# Ignorance is bliss



## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

I was sitting in the Diner at like 10 last night and alls i wanted was a coffee and a cheese steak, five minutes peace and a chat with my husband. Over comes this ****in horrible lookin' waitress and shes all like "can i get you anything?" and im all like "can i get some coffee?" (as you do) and there it begins! "OH MY GOD! Are you from ENGLAND?!" and i'm like cringing as she's all like "I thought so!!! Do you say "wu'd yu liake a spot ah tea wi'd yor scon"?". I was all like "We don't have scones, nor do we have "spots of tea" coz we're not from ****in' mary poppin's land!!" but i didn't, i was almost polite, in fact! I told her we didnt even eat scones - which ok, was almost the truth, not many people eat them, its not like we wake up in the morning and have tea and scones for breakfast - in fact, i haven't even seen aa scone since about the year 2000 on a camping trip to devon!

Anyways. The annoying waitress really made me feel uncomfortable. I think its frikkin ignorant and rude to be all in someones face like that just because they have an accent. I mean, sure, it was almost cute when it happened the first time, if not a little embarrassing, and the woman that pointed it out was really nice and inquisitive and polite - she didn't stand there and assume she knew everything about me and then take the piss out of my accent by speaking like a londoner from some old english film!

Its one thing to be interested in someone but i wouldn't dream of being so damn right rude. 

This is why i now don't like ordering in Diners.I don't want to have the "OH MY GOD ARE YOU FROM ENGLAND!?" conversation ANYMORE! I've been coming over to America for almost a year now and im SICK OF IT!

Its rude, ignorant and ****in embarrassing.AAAAAAARGH!

Thats it. Rant over.


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

I am usually quite happy when people in the US ask me if I am from England. OK, some once thought me Scottish, that was funny though.

BTW, scones are great, and there are many places in the South West where people eat lots of them with their tea.


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

I know all about scones, i could even cook up a batch if you like - but still - i love it when people are inquisitive about where i am from and i like some of the attention but to mock someones accent is really rather rude - especially if you dont know them. Its ok if my husband or someone i know does it, coz then its funny. Most Americans, i find, cant do the accent even though they think they can and its the same the other way around - i cant do an american accent very well unless im talkin to someone english who knows no better 

Still. 

Maybe, MAYBE i should go cook my husband some scones for when he comes home haha!!!


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

I just love scones with clotted cream!

Anyway, over here many people mock Texan accents and such. I think it is OK since everybody is best at his or her home accent. And coming from southern England is not a shame. I love that accent, especially with women. And I'd love to be better at it myself, but in the end my accent is always German, whatever I do.


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## Antarctican (Jan 4, 2008)

Move to Canada. We don't have accents :greenpbl:    (Except in Newfoundland)


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## Rick Waldroup (Jan 4, 2008)

Hey don't get mad.:hug::

You ought to hear the teasing I get when I travel up north or east. 

With this Texas twang of mine, the first question people ask me is how many horses do I own.

I've never even been on a horse, but oh well......


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

you've never been on a horse? 

But how many DO you own....?


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## jols (Jan 4, 2008)

how odd i should click on now!!!

i have just put a batch of cheese scones in the oven to go with my beef stew tonight for tea and im from south west england


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## Chris of Arabia (Jan 4, 2008)

Antarctican said:


> Move to Canada. We don't have accents :greenpbl:    (Except in Newfoundland)



Liar, liar, pants on fire...


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

Antarctican said:


> Move to Canada. We don't have accents :greenpbl:    (Except in Newfoundland)



At least in Canada I have never been asked to speak more slowly ... which happened to me in the US quite often.


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## Antarctican (Jan 4, 2008)

Chris of Arabia said:


> Liar, liar, pants on fire...


 :raisedbrow:  You know not of which you speak


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

jols said:


> how odd i should click on now!!!
> 
> i have just put a batch of cheese scones in the oven to go with my beef stew tonight for tea and im from south west england


 

HEHE! Don't get me wrong, i like scones. I just don't see many people eating them these days - ive never heard of scones with stew either, but im now hungry and i think i might fly back and come to yours for dinner!

