Half my relatives talk like this, so I do a lot of smiling and nodding.
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Say What?Half my relatives talk like this, so I do a lot of smiling and nodding. 17 comments to Say What? |
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Was that English?
I love that people and things from Glasgow are called “Glaswegian.” I like to think this stems from the ancient political and cultural connections that bound northern Scotland and Norway, but I don’t actually know that for sure.
By the way, that girl is really cute.
That wouldn’t surprise me, Lars. My mother has what I can only describe as an inbred inclination towards Norwegians. Any time she finds out someone is Norwegian, she’ll say something like, “I knew I liked him.”
At least I think that’s what she’s saying.
The bonds are very close. The Orkneys and the Scottish Isles were part of Norway for a long time, and I understand there are still Orkneymen who think of themselves as Norwegians. It’s a shorter, easier sail from Bergen to the Shetlands than from Bergen to Oslo.
The girl is Megan McCormick, from the show, “Globe Trekker.”
To quote Lewis Black, when are these people going to learn to speak English?
Interesting how small countries like the UK can have this plethora of dialects…in the USA you can basically go anywhere and understand the English that people are speaking
Almost anywhere…
My liverpool accent is as dense as that of a glaswegian and as noted part of Englands culture is that of myriad regional accents.As an aside Glasgow is part of lowland Scotland and as such has always been part of the anglosphere and had no connection with norway etc.
I had a very strong Chicago accent. There used to be a guy on WXRT who did movie reviews, “The Regular Guy.” The bit was that he was supposed to be an ordinary, blue collar guy, and not some elitist film school snob, so he’d tell you if a movie was actually worth your four bucks. To sell the bit he would intentionally lay on the chicago-ese a little thick. I can’t tell you how many people have told me his character sounded exactly like me.
When I was 22 I moved to Texas and lived there three years. Texans mocked my accent quite a bit. They loved to hear me say, “car.” With no conscious effort on my own, and much to my surprise, my accent completely disappeared. Now I sound like one of those accent-less, somewhere in middle America, news broadcasters. People can never guess where I’m from any more. It was very surprising to me how easily and unconsciously I lost my accent.
I have since lived in some different regions, and traveled to most. An odd outcome of losing my accent, kind of like getting bit by a radio-active spider; I am now very good at guessing where people are from based on their accents. I can distinguish New York from New Jersey, Connecticut from New Hampshire, Georgia from Mississipi, Texas from Arkansas…
When I was working for John Nolte and I heard his first podcast I sent him an e-mail and predicted that he was from either Milwaukee or Detroit, had spent time in Chicago and had lived in California for more than a few years. (The California part was common knowledge, but I would have known it had he not published the fact.) He was astounded. It was Milwaukee, not Detroit (which tend to be different), but his time in Chicago made his Milwaukee dialect sound a bit Detroit-ish.
I can’t tell much between California, Oregon, Washington or Arizona. There are some really different, regional dialects there, but I am not good at placing them. However, when I meet a transplated Californian I can usually guess that.
By the way, the best accent on an American woman is Georgian. Judging from what I’ve seen in the fairer sex, women prefer men with a Louisiana accent.
Chicago accents are fun to hear, up there with Pixburgh, AKA wanna-be, though less nasal, Chicago. Country Polack, as to be expected when sandwiched between SE Ahiah and West Virginia.
For better and worse, moving around a lot growing up, though usually somewhere in shot of a Great Lake, never picked up a hard-core accent. Studying global dialects in college probably didn’t hurt much in keeping the Midwest flat intact, either. Can never get enough of Irish and Scots, too. Nobody does the low to high ranges better. Fave American: Texas, male or female.
I do get a kick out of the Pittsburgh accent. I’ve worked in quite a few foreign countries and when asked where I had the most difficulty with a language barrier I always answer France and Ireland. The Irish are great, but it always takes me about 36 hours to get used to their vowel sounds. Once I do, I can understand every word they say. Until I do I can’t understand them at all.
When you’re right you’re right. I should have known where Glasgow was located. Embarrassing.
Thud, Glasgow is in the midland of Scotland between the lowland hills and the highlands. Tell a Glaswegian that he’s, “part of the anglosphere,” and he’ll “huv yer heid fur a fitbaw.” There’s been moving and mixing of people over the centuries. There are common names like Anderson/Andersen in Glasgow as well as the Highlands. Lars, “when you’re right you’re right.” Anyway, whatever the reason we like the Norwegians. As a Beatles fan I also like “Liverpoolgians.”
Welcome, INFJ! And I always thought there were “Liverpudlians.”