do you talk funny?

[D_Navengil Nutroll]

people from the northeast usa murder the english language. i guess i am part of the problem. a few days ago, i pronounced the word coupon. i have always called it "q pon". that's the way my mom said it and i guess it never left me. but people i was talking to looked at me like i was from mars.

 

[D_Sparroe Spongecaques]

Well that is because it is pronounced 'coo pon' not 'q pon'

and yes to some i suppose i do sound funny when i speak but i wouldnt say i talk funny

 

[nudeyorker]

OK what is a coupon? LOL! I know but I love saying it.(It's a private joke with me and the other half) I can talk funny, but I do voice over work, I've spent years learning how to speak in a generic manner or comedic.

 

[Incocknito]

The problem is Americans have bastardised the English language and then don't even know how to speak it.

The way you say it it would need to be spelled queuepon or kewpon. Which it isn't.

Y-oh-gur-t is another funny one. I pronounce it yo-g-uh-t. It used to make an American girl I used to talk to cum on the spot lol.

I don't talk funny although there are some colloquialisms that some people don't get or seem to find funny.

For example:

In't kitchen
Instead of "in the kitchen"

Goin't shop
Instead of "going to the shop"

But those are just contractions of words. My pronounciation of actual words is usually correct or at least not so off that it would stand out or be noticeable.

 

[Bbucko]

The first time a pal from Australia heard me on Skype, he said that I sounded like the love child of Lauren Bacall and Ted Kennedy :wink:

But as those who met up with me at the M&G last month can attest, it's when I'm "ty-id" or have had a coupla cocktails that the Boston (Weymouth, actually) really flies outta my mouth.

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

The first time a pal from Australia heard me on Skype, he said that I sounded like the love child of Lauren Bacall and Ted Kennedy :wink:

But as those who met up with me at the M&G last month can attest, it's when I'm "ty-id" or have had a coupla cocktails that the Boston (Weymouth, actually) really flies outta my mouth.

The hot get hotter :wink:

I have hal a dozen different accents and voices, all mine, all real, none put on, it can be a bit confusing, so yes I speak oddly.

 

[DiscoBoy]

I was oot and aboot all day, but I finally came across this thread.
I do it, not that exaggerated, but most [non-Canadians] tend to be able to pick up on it. I've also been known to over-enunciate (as odd as that sounds).

 

[Mem]

I have a pretty generic accent.

A few words that I hate how the British pronounce is privacy, schedule, and zed instead of zee and aluminium instead of aluminum. I don't like when they say I am going to Hospital instead of The Hospital.

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

I have a pretty generic accent.

A few words that I hate how the British pronounce is privacy, schedule, and zed instead of zee and aluminium instead of aluminum. I don't like when they say I am going to Hospital instead of The Hospital.

I despise Zee instead of Zed, and Aluminum doesn't exist :tongue:

 

[nudeyorker]

I have a pretty generic accent.

A few words that I hate how the British pronounce is privacy, schedule, and zed instead of zee and aluminium instead of aluminum. I don't like when they say I am going to Hospital instead of The Hospital.

How do you pronounce privy?

 

[Mem]

I despise Zee instead of Zed, and Aluminum doesn't exist :tongue:

YouTube - Spice Girls - Wannabe 2.33

Here's the story from A to Zee. :biggrin1:

 

[Mem]

How do you pronounce privy?

Crikey.

 

[Mem]

How do you pronounce privy?

How do you pronounce private?

 

[nudeyorker]

How do you pronounce private?

My father was from England and my mother was from France, so I tend to pronounce it more french even though people think I'm being pretentious. I always remember my mother telling me that England and France were speaking before there was such a thing as the United States. It made me as popular in school with teachers as it does sometimes here.

 

[Levi]

I don't know if its just me that notices it, but I hate this strange officialese language that americans use when they are being interviewed for some reason, its all 'At this moment in time' and other oddities.I also hate American words like burglarize, which is some made up word with a 'z' not an 's' to boot.

 

[B_Hung Jon]

I don't know if its just me that notices it, but I hate this strange officialese language that americans use when they are being interviewed for some reason, its all 'At this moment in time' and other oddities.I also hate American words like burglarize, which is some made up word with a 'z' not an 's' to boot.

If you want to hear officialese american language at its worst, listen to the way police talk describing some crime: "When I arrived at the scene the suspect was resisting arrest and all officers present had to subdue said suspect by force. During the arrest the suspect subsequently expired. I have no further information about this incident".

 

[D_Navengil Nutroll]

my mom also says "die rear" to describe that time when all is not well with the bowels. haha. even the family laughs at her over that.

 

[agnslz]

While googling which pronunciation of coupon is correct I came across this and thought to myself: "Who calls their cow-ch a coo-ch??"

Personally, I pronounce it q-pon because I don't want to sound like one of those dumb Midwesterners in the movie Fargo by saying coo-pon.

Something that always gets me is how some New Yorkers say the word human as if there is no 'h' in there. It sounds cold to me, as if they are a medical investigator or an embalmer.

Also, someone mentioned how British mispronounce the word aluminum. So much for Americans not knowing how to speak the language.

 

[Drifterwood]

I will shoot you if you say anyhoo.

 

[Sergeant_Torpedo]

Mem would you say, he goes to the university or he goes to university.

Words derived from latin have the "z" while words from the Anglians have the "s". Simples!

Incocknito I take it you inhabit the region north of the Trent and south of the Tees. Variety in pronunciation and dialect is what makes modern English so unique, versatile, and interesting. The BBC used to have what they termed "received English" which they have now abandoned as a political correctness stratergy.
I was told when I was in Washington DC that my British accent intimidated people; this was uttered by a State Department former prepie and Ivy leaguer who's own accent was frankly embarrassing in its affectation. The most pertfect English I ever heard was spoken by a railroad guard in North Carolina - an elderly black man. So good English has nothing to do with class, education or wealth. So not lets stoop to that upper middle class crap of U and non U.