You know what, i really would actually, in all honesty, love to cook some of these for my husband to try - but there isnt a frikkin store for miles and having him drive me to one for the ingridients would ruin the surprse element...

Here is a picture from http://joyofbaking.com/StrawberryShortcake.html by Stephanie Joworski


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## Chris of Arabia (Jan 4, 2008)

Antarctican said:


> :raisedbrow:  You know not of which you speak



Eh?


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## jols (Jan 4, 2008)

mmmmmmm

looks yummy.


cheese scones are great with stew and ive just took em out of the oven.

although my son is not impressed with the stew i may do him a pizza instead save the hassle  ha ha


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

Do you think i can buy ingredients for baking stuff in some corner store? (thisisdirected at americans, i know in England i can get all sorts of stuf in the corner store - but then, i can buy coffee in sandwich shops and couldn't do that here yesterday, so who knows...)


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## jols (Jan 4, 2008)

not sure.

you just need flour marg eggs cheese

good luck 

or order it on line at tesco   lol lol

delivery might be expensive though


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## LaFoto (Jan 4, 2008)

Alex_B said:
			
		

> some once thought me Scottish


 
How surprising to hear that you have been asked if you were Scottish, too, when you were in the States, Alex. For so was I and until today I am wondering what made that person think I was? But he shut up totally when I said "No, Germany" (he had asked "Are you from Scotland?"). That particular person did, but very often were there people who immediately started to tell us when their families came over and if it were their grandparents or great-grandparents that made the great journey, or who of their friends or family has only just recently been over to visit. "Ah, Germany, the River Rhine, Oktoberfest, 'wurst and beer'"...

...reason enough *to invite as many Americans over to the NORTH Germany Meet-Up at the end of May as can come!!!!!!! * So they see there is more to Germany than girls in dirnl, guys in lederhosen, the River Rhine and Bavaria. Ha! 

(Sorry for hijacking your rant-thread, Lisa, but I must use *every* occasion I can get to promote that meet-up  :greenpbl: )


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

LaFoto said:


> How surprising to hear that you have been asked if you were Scottish, too, when you were in the States, Alex.



The worrying thing is, this was not in the States, but this was in Fort William in Scotland!!

I was flirting with this Scottish lass, when all the time some Americans were watching us and listening, but apparently they did not get much of our conversation. So they were pretty sure we were both Scottish.

No, I was not wearing a kilt and eating haggis then.



> guys in lederhosen, the River Rhine



I live at said river, and I could wear lederhosen if required.


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## Antarctican (Jan 4, 2008)

Chris of Arabia said:


> Eh?


layball:  

Ooooo, someone's feeling feisty today! Oh, wait, it's me!


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## Antarctican (Jan 4, 2008)

Alex_B said:


> I live at said river, and I could wear lederhosen if required.


Oh, it will be required. Trust me.


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

i had a scone last week... it was nice.

I've been confused for Australian by an American and German by some Dutch people


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

Antarctican said:


> Oh, it will be required. Trust me.



but those i have are from the times when i was 5 or 6 years old!

If you bring some larger Lederhosen, I might put them on.


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## Antarctican (Jan 4, 2008)

Alex_B said:


> but those i have are from the times when i was 5 or 6 years old!
> 
> If you bring some larger Lederhosen, I might put them on.


Sure, I'll just pop 'round to the local department store and pick up a pair. :er:

Bring some scissors and velcro and we'll get our photo op of Alex_B in lederhosen. 



(Needless to say, I _won't_ do the same re my dirndl from when I was about 10 years old)


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

LaFoto said:


> How surprising to hear that you have been asked if you were Scottish, too, when you were in the States, Alex. For so was I and until today I am wondering what made that person think I was?



I think it will be the hard K's both accents share.


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

JohnMF said:


> I think it will be the hard K's both accents share.



and the different pronounciation of vowels such as _a _and _u_, which up in Northern England and some parts of Scotland are just pronounced in a very German way ...


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

Antarctican said:


> (Needless to say, I _won't_ do the same re my dirndl from when I was about 10 years old)



quid pro quo ...


