# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/61 "2020-04-21T12:44:34Z")
I didn’t really watch the show, but I read on some language blog or other that _Mad Men_, famously set in the 1950s, would occasionally mention the “CFO” of one company or another. “Chief financial officer” as a job title didn’t really exist in the 50s. It only started being used in the late 1960s, at least according to said blog. At the time of _Mad Men_, the person in charge of a company’s finances would be called the treasurer, the financial manager, or perhaps the comptroller. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/62 "2020-04-21T13:46:42Z")
In an episode of Downton Abbey, set in 1920, the housekeeper finds a lump in her breast. She goes to a doctor, taking the cook with her for moral support, and later the butler finds out they’ve been to the doctor and wants to know why. All four use the word "cancer ", very straightforward, no whispering or euphemisms. I’m fairly certain that’s not accurate for 1920. People didn’t say that word aloud, and a cancer victim’s obituary would state that s/he had died “after a long illness”. ( **MrAtoz** , Mad Men was famously set in the 1960s.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/63 "2020-04-21T14:09:32Z")
> [@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. ROTFLMAO I know, listened to it as well. Also from Western NY. We have a town, Avon. Bucolic little place. Pronounced with the flat Rochester A aaaahvon, no particular emphasys going on. As opposed to long a Avon Stratford upon Avon or Avon CT =) And in audiobook fun - [Caesar’s Legion](https://www.audible.com/pd/Caesars-Legion-Audiobook/B002VAEU4O) by Stephen Dando-Collins. mrAru and I were listening to it on our last road trip westwards, and were perhaps a bit slap happy, but we kept hearing about an officer of the Gens Fufia [particularly Gaius Fufius] and comments about Marcus Aemelius Lepidus … which lead to the decision to make an SCA persona named Marcus Fufius Lepidus Minor, who would have little bunnies as a device [Little Bunny FuFu hopping through the forest =)] Of course, we kept hearing the narrator referring to Foofius and thought we were mishearing something because of the difference between how a normal person would pronounce a Roman name and how apparently the edumacated pronounce shite. [lepidus being close enough to lepus for our purposes =)] I will say, trying to keep track of generational naming of the Latins aside, [come on guys, use more than 5 freaking names, will you?] the book was very interesting if you have any interest at all of military history of the Romans. We do like audiobooks, but one does have to remember to take the stereo off shuffle, or it gets very confusing [we oopsed and listened to Bujold Cryoburn on shuffle for about 5 chapters until it dawned upon us that the chapters after chapter 1 were not in order =)] ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/64 "2020-04-21T14:13:53Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > The elderly Irishman I used to work with in the 70’s always pronounced it GAH- razh. > > And I’ve never heard any American ever pronounce it gah-RAH-he. Is this a typo, joke, or have I been missing something? Singular…gah-RAHJ. Plural…gah-RAHJ-es. :o ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/65 "2020-04-21T14:15:17Z")
> [@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. oops forgot - can you still sing the State Fair song naming the various cities? ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/66 "2020-04-21T15:09:21Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > ( **MrAtoz** , Mad Men was famously set in the 1960s.) Well, I _said_ I didn’t watch 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 21, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/67 "2020-04-21T15:16:34Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Anyway. Does any of this refer to a particular character’s unlikely speech, or is it just general transatlantic differences? When I was working as an EFL teacher, we had a whole list of words that were spelled the same but pronounced differently by Americans and Brits, with the stress shifting from one syllable to another. “Garage” was one of them; the only other one I can think of offhand was “cigarette.” There are no rules for “correct” pronunciation in English, only patterns. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/68 "2020-04-21T15:24:47Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > When I was working as an EFL teacher, we had a whole list of words that were spelled the same but pronounced differently by Americans and Brits, with the stress shifting from one syllable to another. > > “Garage” was one of them; the only other one I can think of offhand was “cigarette.” > > There are no rules for “correct” pronunciation in English, only patterns. Even in Japan pronunciation varies. The city of Nagano is stressed differently in different areas. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/69 "2020-04-21T16:23:45Z")
> [@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”… > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > 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. And at the Comedian’s funeral, the undertakers are dressed in the British style with top hats wrapped in black silk. IME, American undertakers/funeral home staffers go hatless at all times. > [@terentii](#): > > When I was working as an EFL teacher, we had a whole list of words that were spelled the same but pronounced differently by Americans and Brits, with the stress shifting from one syllable to another. > > “Garage” was one of them; the only other one I can think of offhand was “cigarette.” > > There are no rules for “correct” pronunciation in English, only patterns. The British pronunciation of the Central American country is Nic-a-RAG-you-ah, I believe, while Americans say it Nic-a-ROG-wa. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/70 "2020-04-21T16:47:55Z")
