Interesting Links for 30-11-2011

[andrewducker]

• Welsh paralympic great Tanni Grey-Thompson criticises absence of women on BBC Sports Personality Of The Year list
  (tags: women sports uk bbc gender )
• The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin (I find it fascinating. Sticking to pounds for now though.)
  (tags: bitcoin currency economics money Technology )
• Good Lord, Windows phones seem to be selling. (Always

Comments

[bart_calendar]

I have never once been in a situation where someone from Ireland was asked where they were from and the response was "I'm Irish."

When someone is Irish it's very, very obvious to anyone who speaks the English language and any time I, or anyone I know, has asked someone from Ireland where they are from the response has been "Dublin" or "Belfast" or some town with many, many consonants in it because it's always been understood that you don't mean "what country" but "where."

Come to think of it that's been the case with every single UK person I've ever met. The response isn't "I'm British" it's "Manchester" or "Liverpool" or some such - because, again, if someone is from the UK it is blindingly obvious to anyone who speaks English.

And, when I'm asked where I'm from I don't say "I'm American" for the same reasons.

Ireland, the UK and America have some of the most distinctive accents in the entire world. The only UK accent I can see where some Americans might legitimately be confused about where the person comes from is the Scottish, because some Scots have accents that can make them sound as if they are speaking a language other than English if you don't have a trained ear.

Scottish accents

[meaningrequired]

I have trouble with accents, it takes me a while for my brain to "click" onto them. However, I moved from the north of Ireland, to Scotland, not a great distance, and both accents have similarities. First day at the supermarket, and I had absolutely no idea what the checkout lady said to me. It was probably, "That'll be 23 pounds and 40 pence," but it could easily have been "Three gorillas and a bottle of beer". Since, I have developed a Scottish accent modulator in my head.

Re: Scottish accents

[bart_calendar]

Yeah, there are a lot of Scottish people in the city I live in and for the first six months here I often had no idea what the Scots were saying, but now, I can understand it, but it can be a royal bitch of an accent. And still, after 10 years here and many Scottish friends there are still times when t hey use words and phrasing that I don't understand.

The use of "wee" is an amusing part of their accent.

Re: Scottish accents

[andrewducker]

West Coast accents (in my experience) are a lot "thicker" than East Coast accents. Heck, if you're from Edinburgh then you can be mistaken from one of those English types.

The North of Scotland, again, has a different accent, but one I don't find I struggle as much with.

Re: Scottish accents

[bart_calendar]

Yeah, that's why I said "some Scots." I know Scots who I would think had English or vaguely Welsh accents.

It's just certain Scots who sound like they are speaking some ancient Celtic language.

Re: Scottish accents

[andrewducker]

That would probably be Doric: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_dialect_%28Scotland%29

(and yes, I get lost very quickly)

Re: Scottish accents

[bart_calendar]

To be fair, I should note that people from Liverpool when they get into deep Scouse are also incomprehensible, but that's not an accent thing, it's because they've simply invented weird words over time.

Like if a person from Liverpool is talking to someone from a different part of England, they sound like any other UK person, but listening to two Scouse talking to each other and it's a mystery what the conversation is about.

Re: Scottish accents

[alitheapipkin]

Native Aberdonians can be highly incomprehensible! Not helped by Doric... Having said which, even living there, you don't meet that many of them compared with all the incomers in the city, especially living near the Old Aberdeen university campus.

Re: Scottish accents

[danieldwilliam]

Although there does seem to be a system of positive discrimination, possibly a quota system, for Doric speakers in the taxi driving trade.

Re: Scottish accents

[andrewducker]

Aaah, I remember when The Gorilla was a unit of currency in Scotland. Good times.

Re: Scottish accents

[danieldwilliam]

We *can* return to those glorious, sunlight, halcyon days.

I am teaching the Captain the Old Ways in case the Maximum Eck leads us to !FreeeDOM!*

14 Orang Utans in a Gorilla.

12 Old Cans of Irn Bru in an Orange Tango

4 Bonobos in a a Love Monkey tussle.

*pronounced per Mel Gibson by all true believers and in no way like Len Goodman awarding a seven.

Re: Scottish accents

[spacelem]

"Ah'm fair fashed wi yon kirli wirli mon."

"I'm annoyed with the newsagent."

(courtesy of Absolutely)

Re: Scottish accents

[meaningrequired]

The "kirli wirli mon", curly whirly man? Like, the man that sells sticks of chewy caramel covered with chocolate?

Re: Scottish accents

[spacelem]

That's the one! It pretty much needs to be spelt phonetically to make sense.

Re: Scottish accents

[meaningrequired]

I love it :)

And I miss Curly Wurlys!

[channelpenguin]

LOL! I have had a Czech on a train decide from me speaking English to him that I wasn't a native speaker and that German (which he probably spoke better anyway) was a much better bet. (I'm from Glasgow[East Kilbride] with possibly a few late-acquired touches of Stirling).