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

LaFoto said:


> How surprising to hear that you have been asked if you were Scottish, too, when you were in the States, Alex. For so was I and until today I am wondering what made that person think I was? But he shut up totally when I said "No, Germany" (he had asked "Are you from Scotland?"). That particular person did, but very often were there people who immediately started to tell us when their families came over and if it were their grandparents or great-grandparents that made the great journey, or who of their friends or family has only just recently been over to visit. "Ah, Germany, the River Rhine, Oktoberfest, 'wurst and beer'"...
> 
> ...reason enough *to invite as many Americans over to the NORTH Germany Meet-Up at the end of May as can come!!!!!!! * So they see there is more to Germany than girls in dirnl, guys in lederhosen, the River Rhine and Bavaria. Ha!
> 
> (Sorry for hijacking your rant-thread, Lisa, but I must use *every* occasion I can get to promote that meet-up  :greenpbl: )


 

My husband, the American, is of German decent.

Hence the good looks and high cheek bones, apparenty 

Hold on, lets marvel at him again and reclaim the thread...


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

He looks so different from me.


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

Alex_B said:


> and the different pronounciation of vowels such as _a _and _u_, which up in Northern England and some parts of Scotland are just pronounced in a very German way ...



true, true


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

We are all individuals!


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

p.s. wen i tawlk i tawlk like dat, coz i dunnah howt ta' speak propper is it?


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> We are all individuals!



I'm not


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## Sideburns (Jan 4, 2008)

Well, I think maybe it must have been how she said it...because it doesn't sound THAT bad to me.  People are ignorant of other countries...so it's not TOTALLY her fault.  She could have been a bit more subtle, I do agree.

I love when my cousin comes from Scotland.  I've always wanted his accent.  He's from near Glasgow, if that makes a difference...but I just wanna steal his accent.  Every time he comes here, the girls all wanna know where he's from, and tell him how awesome his accent is...ahaha.


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

JohnMF said:


> I'm not



That in a way makes you different again.


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

The accents near glasgow are some of the harshest.

My dad was Scottish and he had a really broada accent, apparently. People couldnt understandss him half the time which was frikkin stupid coz i thought that sometimes he spoke better English than half the chavs that lived near us!

I went to glasgow once and it scared the crap out of me.


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

Sideburns said:


> He's from near Glasgow, if that makes a difference...



Being and speaking Glaswegian makes a great difference! You would be amazed by the variety of accents you find within Scotland or within England.


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

agreed - wow. We agree!


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

I justt thought about my accent and i sound like i've just been thrown from the film Snatch.

And no, i don' mean the f'kin pikey!


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> agreed - wow. We agree!



how boring!


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

stfu


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> stfu



for one second i really tried to pronounce that!


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## Chris of Arabia (Jan 4, 2008)

Every time Anne-Marie and I travel on Lufthansa, they insist on speaking to us in German, right up until the point where we say "Pardon?" - cue instant language switch. This included the flight from Manchester to Frankfurt.


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## Sideburns (Jan 4, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> The accents near glasgow are some of the harshest.
> 
> My dad was Scottish and he had a really broada accent, apparently. People couldnt understandss him half the time which was frikkin stupid coz i thought that sometimes he spoke better English than half the chavs that lived near us!
> 
> I went to glasgow once and it scared the crap out of me.



ahhaha.  Well, my cousins are not THAT bad...they are hard to understand sometimes...but I think they've had enough experience with english/american media that their accent is not the same as their parents.  My uncle...now there's a tough accent...

They speak two different languages from when they're home and when they're here.  Sometiems they let out some scottish slang, and I'm like "wtf you say?"


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

Sideburns said:


> ahhaha.  Well, my cousins are not THAT bad...they are hard to understand sometimes...but I think they've had enough experience with english/american media that their accent is not the same as their parents.  My uncle...now there's a tough accent...
> 
> They speak two different languages from when they're home and when they're here.  Sometiems they let out some scottish slang, and I'm like "wtf you say?"



Have they forced you to eat any fried Mars bars yet?


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## Alex_B (Jan 4, 2008)

they deep fry everything up there, even pizza and Mars bars


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

I had a deep fried mars bar once!

