Words you just can't pronounce.

[Doug B]

Watching one young lady on First Dates - Valentine Special....

:shock: :shock: :shock: honesty? You old romantic you

 

[Yojevol]

I had a message on my answering machine last week from Aviva requesting me to call back. I couldn't make out what the number was and it took my wife two or thee attempts to decipher it. This was a classic case of the operator speaking too fast. Unfortunately the number was withheld, so I couldn't even use the caller list on the phone to find out what the number was.
Nigel.

This sounds like a scam to me. If you have an Aviva account you will surely have a Customer Services number you can call. I have.
Brian

 

[Nigel Burden]

It was a genuine call. I got the details wrong.

I have a life insurance that is expiring and the financial advisor wondered if it could be extended, but due to me being nearer to sventy than sixty Aviva wanted me to have a medical. The call was from an organisation, can't remember the name, who carry out medicals on their behalf. When I called back I was told that a nurse would contact me to arrange an appointment. This was done in due course and the medical carried out. I also received paperwork from Aviva. At no point were any confidential details asked for.

Nigel.

 

[AES]

Apart from the possible scam/no scam aspects above, I entirely agree with Brian here. Far too many people, mainly but by no means always the young, both speak much too fast AND often fail to enunciate their consonants. Makes it tough for old fogies like me!

And there's something else too, which seems to apply to younger female German speakers - they've "changed" their natural tone of voice, sounding much more nasal. And this IS a change, deliberate or not. For example one of my wife's girlfriend's daughters has changed her tone considerably.

This seems to be happening amongst female English speakers I hear on radio & TV too - again mainly but by no means always amongst the younger females.

Guess it's the US influence. I've always found that after a few days stay there, the female US accent really does grate in my ears - mainly their pronunciation of words like Aaaaaaand.

Old fogey signing off

 

[Sideways]

One thing that REALLY annoys me is when people add an accent when they pronounce words/place names etc from another language.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
For my sins, I've travelled abroad a lot for work. You want someone to understand you, you need to pronounce the words you pick up at least a bit like the locals and try to tone down the regional English accent. Once you learn a few words, you're not going to deliberately mispronounce them to cater for some other audience once you leave the country - that's my take anyway.
BUT, you have to adapt ...
One of the funniest that happened to me was rolling up in the USA for the first time with work some years after doing a stint in France. Boss's secretary had a very French surname so I pronounced it the way the French would when I asked for her at reception. No one had a clue who I was asking for. It was like asking for Harrogate in a place where everyone calls it Harrogitee. I learned to mispronounce a lot of international words while I was visiting the States

 

[tony_s]

Featherstonehaugh.....

 

[John Brown]

The wrath of a squashed swan.
I'm married to an American, so I've grown used to certain differences.
Noo for new and doo for dew still grate though, for example. I notice pew does not suffer the same treatment.

 

[AES]

@John Brown: "The things we do for love", eh! Sorry, no disrespect intended to your wife. If it's any consolation, though she speaks excellent Engish, I have the same/similar problem with my Swiss wife.

 

[Nigel Burden]

I have problems distinguishing between a Canadian accents, which to me are quite strong, and the strong Southern American accents. As for Aussie and Kiwi accents, I give up.

Nigel.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Something I've noticed is that most English (probably Scots, Welsh and Irish, too) accents and dialects are becoming less broad.

One exception is the Scouse accent. Both my father's parents were born and brought up in Liverpool (born between 1900 and 1910), and neither had anything remotely like a Scouse accent; if they had accents at all, it would be something like south Lancashire.

How has Scouse become more distinct as most other accents tended towards becoming milder, I wonder?

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Something I've noticed is that most English (probably Scots, Welsh and Irish, too) accents and dialects are becoming less broad.

One exception is the Scouse accent. Both my father's parents were born and brought up in Liverpool (born between 1900 and 1910), and neither had anything remotely like a Scouse accent; if they had accents at all, it would be something like south Lancashire.

How has Scouse become more distinct as most other accents tended towards becoming milder, I wonder?

Dey do dat do, don't dey. [youtube]qRq_zLw_8TQ[/youtube]

 

[MikeG.]

........ if they had accents at all........

People say this, as though there is any such thing as no accent.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

........ if they had accents at all........

People say this, as though there is any such thing as no accent.

Well, mebbies aye, mebbe no.

Point I was trying to make is that the accent of Liverpool people bread and buttered in the city in the early part of the 20th century (not counting all those migrating in from pretty well everywhere), was nothing like Stephen Gerrard, Ringo Starr or TN's video. That distinct accent developed during the 20th century, becoming much broader, whilst just about every other regional accent was becoming less broad. Maybe that's partly down to the significant inward migration Liverpool experienced as it grew in the 19th and early 20th century, slowly melding those many accents into one fairly distinct one, while other areas maintained a more stable population, affected only the perfidious influence of BBC broadcasts an' all them posh voices.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Having lived outside the UK for 20 years, and living in a country with no class system, looking in from the outside the British society is very complicated and weird - as alien and complicated as Japanese society. MikeG pointed out that we automatically judge people by how they speak - instant appraisal of their status, socio-economic standing, as well as regional origins. And region is also class: Edinburgh accent imparts economic wisdom and genteel civilization, and conversely how could any Plymothian (or Janner, in local parlance) ever even consider being an economist? It just wouldn't work.

I am old enough to have noticed a significant lowering of quality of accent - by that I mean that the elite public-school plumminess has been roughed over significantly: I think the Tony Blair years may have been responsible for a distinct anti-posh ethos. Listen to the queen, and Prince Charles, and then the younger generation of royals to see the difference even at the very highest levels. It's interesting.

 

[whiskywill]

It constantly amazes me how many adults cant pronounce thirty thousand, or even something as simple as three.

And he used to be a Maths teacher. :roll:

IGNORE THIS POST. THE IMPORTANT PART IS MISSING. EVEN I AM CONFUSED.

 

[transatlantic]

It constantly amazes me how many adults cant pronounce thirty thousand, or even something as simple as three.

And he used to be a Maths teacher. :roll:

I assume you mean people that would say 'firty fousand' or 'free'?

In some cases it's mispronunciation (something they could change), in others it's more of a speech impediment (something they probably can't).

 

[Yojevol]

It constantly amazes me how many adults cant pronounce thirty thousand, or even something as simple as three.

It constantly amazes me how many adults can't put in an apostrophe when needed or are we on the slippery cant

 

[whiskywill]

It constantly amazes me how many adults cant pronounce thirty thousand, or even something as simple as three.
(hammer) (hammer) (hammer) (hammer) :evil:
And that includes one of the chasers who is supposed to be in the top 5 of the worlds best quizzers.

And he used to be a Maths teacher. :roll:

 

[Bm101]

slippery cant

Crikey. Easy.

 

[Raymond UK]

A Dutch bloke told me his way and it sounds like me clearing my sinuses.

Haha I'm Dutch