# That character would NEVER say that! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080 "2020-04-18T20:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/1 "2020-04-18T20:22:18Z")
Just watched The Witches with my younglings. Bruno said he didn’t like sandwiches with margarine, which her pronounced MARjurin, not marjuREEN. An English kid (certainly one in the era of margarine’s existence) would never pronounce it like that - obviously instructed to do so for a an American audience. It would be like an American character ordering a “fillet steak” and pronouncing it “fillitt”. What else we got? Issues of dialect or accent that stand out to you as a native? Anachronisms that grate 'cos you were there? Pre-war English Lords ordering two fingers of bourbon? Pony Express riders measuring distances in kilometres and ranchers working in hectares? ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/2 "2020-04-18T20:55:17Z")
_The Truman Show_ — set in the U.S., written by a Brit, directed by an Aussie: “I’d like a ticket, please.” “Yes, sir. One way or return?” “Return” The American term is “round trip.” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/3 "2020-04-18T20:57:45Z")
In an episode of _Frasier_, Daphne’s mother made a reference to lying in a **casket**. That is not a British English word. She would have said **coffin**. _Robin Hood Prince of Thieves_, the Sheriff refers to [hired thugs](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102798/quotes/qt0372952). Of course, the film isn’t in authentic 13th century English, but that particular anachronism was jarring. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/4 "2020-04-18T20:59:18Z")
An episode of _Doctor Who_ (NuWho) I can’t locate right now. Actress had an American accent that I found totally convincing. Then: “What’s your name?” “Ballard, sir.” She pronounced it BAL-ARD, whereas an American would have said BAL-urd. Seriously, I’ve seen a million of these “That’s what a Brit, not an American, would say.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/5 "2020-04-18T20:59:43Z")
Several places – I first heard it in the audiobook version of Kenneth C. Davis’ **America’s Hidden History** , but my wife just heard it on PBS’ **The Chaperone** – have people pronouncing the name of the Massachusetts town Haverhill as “Haver - Hill”, as if it’s the name of a small raised piece of land named after someone named Haver. But it’s not – the “h” is silent and the “i” virtually disappears, so it’s pronounced HAYver’ll by locals. It stands out because it’s not just mispronounced one time, but continuously, over and over. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/6 "2020-04-18T21:06:43Z")
In _Victor/Victoria_, Mary Poppins says, “Can you relate to that?” The movie was set in 1934, but the first use of the term with that meaning in the OED was from 1947. In the BBC series, _Flickers_ there was a Jewish film producer who kept saying “OY-VEY” (equal stress on the two syllables). Anyone Jewish would know it was “oy-VEY.” Then again, you have to be careful of non-anachronisms that people might think actually ones. I’m writing a novel set in 1830. The words “shag” “shirk” and “sham” were used at the time. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/7 "2020-04-18T21:44:32Z")
In the graphic novel _Watchmen_, written by English writer Alan Moore and set in the US, a detective comes to Dan Dreiberg’s apartment and while they’re talking he tries to open the door to Dreiberg’s secret lair. Dreiberg deflects him by saying “That leads to the lumber room. Key’s lost, I’m afraid.” “Lumber room” is not used in US English, except perhaps for a room containing a bunch of wooden planks. The closest equivalent would be “junk room”. It was quite jarring to me to see a US character say that when I first read it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/8 "2020-04-18T21:50:17Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > In the graphic novel _Watchmen_, written by English writer Alan Moore and set in the US, a detective comes to Dan Dreiberg’s apartment and while they’re talking he tries to open the door to Dreiberg’s secret lair. Dreiberg deflects him by saying “That leads to the lumber room. Key’s lost, I’m afraid.” > > “Lumber room” is not used in US English, except perhaps for a room containing a bunch of wooden planks. The closest equivalent would be “junk room”. It was quite jarring to me to see a US character say that when I first read it. Dreiberg also talks with a guy who says “safe as houses” — which struck me as weird when I first read it, but only because I’d never heard _anyone_ say that; I didn’t figure it for a Britishism, but, yeah, that’s presumably what happened. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/9 "2020-04-18T22:07:48Z")
You have to exercise caution when making such a judgement. F’rinstance, just because the OED gives the first recorded use of a word or expression in a certain year doesn’t mean it wasn’t around sooner. In a different vein, it’s been noted on IMDb that in _ **Mrs Miniver** _ (set in England at the start of WWII), Walter Pidgeon’s character wants “ham and eggs” for breakfast, whereas a Brit would ask for “bacon and eggs.” That may be true, but it’s also noted he didn’t make “a very convincing Englishman.” Of course he didn’t; his accent was North American. He could have been a transplanted American or Canadian. I once had an EFL instructor who was Australian; she told me only Americans say “I have a date tonight” or “I’m dating someone.” Every other native English speaker would say “I’m going out with someone.” Anyone care to weigh in on this? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/10 "2020-04-18T22:13:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Then again, you have to be careful of non-anachronisms that people might think actually ones. I’m writing a novel set in 1830. The words “shag” “shirk” and “sham” were used at the time. Indeed, a supporting reason why (other than its obvious ridiculousness) the [Prove Lewis Carroll was Jack the Ripper through anagrams](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1236/do-anagrams-in-lewis-carrolls-poems-prove-he-was-jack-the-ripper/) story is bogus is the apparent use of several anachronisms in the stanza: > [@](#): > > Bet I beat my glands til, > With hand-sword I slay the evil gender. > A slimey theme; borrow gloves, > And masturbate the hog more! I’d bet (heh) that “x-ing the y” and “beat my glands” are anachronisms, but I tried to research the use of the word “bet” to see if it also was, and while I never found it in this form, of simply the word “bet”, that early, its metaphorical use as in “you can bet that…” dates from the 1700s at least, so _that_ part of the anagram isn’t a ridiculous anachronism. (But the most ridiculous part is not an anachronism: it’s using the form “masturbate the X” as a euphemism for masturbation, which is wrong on several levels.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/11 "2020-04-18T23:01:08Z")