It was actually pretty ok!


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## Bea (Jan 4, 2008)

I was reading your rant and went through the same thing, except I was in England!

Every time I go over I end up having some very strange experience, and it always starts with my "accent". 
Try to order an Iced tea in a local pub, that was a fun and very long conversation!!  I can't remember how many times the guy at the bar asked me to  say antibiotics.
Then we had the washroom incident with the very scary lady, not sure how I made it out of that one without hurting her!!! 

I guess my point is that your "accent" is relative to where you are in the world.  And from what I've learned is that it's a certain kind of person that does this, not a group as a whole.

Most people were very polite, but did ask where I was from, funny all guessed the U.S. and only a few were rude/annoying about things.

Now how's going to share that deep fried Mars bar?????


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

Alex_B said:


> they deep fry everything up there, even pizza and Mars bars



they've actually started boiling and steaming them these days in an effort to promote healthly living


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

JohnMF said:


> they've actually started boiling and steaming them these days in an effort to promote healthly living


 
I hope to christ you're joking


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

Bea said:


> I was reading your rant and went through the same thing, except I was in England!
> 
> Every time I go over I end up having some very strange experience, and it always starts with my "accent".
> Try to order an Iced tea in a local pub, that was a fun and very long conversation!! I can't remember how many times the guy at the bar asked me to say antibiotics.
> ...


 

One of the very first things I said to my husband was "Can i have a glass of water, please" and he was like "huh?" and im like thinking...what, do u guys not have water?! Haha...I said it again and he was like "What do you want? Wah'ah?" and i found myself trying to speak all posh and propper just to get a glass of warteeeeeeeeer! hah....

Those kinda accent things are funny. He almost died laughing at me saying Radiator for christ sake! That was a standing joke for far too long.

Raaaaaaaaaaaay-Deeeeeee-Aaaaaaaaaaaaay-Teeeeeeeer!


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## chente922 (Jan 4, 2008)

i must say that I'm a sucker for a girl with english accent... just love it

i kind of have a bit of a accent here in puerto rico since my dad is spanish i tend to pronounce the "r" a lot (spanish is my first language), but here in puerto rico the slang is to change the pronunciation of the "r" for a "l"

sometimes people make fun of me because of that, i don't care but as you guys said, it can really get into your nerves sometimes, and when that happens i reply "at least i can speak spanish correctly", then they call me arrogant.. jaja people is so stupid sometimes


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## Rick Waldroup (Jan 4, 2008)

At the State Fair of Texas, this year, they featured fried Coca Cola.

How in the hell you fry Coca Cola, I'll never know.


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## ferny (Jan 4, 2008)

Anyone who slags off fried mars bars will get their arse kicked.


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## chente922 (Jan 4, 2008)

when i went to california this summer to visit my cousins, their friends kept making fun of me and my girlfriend's pronunciation, as i sometimes write here, my english isn't that good, neither my pronunciation so... they kept making fun of us until it really upsets me, then i remebered that they mentioned spanish class in high school and how hard was it so my answer to that was: "what other language do you speak then?? let me hear your spanish?? or maybe a little bit of french??...

of course they didn't anything besides english... and that was the last time they make fun of us jajajaja!!!

I really hate when someone thinks they're superior to others, specially americans (no offense), but i don't care since they're the idiots... none of them was at college, i'm talking about 19yo - 22yo boys who didn't even care about what to do with their life


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> I hope to christ you're joking



absolutely true...    ahem...   honestly...


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

ferny said:


> Anyone who slags off fried mars bars will get their arse kicked.



why, will you set Becky on us?


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## Lisa B (Jan 4, 2008)

nextt thing you know you'll be suggesting we all boil cabbage....oh...wait...


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## JohnMF (Jan 4, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> nextt thing you know you'll be suggesting we all boil cabbage....oh...wait...



i know a few women who boil bunnys


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## ferny (Jan 4, 2008)

JohnMF said:


> why, will you set Becky on us?



