Where have all the accents gone?

[KatBradshaw]

If you also have Mariella Frostrup's looks, figure and general demeanour, would you please PM your phone-number to me?

Thank you.

Graham

If only Graham, of only.
I am afraid I am in no way as gorgeous as the fair Mariella.

[Lyn]

Some people here say earl for oil.

And osters, as in oster stew, Cel. And bald peanuts too =)

[Limehouse]

It drove me mad yesterday to hear an American on TV pronounce data (which I pronounce as dater) as dada. I can't say why it made me wince but it did!

[Celesta]

Lyn,

I fixed us a big mess of bald peanuts a few weeks ago. They were great!

Osters is funny. Wait till you hear a Cajun or Gulf Coast person say it. Oy-stuhs or owy-stuhs is about as close as I can get because I can't get the accent down on the page. It's the same sound as New Awh-lins, like they say for New Orleans. I like to hear the people from that region speak. Did you ever read A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole? Great book!

Julie,

You say dater and I say dat-uh, you say puhtater and I say potatuh...

[Sam Flynn]

It drove me mad yesterday to hear an American on TV pronounce data (which I pronounce as dater) as dada.

Well, "dah-ta" (or "darter", if you like), is at least faithful to the word's Latin roots. What gets me is the use of "data" in the singular - "this data" - when the singular is datum. I know that common usage has made "this data" acceptable, but it still rankles with me.

[The Good Michael]

Well, "dah-ta" (or "darter", if you like), is at least faithful to the word's Latin roots. What gets me is the use of "data" in the singular - "this data" - when the singular is datum. I know that common usage has made "this data" acceptable, but it still rankles with me.

But data is almost always plural, right? I think of data as computer bits and bytes.

Mike

[Celesta]

Well, "dah-ta" (or "darter", if you like), is at least faithful to the word's Latin roots. What gets me is the use of "data" in the singular - "this data" - when the singular is datum. I know that common usage has made "this data" acceptable, but it still rankles with me.

Yeah, it bugs me, too. And data's the truth.

[Sam Flynn]

But data is almost always plural, right? I think of data as computer bits and bytes.

But there are also statistical and experimental data which preceded the term's use in computer science, Mike - which comprise collections of more than one datum. The fact that they're usually referred to in the plural legitimises the use of "data", for sure, but it's the use of "this" in front of it that's strictly incorrect. Another, similar, example is "this bacteria" or "a bacteria", when the singular is bacterium. I can't understand the difficulty, given that people have easily assimilated the difference between fungus and fungi, and are usually quite happy to stick to the rules there.

[Limehouse]

I hate it when people treat collective nouns as if they were plural and say things like 'Manchester United have score again'. Grrrrrrrrrr!

[The Good Michael]

I hate it when people make proper names of things like restaurants into possessive nouns. An example: What did you do last night? I went to Spago's for pasta. I don't know why I hate it. I also hate coupon pronounced as kyewpon. I forgive everyone when they do these things, as detestable as they may be.

Mike

[Vila]

I mean, what on Earth does "A'hht, y'ahat? Daynnthar?" mean?

If I may translate: "A'hht," = Hi there, "y'ahat?" = Are you doing alright? "Daynnthar?" = Is Dan there?

I'm guessing that this was a call from my friend Jimmy. His Southern is so thick that you can't cut it with a knife. You have to use a chainsaw! What's frightening is that not only do I understand him perfectly, but I can shift my accent far enough so the he can understand me as well.

Dad once rented about twenty acres of farmland from an old fellow who had suffered a stroke while he was up on his roof repairing a chimney. The old fellow had fallen off and spent several years recovering from both the stroke and injuries sustained in the fall. His farm had been allowed to grow wild during that time. He spoke like a 78RPM record being played at 33RPMs. Once Dad found out that I didn't have any difficulty understanding the fellow, I was designated to handle all our communications with him thereafter. Dad couldn't piece the long, drawn-out words together into intelligible speech. I don't know why I could understand him so easily, but I'm glad that I did. The old boy seemed quite happy to have found someone he could talk with. He used to bend my ear with tales of his glory days, every time I went back to those fields. Every time I drive past there now, I remember those days.

Regional accents are alive and well here in the US, but you can tell that the younger generations are being somewhat influenced by TV and music videos. It's only a matter of time before they will all start to sound like California versions of New York Gansta Rappers. LOL!

Vila.

[Lyn]

I'm guessing that this was a call from my friend Jimmy. His Southern is so thick that you can't cut it with a knife. You have to use a chainsaw!

It's thicker than Southern gravy.

Regional accents are alive and well here in the US, but you can tell that the younger generations are being somewhat influenced by TV and music videos.

It honestly does sound extremely odd to me, to overhear youngsters in passing ending old school Georgia sentences with, "ya, like".

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Americans!

Cannot help asking you about this thing;

"I am shooah
We're gonna win this woah
With viga..."

This is a sentence by JFK.

In school-English it sounds like:
"I am sure
We're gonna win this war
With vigour..."

Yes, as a non-native English-speaker this caught my ear in a documentary.

Since your next president comes from Chicago, how does his speech sound like?! At least non-Bostonian...

All the best
Jukka

[Celesta]

Dan! You're a linguist! Among your many other talents!

The only part I didn't get was the "A'hht," = Hi there, part. I understood
"y'ahat?" = Are you doing alright? "Daynnthar?" = Is Dan there? perfectly.


You were a blessing for that man. He probably really needed someone who would have the patience and take the time to listen to him. Good on ya, Dan.

I became attached to an old gent whom I had never even spoken to. It was when I was up on that dam site project and lived in a small town close by. I mean really small town. As I would pass by on my way home, in the evenings, there was always an old guy on his front porch and he never failed to wave at me. That's what country people do, and it's easy to pick up the habit of waving to strangers, even when you're driving. I got to expect the old man every afternoon. Then suddenly he wasn't there anymore. He was gone for at least two weeks. I assumed the worst. It's funny how you can feel grief in that kind of situation. I didn't even know him. I would sigh as I passed his house every evening and slow down and look for him. Then one evening he was back!

[bodiam]

Hello Americans!

Cannot help asking you about this thing;

"I am shooah
We're gonna win this woah
With viga..."

This is a sentence by JFK.

In school-English it sounds like:
"I am sure
We're gonna win this war
With vigour..."

Yes, as a non-native English-speaker this caught my ear in a documentary.

Since your next president comes from Chicago, how does his speech sound like?! At least non-Bostonian...

All the best
Jukka

Well he's not from Chicago now is he? Born in Kenya, moved to Hawaii, then off to Indonesia. Attended university in California,New York and Massachusetts. Spent the odd year or two community organizing in Chicago and avoiding the good Reverend Wright's sermons and then globbed onto a government job in Washington, D.C. So whatever he sounds like it's definitely not Chicago.