probably won't get it the tenth!! I try to remember that for people I am talking to as well.