I have no power over Becky. Yet... Mwuhahaha ahhh ahhha aggg *coughs*


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## LaFoto (Jan 4, 2008)

chente922 said:


> jaja


 
Funny how much this shows Spanish is your first language, indeed, to be typing the usual "haha" with "jota"  I like to see this. Any time we had Paraguayan exchange students stay with us, in their e-mail home every time they expressed their "laughing" in this Spanish spelling. Fun to be finding it again.

And I think accents are funny. I once even planned to write my thesis about different English accents; in the end it turned out to be a thesis on a translation problem between German and Spanish, though.

Apart from that one guy in Texas who mistook me for a Scottish person, in Singapore Airport I asked someone where there were any public telephones in the transit area. There were none, but he took me to a higher class lounge and let me search the Singapore phone books there (could not find my friend, a pity), and asked on the way where I was from. When I replied "Germany" he said "Oh, you do not sound that at all. Germans normally sound very different." Ah well...


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## Bea (Jan 4, 2008)

In some restaurants in Canada, they actually feel the need to deep fry Cheese cake!!

They wrap it in a pastry and deep fry it, then pour melted chocolate and whipped cream over it!

I've never been able to bring myself to try it, but it looks amazing!!


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## (Ghastly) Krueger (Jan 4, 2008)

Every time I go to a beach in my own country, the locals talk to me in English and try to sell me overpriced stuff.

I guess I'm too freakin' tall to be Mexican.


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## LaFoto (Jan 4, 2008)

But you would not possibly be too blonde, too (have you ever posted a self portrait on here into any of the many self-portrait threads, by the way?)??? What with that German NAME!?!?!    
But who knows?
You might as well just be too ... (sorry, your idea, not mine!) ... "ghastly" !?!?!?!?!


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## (Ghastly) Krueger (Jan 4, 2008)

LaFoto said:


> But you would not possibly be too blonde, too


 
Nah, I'm too bald! (My son is blonde, BTW)



> You might as well just be too ... (sorry, your idea, not mine!) ... "ghastly" !?!?!?!?!


 
For a Mexican...? no... 
To post a self portrait? Maybe.


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## domromer (Jan 4, 2008)

My wife is from Cork Ireland, after 7 years I still don't know what the hell she is saying!


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## hawkeye (Jan 4, 2008)

Lisa B

Like always, I come in at the tail end of a 2 page marathon of posting but,

Whats funny is reading halfway through the first page of posts.... totally blows that scone theory all to hell LOL

I was actually laughing while reading... "mmmm scones" , and "I've got some in the oven right now, and I'm in England", and "scones are great!"  hahahahahaha

And as to someone pointing out your accent in public... at least you werent in the south... down here some stupid redneck would probably think your from paris and would get in to an argument with you about how your a liberal wuss, and how we saved your country, and how we took "French Fries" back and re-named them Freedom Fries.... 

yeah, I love living in the south as you can tell lol


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## Lisa B (Jan 5, 2008)

Freedom Fries!?!? hahaha

Are they boiled?



The thing with Scones is, yeh, we eat them but its one of those things most people would eat on holiday to devon with clotted cream and jam - and unless you home bake them yourself or have them on holiday they're not worth eating.

After not eating a scone in like 8 years, if i end up cooking some i'll post you a picture 

As for accents, i dont know sometimes if accents are an issue with me cozmy dad was scottish, mum English, husband American, best friend Welsh. I am used to diffferent twangs.

Some things that are a problem are more the words used for things like:

Neeps and Tatties is Scottish for Potatoes and Swede/Turnips

Cutch - Welsh for Cuddle/Hug

The funniest translations are words used both side of the ocean but for different things...

Fanny

America - Butt
England - Vagina


Hiney

America - Butt
England (Up north mostly) - Vagina


There are a couple of others too, which can be embarrassing like

*** (See,it even got edited!) F a g!

America - Quere/gay
England - Cigerette

Yeh, in America, never tell someone you're "going outside to smoke a f ag".

Hmm....theres more...


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## Alex_B (Jan 5, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> Fanny
> 
> America - Butt
> England - Vagina
> ...



This can lead to some delicate misunderstandings if you date someone from the wrong side of the pond.