_ER_ usually did a halfway-decent job of believably being set in Chicago, except for one thing which always hit my ear wrong. They always added the word “the” when referring to highway numbers. For instance: “There’s a big pileup on the 290!” Nobody in Chicago would _ever_ say “the 290.” It’s either “290” or “the Eisenhower.” Chicagoans simply do not say “the [highway number].” This is totally an L.A. thing, where most TV is made. Took me right out of suspension every time. Oh, and if I may weigh in on the “Garage” discussion, in Chicago it’s one syllable: _Grodge_. ---
**Author:** ![tafinucane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@tafinucane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tafinucane)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/71 "2020-04-21T17:31:05Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Really? > > I’m from L.A. County. It’s the Santa Monica Freeway. > > Yes, from one end to the other. This is why southern Californians say “the” 101, etc. Before the interstate numbering system, LA freeways came with an article: The Pasadena Fwy, The Golden State Fwy, etc. ---
**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 21, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/72 "2020-04-21T18:03:32Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The British pronunciation of the Central American country is Nic-a-RAG-you-ah, I believe, while Americans say it Nic-a-ROG-wa. I guess so. I get the impression there are lots of non-English words whose vowels have been given a sort of best-fit-equivalent in our respective accents. Like “pasta” (either PAS-tuh or PAHS-tuh), “taco” (TACK-oh or TAH-koh) etc: they’re attempts at faithful recreation of the vowel sounds we hear, according to our own lexical sets. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/73 "2020-04-21T18:12:36Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > I guess so. I get the impression there are lots of non-English words whose vowels have been given a sort of best-fit-equivalent in our respective accents. Like “pasta” (either PAS-tuh or PAHS-tuh), “taco” (TACK-oh or TAH-koh) etc: they’re attempts at faithful recreation of the vowel sounds we hear, according to our own lexical sets. The worst is that the British pronounce the Spanish name Javier as if it were French, Javieh. No one in the Spanish speaking world pronounces it in that way. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/74 "2020-04-21T18:21:38Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The British pronunciation of the Central American country is Nic-a-RAG-you-ah, I believe, while Americans say it Nic-a-ROG-wa. The American pronunciation is closer to the pronunciation in Spanish (with some differences in the vowels), with “gua” being a single syllable. Similarly the British pronunciation of jaguar is JAG-yu-ar, rather than the American JA-gwaar, which is similar to the Spanish (except for the pronunciation of “j” as “h.”) ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/75 "2020-04-21T19:03:56Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > 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. Best enjoyed with a flute of Champagin. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/76 "2020-04-21T19:06:24Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > …Similarly the British pronunciation of jaguar is JAG-yu-ar, rather than the American JA-gwaar, which is similar to the Spanish (except for the pronunciation of “j” as “h.”) Yes, and they’re careful to say it that way in all the Jaguar car ads here in the States, because it’s so excrutiatingly British. We wouldn’t have it any other way! I think the American pronunciation is closer to JAG-wahr, though. Back to the OP: I recently read that when Sir Ralph Richardson got his script for _Time Bandits_, in which he was to play the Supreme Being, he marked up his character’s dialogue at several points, confidently writing to the director, “He wouldn’t say that.” ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/77 "2020-04-21T19:09:15Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I didn’t really watch the show, but I read on some language blog or other that _Mad Men_, famously set in the 1950s, would occasionally mention the “CFO” of one company or another. > > “Chief financial officer” as a job title didn’t really exist in the 50s. It only started being used in the late 1960s, at least according to said blog. At the time of _Mad Men_, the person in charge of a company’s finances would be called the treasurer, the financial manager, or perhaps the comptroller. Mad Men is set in the 60s. It begins in 1960 and ends in 1970. ---
**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 21, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/78 "2020-04-21T20:00:38Z")
I just heard the narrator of an AHC documentary on terrorism say “[The FBI informant] had a brainwave.” That line had to have been written by a Brit. Otherwise he would have said “brainstorm.” ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/79 "2020-04-21T20:03:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I just heard the narrator of an AHC documentary on terrorism say “[The FBI informant] had a brainwave.” > > That line had to have been written by a Brit. Otherwise he would have said “brainstorm.” Asahi Homecast? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/80 "2020-04-21T20:04:47Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Singular…gah-RAHJ. > Plural…gah-RAHJ-es. > :o Hold on, are you saying that it is a two-syllable word? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080.md?page=5)