What local people have the hardest to interpret accents?
#43
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New England. (I'm Southern.)
Many years ago I was at a campground in New Hampshire. People from the New England area were recommending places for us to see.
I went back and told my husband "People keep telling me we should see this place called Bah Hahbuh. Maybe we should go there instead of Bar Harbor."
I think I found out the next day that it WAS Bar Harbor they were saying.
But it works the other way, too. No one could understand my husband when he asked for ice so he started asking for frozen water!
Many years ago I was at a campground in New Hampshire. People from the New England area were recommending places for us to see.
I went back and told my husband "People keep telling me we should see this place called Bah Hahbuh. Maybe we should go there instead of Bar Harbor."
I think I found out the next day that it WAS Bar Harbor they were saying.
But it works the other way, too. No one could understand my husband when he asked for ice so he started asking for frozen water!
#44
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The Pittsburgh accent is verry local and verrry hard to understand.
I was getting a pizza once and the lady said yinswhahnaSAHHdahh. I said, ``huh?'' and so she repeated it slowly and distinctly, as if speaking to a foreigner:
yins whahna SAHH dahh
Finally, through the use of sign language and pointing, she conveyed her meaning:
Would you like a soda?
I lived for five years in Pgh and had lots of similar experiences.
I was getting a pizza once and the lady said yinswhahnaSAHHdahh. I said, ``huh?'' and so she repeated it slowly and distinctly, as if speaking to a foreigner:
yins whahna SAHH dahh
Finally, through the use of sign language and pointing, she conveyed her meaning:
Would you like a soda?
I lived for five years in Pgh and had lots of similar experiences.
#45
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I say, thank god for regional accents! The longer they stick around, the longer we'll have a sense of our roots. I celebrate all of it, even the blandly "standard" national network dialect and even the grating nasality of most of our heavily urbanized areas (Boston, Chicago, New York...).
Hard to understand? Use your brain and your god-given language ability to "translate" for yourself instead of expecting people to come up with an accent that you, an "outsider," are expecting to hear.
The "Bah Habbah" example is a good one. With half a bit of brain effort, you could figure out that it's the same two words as "Bar" and "Harbor," esp. if every other word you hear from the locals that you know contains an "r" (e.g., "car," "airport,") was pronounced without the sound you are used to hearing.
I celebrate everyone's accent -- make it my job and my delight in travel to pick up, learn, parse, translate, comprehend what others are saying.
Is the point of this thread to point fingers at people we consider odd or stubbornly unintellible? What a narrow-minded approach to travel!
Hard to understand? Use your brain and your god-given language ability to "translate" for yourself instead of expecting people to come up with an accent that you, an "outsider," are expecting to hear.
The "Bah Habbah" example is a good one. With half a bit of brain effort, you could figure out that it's the same two words as "Bar" and "Harbor," esp. if every other word you hear from the locals that you know contains an "r" (e.g., "car," "airport,") was pronounced without the sound you are used to hearing.
I celebrate everyone's accent -- make it my job and my delight in travel to pick up, learn, parse, translate, comprehend what others are saying.
Is the point of this thread to point fingers at people we consider odd or stubbornly unintellible? What a narrow-minded approach to travel!
#48
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Well, gee, with my less than "half a bit of brain," I thought the Bar Harbor story was cute. And further thought my husband's misunderstood pronounciation of ice was cute, too.
I cannot imagine why anyone would conclude that I thought either the New Englanders or my husband should change their accent to please someone else.
If I had wanted to listen to people with Southern accents,I would have stayed home.
I cannot imagine why anyone would conclude that I thought either the New Englanders or my husband should change their accent to please someone else.
If I had wanted to listen to people with Southern accents,I would have stayed home.
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jetset1
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Jul 1st, 2007 02:04 PM