> *** (See,it even got edited!) F a g!
> 
> America - Quere/gay
> England - Cigerette
> ...



yes, I realised on here that *** is a banned word.

strange world.

and you are right, MANY more


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## Alex_B (Jan 5, 2008)

I prefer chips over both French and Freedom fries anyway.

Oh, _chips _and _crisps_, another source of misunderstanding.


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## Lisa B (Jan 5, 2008)

yeh its like the thing that first confused me is, not that i'll get a "what the hell do you want chips with your burger for?" reply to burger and chips, but the fact that you americans DO actually serve chips/crisps with your food....retards


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## hawkeye (Jan 5, 2008)

> The funniest translations are words used both side of the ocean but for different things...
> 
> Fanny
> 
> ...



hahaaha

I can just picture an american asking a brit, "so, you ever done it in the fanny?" lol


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## Lisa B (Jan 5, 2008)

lol ****, i just typed lol

im turning into a nerd


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## hawkeye (Jan 5, 2008)

I think fanny however isn't really used except for by our grandparents generation and older... everyone is so vulgar these days, they'd just say ass.  No confusion there!


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## Lisa B (Jan 5, 2008)

thats...ARSE in England


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## hawkeye (Jan 5, 2008)

well kiss my arse..... I've been too sheltered


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## Lisa B (Jan 5, 2008)

I dunno where its been - and my husband wouldn't approve 

He has a nice arse.

OH! Jam and Jello/Jelly!

AND Shopping Trolly is Cart!

More for more?


Bain is Child in Scotland


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## hawkeye (Jan 5, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> I dunno where its been



it's been on my 6 my whole life :mrgreen:


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## ferny (Jan 5, 2008)

America - fanny pack
England - bum bag



Imagine the possible blushes...


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## Antarctican (Jan 5, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> Bain is Child in Scotland


 Is it 'bain' or 'bairn'? My Scottish grandparents used to call me 'the wee bairn'. At least that's what it sounded like to me.


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## ferny (Jan 5, 2008)

It's bairn.


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## Antarctican (Jan 5, 2008)

'Ta'


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## chente922 (Jan 5, 2008)

> Funny how much this shows Spanish is your first language, indeed, to be typing the usual "haha" with "jota"  I like to see this. Any time we had Paraguayan exchange students stay with us, in their e-mail home every time they expressed their "laughing" in this Spanish spelling. Fun to be finding it again.
> 
> And I think accents are funny. I once even planned to write my thesis about different English accents; in the end it turned out to be a thesis on a translation problem between German and Spanish, though.
> 
> Apart from that one guy in Texas who mistook me for a Scottish person, in Singapore Airport I asked someone where there were any public telephones in the transit area. There were none, but he took me to a higher class lounge and let me search the Singapore phone books there (could not find my friend, a pity), and asked on the way where I was from. When I replied "Germany" he said "Oh, you do not sound that at all. Germans normally sound very different." Ah well...



you know, I've never noticed this, funny I wrote 'haha' in spanish (jaja), WOW! Everytime I laugh i do it in spanish

JAJAJAJAJA, oops!! hahahahha, it's kinda weird with an "h" since in spanish "h" doesn't have a pronunciation... well whateva'

about the translations, it happens a lot in latin america and could lead to serious embarrasments... like something that means boy or insect in Dominican Republic, here in Puerto Rico means 'penis',and in Spain they say "correr" which actually means run but in Spain it means to have a quickie...

about the fried cheese, everybody should taste it, is amazing!


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## Fangman (Jan 5, 2008)

Anti -  In Glasgow you would be a bonnie wee hen!

Is it true in Canada they have a silent pee in Bath - bathing - swimming and shower like the Americans?  It is to make up for u*z*ing too many zeds and leaving out U on colour and neighbour.


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## Antarctican (Jan 5, 2008)

Heehee, don't want to know about any silent p's going on in the bath/shower/pool, thank you very much!  Must be the Americans.  

Is it Canadians or American's who supposedly use too many 'z's? You confused me, becuz it's Canadians who say 'zed', but we _do_ have the 'u' in colour/neighbour etc.


