Favorite Quotes (1 Viewer)

[Ken Sheridan]

I have a dictionary of quotations which includes a section on telegrams. My favourite relates to a request by a journalist who was writing an article on Cary Grant and wished to include the actor's age, so he sent a cable to Grant:

HOW OLD CARY GRANT?

Grant replied:

OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?

 

[RonPaii]

Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization of little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is to late.

Thomas Sowell

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Don't try to translate it, it's completely meaningless. The trick is to say it out loud, but it's important that the French pronunciation is absolutely correct.

Here in Cajun country, saying it correctly is a bit of an ask...

But I'm not afraid to paddle my own canoe. And we have to remember to Dance to the Music as Sly and the Family Stone say "thank you falettinme bemice elf again."

 

[Ken Sheridan]

Here in Cajun country, saying it correctly is a bit of an ask...

Coming from Liverpool I had the same problem learning German. My tutor despaired at my pronunciation of Goethe's name. My Chicago born partner still finds my scouse accent an endless source of amusement. French is not a problem, however. If anything the Liverpool accent helps.

 

[NauticalGent]

Scouse <> cockney then?

 

[DickyP]

Coming from Liverpool I had the same problem learning German. My tutor despaired at my pronunciation of Goethe's name. My Chicago born partner still finds my scouse accent an endless source of amusement. French is not a problem, however. If anything the Liverpool accent helps.

Not surprised - the rest of us can't understand a Liverpudlian at all!

 

[DickyP]

I still like Terry Pratchett:

"If you trust in yourself and belive in your dreams, and follow your star . . . You'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things who weren't so lazy"

 

[Ken Sheridan]

Scouse <> cockney then?

Cockneys come from the east end of London, scousers from Liverpool. The word scouser is derived from lobscouse. It's OED definition is:

lobscouse /0ˈlɒbskaʊs/ noun. dial. & Nautical. E18.
[ORIGIN Corresp. to Dutch lapskous, Danish, Norwegian, German lapskaus: ult. origin unkn. Cf. loblolly. See also Scouse.]

A sailor's dish consisting of meat stewed with vegetables and ship's biscuit etc.

lobscouser noun a sailor L19.

In Liverpool we call it scouse. My great grandfather probably cooked a lot of it, as he was a ship's cook. He moved his family to Boston, Massachusetts and my grandmother was brought up there. For some reason he moved them back to Liverpool. Otherwise I might well have been born American, and now be eating hamburgers rather than scouse.

 

[Ken Sheridan]

Not surprised - the rest of us can't understand a Liverpudlan at all!

There are parts of Liverpool where even I have difficulty understanding people!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Accents are all relative. In the History Channel show Swamp People, which is shot in south Louisiana (on location always), the producers subtitle the lines that, to me, are perfectly clear. They are just spoken (unscripted) in rural English with a slight Cajun accent.

 

[DickyP]

Accents are all relative. In the History Channel show Swamp People, which is shot in south Louisiana (on location always), the producers subtitle the lines that, to me, are perfectly clear. They are just spoken (unscripted) in rural English with a slight Cajun accent.

As you say, it's all relative. We were on holiday from UK in South Carolina when there was a hurricane warning and state governor came on TV to warn people what to do. The next day we were talking to a local who said that he had a dreadful SC accent that most people didn't understand. and that she felt sorry for us However, we had followed him perfectly as his accent was very like "English" English.