The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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Morning Glory said:
Yeah, I know. I hadn't thought about the spelt/spelled thing before. It is rather odd that we have two alternative spellings in the UK. The same is true of smelt/smelled. I can't think of any other examples.
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I was driving down from the Lake District to Stratford-upon-Avon many years ago, and stopped at a petrol station to ask directions. The young woman inside spoke an English dialect so thick, I had no idea what she was saying. I went back to the car and my wife asked if I got directions, and I just said, "Nope."

I don't know what that dialect was, but I really couldn't understand her, although see seemed to understand me.

CD
 
I finish work at 5pm tomorrow and don't go back until next Monday, a nice long weekend. I have just been making a list of things I need to do tomorrow, I am only off for 2 days :facepalm:
 
caseydog said:
I was driving down from the Lake District to Stratford-upon-Avon many years ago, and stopped at a petrol station to ask directions. The young woman inside spoke an English dialect so thick, I had no idea what she was saying. I went back to the car and my wife asked if I got directions, and I just said, "Nope."

I don't know what that dialect was, but I really couldn't understand her, although see seemed to understand me.

CD
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Sheesh, that can happen to me right here in the US. I was hanging out at a bar with some friends in my hometown of Destin, FL back when I was about 25. Anywhere in FL in beach resort areas, most people don't have much of a Southern accent, if any. My friends and I did not. Anyway, some guy came up to me and asked if he could buy me a drink. He had a very deep drawl. I asked him where he was from, and he said what sounded to me like, "Way across Georgia." I asked, "Yeah but where are you from?" and he said, "Way across." I said, "Yeah, but how far across, and what's the name of the town?" He shouted at me, "THE NAME OF THE TOWN IS WAYCROSS!" My friends and I busted up laughing and he walked away.
 
Mention of the Lake District reminded me of a town in Cumbria called Lazonby. It has a station, Lazonby and Kirkoswald, which is on the scenic Settle to Carlisle line. Most importantly, though, it has a z.
 
I'm also reminded of a moment at Paddington station in London when an American chap asked me if I could assist him. He was, he said, looking for reading. I pointed out the newsagent and bookshop. He clearly thought I was bonkers. It transpired he was after a train to Reading. For those unfamiliar, Reading is pronounced Redding.
 
Duck59 said:
I'm also reminded of a moment at Paddington station in London when an American chap asked me if I could assist him. He was, he said, looking for reading. I pointed out the newsagent and bookshop. He clearly thought I was bonkers. It transpired he was after a train to Reading. For those unfamiliar, Reading is pronounced Redding.
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Reminds me of riding the train to I can't remember where, early in our UK days, and MrsTasty was calling out the stations along the way, following along with the printed line map she had.

She got to one, and said, "POR-takabin...POR-takabin...I don't see that one, it's not on here!"

I looked up, out the window, and saw the sign repeatedly plastered on little brown temporary offices, like you see at construction sites: "Portakabin."

It was, of course, temporary offices made by the Portakabin folks...Porta-Kabin. :)
 
JASOH1 said:
Sheesh, that can happen to me right here in the US. I was hanging out at a bar with some friends in my hometown of Destin, FL back when I was about 25. Anywhere in FL in beach resort areas, most people don't have much of a Southern accent, if any. My friends and I did not. Anyway, some guy came up to me and asked if he could buy me a drink. He had a very deep drawl. I asked him where he was from, and he said what sounded to me like, "Way across Georgia." I asked, "Yeah but where are you from?" and he said, "Way across." I said, "Yeah, but how far across, and what's the name of the town?" He shouted at me, "THE NAME OF THE TOWN IS WAYCROSS!" My friends and I busted up laughing and he walked away.
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I've heard some pretty extreme redneck, and a lot of other thick regional dialects. I've never been unable to understand them. Even Canadians. :laugh:

This woman at the petrol station absolutely stumped me.

It's kind of like the UK version of Jive...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzIcec_bQss


CD
 
Duck59 said:
I'm also reminded of a moment at Paddington station in London when an American chap asked me if I could assist him. He was, he said, looking for reading. I pointed out the newsagent and bookshop. He clearly thought I was bonkers. It transpired he was after a train to Reading. For those unfamiliar, Reading is pronounced Redding.
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The Reading I know, Reading Pennsylvania, is pronounced "Redd-ing."

There are some towns in the US that are not pronounced as you would think. Sounth of me, there is Alvarado, Texas. One would thing the Spanish/Mexican pronunciation would be correct, but the correct is actually "al-vuh-ray-dough".

CD
 
caseydog said:
I've heard some pretty extreme redneck, and a lot of other thick regional dialects. I've never been unable to understand them. Even Canadians. :laugh:

This woman at the petrol station absolutely stumped me.

It's kind of like the UK version of Jive...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzIcec_bQss

CD
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Yes, and some Cajuns as well. My aunt in Port Arthur was married to a Cajun from Louisiana, and his side of the family spoke Cajun French (I am sure some French people would have a hard time understanding them since much of it is very different) and would often mix a sentence with broken English and French. It was pretty hard to decipher much of the time, and though my cousins could understand them, I never could. Even my aunt had a hard time with it. My uncle had pretty good English because he was a riverboat captain and had to communicate with people who weren't Cajun, LOL.
 
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