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Topic: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.  (Read 5130 times)

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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #15 on: December 11, 2008, 08:33:43 PM »
My husband and his family were born and raised in Somerset and there are some people with REALLY strong Somerset accents which they can't understand, even though, besides DH, they've never left for any significant period of time.  It's really funny to me that two people can be raised within miles of each other and have such a difficult time understanding one another.


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #16 on: December 11, 2008, 08:37:35 PM »
This sounds really familiar to me in my own life.  I've also noticed that, when I'm expecting someone to say something specific and they say something else, I have a difficult time understanding what they've just said!  Don't know if I've always done this, but it's more noticeable since I've lived in the UK - especially during the first year, when I was sitting in university classrooms, listening to lecturers from all over the country with a variety of accents.  I found myself 'listening' very hard...

I still have a difficult time with some voices coming through loudspeakers - if my DH is with me, I always have to ask him to tell me what was said.   ::)
UK resident since 2005, UK citizen as of 2010 due to female British parent.


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #17 on: December 11, 2008, 09:51:52 PM »
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.

Likely it's you and not them. All I have to go by is that I can no longer follow along with my brother's conversation, having left South Georgia years ago. I know for a fact I used to understand him (I must have!) But now on the phone my contribution is mostly a series of "uh-hmm...sure...really?...oh that's interesting..." which I utter whenever he pauses for breath, whenever I can faintly distinquish the end of a sentence/topic or whenever there's a lull in the conversation.

And I'm still in the states! I invariably hang up scratching my head and wondering if I've just agreed to anything expensive or death-defying.  :P


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #18 on: December 11, 2008, 10:23:42 PM »

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! 

That was me in Shepherd's Bush on Monday night!


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #19 on: December 12, 2008, 08:02:05 AM »
It seemed that I've become so immersed in British accents all around [...] I had to re-orient my hearing

When I come back to England from a longish spell in France there is a spell of some hours or maybe day or two during which I can't instantly understand what English people are saying, and I say things like "Pardon monsieur" when I bump into people in crowds.
 


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #20 on: December 12, 2008, 11:54:45 AM »
When I come back to England from a longish spell in France there is a spell of some hours or maybe day or two during which I can't instantly understand what English people are saying, and I say things like "Pardon monsieur" when I bump into people in crowds.
 

Ha! This happens to me, too, when I come back from France. Of course, since i say "bonjour" in the hallways to all of my students, I sometimes end up saying it to the teachers I pass, too. One lady has started saying "bonjour" back now. My brain is all messed up....
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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #21 on: December 12, 2008, 12:02:08 PM »
I couldn't understand 9/10ths of what my FIL or most other people said to me when I first came here.  There are still a few people in the factory that I can hardly understand.  I have to ask for repeats sometimes.  One lady who called here at the office had trouble understanding my accent, so while I understood what she was saying, she didn't understand me, and so she kept repeating herself very sloooooowly and speaking to me like a child, when she was the one who couldn't understand me!  I suspect my FIL and MIL still don't understand me very well.  They sometimes have a baffled look, or just slowly nod when I am asking something that isn't a yes or no question.  I also remember being baffled by our neighbor's door which displays a sign that says "Aalwors."  I had no idea what they meant until DH explained it meant their house was paid off!   ;D


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Re: Stupid things Americans say to Brits.
« Reply #22 on: December 12, 2008, 06:20:07 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!!!

Yes i found that too. I'm a Brit but with some Irish thrown in. I find that for the first few days in the US i get the occasional I'm sorry,pardon whatever..but i then throttle back gently on the speed of delivery and apply a very slight drawl and it usually works fine !


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