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## Alex_B (Jan 5, 2008)

ferny said:


> It's bairn.



comes from Old Norse _barn _for child... AFAIK


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## skieur (Jan 6, 2008)

Antarctican said:


> Move to Canada. We don't have accents :greenpbl: (Except in Newfoundland)


 
Sure we do, and in both English and French. In French we even have multiple accents and for that matter multiple French languages: Canadian French, Québec French, Joual, Acadien French and mixes of Canadian French with Native Peoples Languages.

skieur


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## Lisa B (Jan 6, 2008)

ferny said:


> It's bairn.


 

yes, thats hat i meant, i missed the r


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## ferny (Jan 6, 2008)

Lisa B said:


> yes, thats hat i meant, i missed the r



I crown thee, Little Miss Queen Typo.

It's cute.


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## Alex_B (Jan 6, 2008)

i always thought I had no accent in German. ... but then I realised people could tell which city in Germany I was born in.


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## Lisa B (Jan 6, 2008)

This keyboard sucks.

Its got an accent!

*raises eyebrow*


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## Alex_B (Jan 6, 2008)

US keyboards are a pain indeed...

I can live with German keyboards and UK keyboards ...


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## Lisa B (Jan 6, 2008)

I keep hitting " instead of @


I also still cant find the English pound key!


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## Alex_B (Jan 6, 2008)

yes ... and did you realise the mess around the enter key?


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## Mitica100 (Jan 6, 2008)

Oh, heck! I was asked many times if I'm from Scotland! And I have an Eastern European accent (Romanian), but it ain't thick.


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## LaFoto (Jan 6, 2008)

Lisa, if there is no pound key on that American keyboard you are now using, type in ALT + 156 on the number block and you should be there. Let me try ... £ <- yes! There you go. (For there is no pound-key on my German keyboard, either). Thus you can "teach" that key board to let go of it's accent (if only just a little).

And Mitica, this makes me wonder, indeed. Do you think people think you CAN only be from Scotland, not from anywhere else? Amazing! And when you say "Romania", what is the usual reaction you get?


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## Mitica100 (Jan 6, 2008)

LaFoto said:


> And Mitica, this makes me wonder, indeed. Do you think people think you CAN only be from Scotland, not from anywhere else? Amazing! And when you say "Romania", what is the usual reaction you get?


 
No Corinna, most of the people ask if I'm from Russia. But there's a small percentage of people asking me if I'm Scottish, German, French. At least they're in the right geographical area. 

As to when I say Romania, very few people actually know where Romania is on a map. Actually I have had several cases of _"...and where is Romania located in the United States?"_, if you can believe that! The ones that know about Romania a bit, they know of Count Dracula and Transylvania as being in Romania and I end up being asked about that. I don't really mind...


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## LaFoto (Jan 7, 2008)

Mitica100 said:


> ...they know of Count Dracula and Transylvania as being in Romania and I end up being asked about that.


 
Teehee, but this is just what I expected! 
Thanks for the confirmation, :mrgreen:


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## Lisa B (Jan 7, 2008)

LaFoto said:


> Teehee, but this is just what I expected!
> Thanks for the confirmation, :mrgreen:


 


You know, when i tell people im in Pennsylvania i get asked "Oooh, like Dracula!"

And im like, No, retard! Thats Transylvania!

DUH

p.s. £ <--WOW


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## skieur (Jan 12, 2008)

Alex_B said:


> i always thought I had no accent in German. ... but then I realised people could tell which city in Germany I was born in.


 
I was once told by a teacher that I spoke Spanish like a native German who had migrated to South America.

skieur


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## nealjpage (Jan 12, 2008)

I've often received a lot of flak for having a Minnesotan accent.  When the movie _Fargo_ came out, I watched it and was appalled at the stereotypes of the average Minnesotan.  Then I observed the speech and mannerisms, and, by george, I _deserved_ the mocking I was getting from friends.

I should say that I was living in Nebraska at the time. :er:


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## Sideburns (Jan 12, 2008)

JohnMF said:


> Have they forced you to eat any fried Mars bars yet?



No, but they rant about them a lot.
And a lot of other weird deep fried things.

Hoping to get over there eventually.  Seems like a good excuse to buy a bulk order of Velvia.


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