Not a nationalities issue but I was listening to an audiobook about the War of 1812 and the reader kept mispronouncing [Oswego](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Oswego_(1814)). I grew up in northern NY so it was noticeable to me. The strange thing is it’s pronounced like it’s spelled: os-wee-go. I could see maybe if he had pronounced it with a short e, like os-weh-go. But he pronounced it os-way-go even though there’s no a. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/12 "2020-04-18T23:24:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I once had an EFL instructor who was Australian; she told me only Americans say “I have a date tonight” or “I’m dating someone.” Every other native English speaker would say “I’m going out with someone.” Anyone care to weigh in on this? Certainly not before about 1990, but we’ve caught the habit off you in recent years. On the subject of anachronisms … I just watched the first 2/3 or the first episode of a truly atrocious Australian period piece called ‘Banished’, about the early convict settlement in Sydney, whose historical sins are too numerous to mention, but the worst offender is the entire premise of the first episode. Sexy female convict is caught sneaking out of the male convicts’ barracks after an unauthorised roll in the hay with her beloved, and is promised fifty lashes from the Governor unless she gives up his name. And what will happen to the unfortunate paramour then? Well, they’re going to Hang Him High. Yup, that’s right. Capital punishment for consensual sex in the 19th century. But only if you’re a bloke. Who knew! (not ‘anyone who ever studied any Victorian era history’, that’s for sure. There’s even a big list on Wikipedia of all the things people got hanged for in the early settlement days - it pretty much goes ‘theft, theft, theft, theft, theft, murder, theft, theft, theft…’) ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/13 "2020-04-18T23:31:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not a nationalities issue but I was listening to an audiobook about the War of 1812 and the reader kept mispronouncing [Oswego](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Oswego_(1814)). I grew up in northern NY so it was noticeable to me. > > The strange thing is it’s pronounced like it’s spelled: os-wee-go. I could see maybe if he had pronounced it with a short e, like os-weh-go. But he pronounced it os-way-go even though there’s no a. Well…the need to explain pronunciation by respelling for clarity sort of implies it’s not pronounced how it’s spelt! Nothing is though, in fairness. Spelling is spelling, speaking is speaking, and the one is not a perfect representation of the other. Having never heard of the place till now, I have to admit I’d have said it as “way” too. A short e in there feels out of place to a British accented speaker, and the use of an e to represent “ee” also feels like it wouldn’t be what I’d think: I’d expect that to be spelt with a i. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/14 "2020-04-18T23:35:26Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Certainly not before about 1990, but we’ve caught the habit off you in recent years. And the existence of “Blind Date” on UK screens in the mid-80s hints that it wasn’t unheard of before then. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/15 "2020-04-19T11:57:20Z")
In Mad Max II (The Road warrior) everyone is saying gasoline, Australians wouldn’t say gasoline, they would say petrol, this was obviously done for the American market ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/16 "2020-04-19T12:25:36Z")
The TV show _One Day at a Time_ was supposed to be set in Indianapolis, with characters who were native Hoosiers, but there were things popping up all the time that showed it was written by Californians. One was a reference to a politician’s recall election-- we don’t have those. Another was two characters meeting “At the beach” in Indianapolis :dubious:. But there were also lots of language giveaways. One was the way characters pronounced the city Terre Haute. In Indiana, it’s pronounced “Terra Hote.” I don’t care whether it’s close to the French pronunciation or not-- it’s what people here say. On the show, it was always pronounced the way most people outside the state say it-- “Terra Hut.” And I can’t remember one single time that Indianapolis was ever called “Indy.” People here call it that all the time. People hardly ever say “Indianapolis.” Lastly, the city police are not referred to as IPD. They’re the IMPD, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. If they were called “IPD,” they’d get confused with the state police, which is in fact, always the ISPD. Neither one is the IPD. Plus, the IMPD have jurisdiction only over the city proper, not over the whole unincorporated area. All the neighborhoods like Speedway, Zionsville, Carmel, etc., that can properly be addressed as their local name, or as Indianapolis, and the package gets there, have their own police departments. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/17 "2020-04-19T12:39:24Z")
> [@steepone](#): > > In Mad Max II (The Road warrior) everyone is saying gasoline, Australians wouldn’t say gasoline, they would say petrol, this was obviously done for the American market Exactly that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/18 "2020-04-19T13:16:25Z")
DOUBLE EXPOSURE is the episode where a well-dressed author has a doctorate and enough smarts to out-Columbo Columbo, along with a sophisticated way of offering expensive caviar while playing blackmailer. _Beluga_ caviar, he emphasizes. “Buh-loo-jah” is how the actor pronounces it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/19 "2020-04-19T15:18:38Z")
At the start of the second season of _ **Tour of Duty** _, the token female journalist who was added to the cast asked Lt Goldman (I think it was) “How long have you been in **coun** -try?” (with the stress on the second syllable). The expression is “IN country.” Anybody assigned to Vietnam would have known that, whether military or civilian. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/20 "2020-04-19T15:29:34Z")
> [@steepone](#): > > In Mad Max II (The Road warrior) everyone is saying gasoline, Australians wouldn’t say gasoline, they would say petrol, this was obviously done for the American market Even Americans barely ever say gasoline, 99% of the time it’s just gas. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080.md?page=2)