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Topic: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.  (Read 5132 times)

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Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« on: November 29, 2008, 10:00:33 PM »
I high jacked this from Snownrs blog and it was from the Dave Letterman show.

http://www.bobandjenns.blogspot.com/

I thought you could right to it but you have to go her posting for November 18th.

« Last Edit: November 29, 2008, 10:09:08 PM by Jim »


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2008, 10:20:19 PM »
Funny! ;D
"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it." -Eat Pray Love

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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2008, 10:33:41 PM »
I high jacked this from Snownrs blog and it was from the Dave Letterman show.

http://www.bobandjenns.blogspot.com/

I thought you could right to it but you have to go her posting for November 18th.



Did you ask her if she minded you posting that on the forum?


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2008, 10:35:42 PM »
haha too funny!

what a beautiful christmas tree...I've always wanted a tall tree!

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2008, 10:37:34 PM »
Did you ask her if she minded you posting that on the forum?

She has a public link too it on her profile...

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.


Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2008, 10:42:21 PM »
She has a public link too it on her profile...

That's a little different than someone starting a whole topic about it.


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2008, 11:48:58 PM »
That's a little different than someone starting a whole topic about it.

True

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2008, 12:14:41 AM »
Quote
5.  When are you coming to collect Posh and Becks?

Doesn't sound so stupid to me! ;D
“I haven't got the slightest idea how to change people, but still I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.” ~David Sedaris


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2008, 06:02:56 PM »
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Mark Twain


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #9 on: November 30, 2008, 06:17:08 PM »
Here is the direct youtube link if you want to take down the bog one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83xxMFPahrE&eurl=http://www.bobandjenns.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

Thanks, I brought it up and the sound was better.


Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #10 on: December 01, 2008, 05:20:03 PM »
Hee hee....that was HILARIOUS!!  I don't ask Brits if they are speaking English...but I'm always saying "Pardon?  What?  Huh?  Could you repeat that?  What did you say?".  No wonder some Brits look at Americans as being dumb...we can comprehend English, we just can't understand what you're saying!!!


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #11 on: December 09, 2008, 11:13:35 AM »
I think it's an interesting matter of what the ear is used to. A neurologist would probably be able to tell us that there is some kind of "well trodden path" in our brains that gets stuck on familiarity with a certain set of sounds, and when an unfamiliar one comes into the auditory area, we are thrown.

I'll tell you something that is really throwing me --- I was born and raised in London but after twenty years living in the US, I'm now finding that some very strongly "cockney" speaking accents are giving me the worst time!! There have been some people I cannot understand at all! How freaky is that? It feels like my brain has literally lost the plot regarding that accent.

Or...I don't know whether perhaps the accent has actually evolved to become even stronger or at least less enunciated than it used to be, so therefore perhaps it's not just me but they are speaking a form of it I did not hear twenty years ago. Then again, I was just posting on another thread about regional accents becomeing less so....I just can't figure it out.
*Repatriated Brit undergoing culture shock with the rest of you!*


Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #12 on: December 11, 2008, 05:49:30 PM »

I'll tell you something that is really throwing me --- I was born and raised in London but after twenty years living in the US, I'm now finding that some very strongly "cockney" speaking accents are giving me the worst time!! There have been some people I cannot understand at all! How freaky is that? It feels like my brain has literally lost the plot regarding that accent.
 

I was born and raised in Tulse Hill, in South London, and I find I often can't understand a full-on broad London accent. I moved to Bristol when I was 19, and have lived there for 37 years. When I lived in London I could tell a Clapham accent from a Catford one. Not any more. I actually really hate the Cockney accent.


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #13 on: December 11, 2008, 07:46:31 PM »
I think it's an interesting matter of what the ear is used to. A neurologist would probably be able to tell us that there is some kind of "well trodden path" in our brains that gets stuck on familiarity with a certain set of sounds, and when an unfamiliar one comes into the auditory area, we are thrown.

I wonder if being exposed to different languages or accents prevents your brain becoming "stuck on familiarity".

I'm from New York City and spent my life hearing many different languages and accents. I also grew up in a home where more than one language was spoken. When I first moved to York, which isn't very ethnically diverse, people would frequently mis-hear what I said or just not understand me, and get annoyed at me, as though I was purposely making life difficult for them. This bothered me a lot because I'm used to speaking to people with different accents, some of whom don't have a very good grasp of English,  and I just deal with it by paying attention.


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #14 on: December 11, 2008, 08:31:19 PM »
Steve & I were sharing a laugh at the rail station awhile back, because when I first was visiting over here - I couldn't for the life of me work out what the female voice announcer on the PA system in the station was saying.  I would get so confused, not hearing (understanding) the announcements plus with people bustling everywhere.  For the longest time, I thought the Transpennine Express (trains) was the Transparent Express - which made me laugh because it sounded like something out of Harry Potter.  I still call it the Transparent Express!

Then, awhile back, we went to a Billy Bragg concert, and a folk singer from Indiana opened for Billy.  I couldn't understand what the dude was singing at first!  It seemed that I've become so immersed in British accents all around (although I myself most definitely do not have one!) - I had to re-orient my hearing...turn my ears around inside out & all (thinking you know like cats rotate their ears around to hear something better - lol!) before I could understand what the Indiana musician was singing.  Very strange.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in...

- from Anthem, by Leonard Cohen (b 1934)


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