# This Modern World We Live In - Really Minor Rant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 3, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292 "2009-02-03T18:52:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/21 "2009-02-04T00:07:27Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I am US native born and speak with no accent. Well, that’s probably why she couldn’t hear you. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/22 "2009-02-04T00:08:42Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > By no accent I refer you to: > > [General American](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American) _“General American is an accent…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/23 "2009-02-04T00:12:56Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Yes I did. My point was not about the accent, but my inability to understand it _at that moment_. My co-worker heard it with no difficulty at all. > > Sometimes things get garbled in our brains for little or no reason. > > BTW, I used to believe I had no accent at all. then I moved to Sunny California. Everyone kept asking me if I was from Texas. (I’m from Ohio) > > Seriously. My apologies for the mis-understanding. Actually, there is an interesting vowell shift that occurs in the Michigan-Ohio-Pennsylvania region which is shared with Texas. The vowell ‘e’ gets the ‘i’ sound. ‘The pencil costs ten cents’ ends up sounding a little like ‘The pincil costs tin cints’. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/24 "2009-02-04T00:15:34Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > _“General American is an accent…”_ Yes, indeed it is. However, as a standard when someone is trying to eliminate an accent they are taught to shift pronounciation to General American. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/25 "2009-02-04T00:19:02Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > \ > > English, motherfucker, do you speak it? > > \ > > What? I used to be the guy in office to whom they’d transfer the customers who are stuck in the seventies. Yes, I speak jive. ---
**Author:** ![stucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@stucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucky)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/26 "2009-02-04T00:23:09Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It’s not just a phone thing. I’ve had that happen at a pharmacy. > > “Hi, I’m here to pick up my prescription.” > > “Last name?” > > “Smith.” > > She looks in the Ws. > > “I’m sorry, sir, it’s not ready yet.” > > “Smith. Look under Smith.” > > “I did. I looked under Wrfmuplee. It’s not there.” > > “No, Smith!” > > “Gangrajoodian?” > > “Smith!” > > “Aplofoofadoo?” > > “Smith! S-M-I-T-H.” > > “X-Q-D-O-L?” > > “S!” > > “Groo?” > > “S!” > > “Marfumbublia?” This has too be the funniest thing I think I’ve ever read. I laughed so hard my family ran into the room thinking I had snapped. Thank you and God bless you tdn. I needed that, my brother is dying and I’ve really been under stress. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/27 "2009-02-04T00:23:29Z")
Were you calling from your cell? Maybe you had a bad connection? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/28 "2009-02-04T00:23:41Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > \ > Indeed! I have a 16 year old. She used to speak clearly, but over the last few years her local teen culture has required her to ‘mush it up’. You know, there might be something to this. Whenever we visit the US, I have much more difficulty being understood than my husband, and he says it is because of my “accent” - I enunciate quite clearly. If I mumble more, people seem to understand me better. Weird, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/29 "2009-02-04T00:44:46Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > You know, there might be something to this. Whenever we visit the US, I have much more difficulty being understood than my husband, and he says it is because of my “accent” - I enunciate quite clearly. If I mumble more, people seem to understand me better. Weird, eh? I think there is a strong cultural bias with some people (culture including teenagers) whereby if they hear someone speak differently or with an accent, the brain stops listening. Instead all the listener hears is the voice inside their own head saying, “They talk all funny.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/30 "2009-02-04T01:31:18Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > My surname has over fifty entries under _places in the United Kingdom_ in its Wikipedia disambiguation page, yet I still have to spell and correct it over and over. I wonder how these people cope with map indexes. Then there’s my first name, too. Yes, it’s pronounced how I just said it. You don’t need to sound quizzical as you repeat it. > > Thanks, I’m done 🙂 Oh man. When I asked at the pharmacy for my mother-in-law’s precription, which was under the name “Sherwood”, the tech was unable to locate the prescription under “Surewould” or something. Telling the tech, “Sherwood, like the forest” didn’t help, nor did spelling it verbally. I had to write it down (and you can believe I did my very best kindergarten block printing) before she was able to find the damn pills. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/31 "2009-02-04T01:37:26Z")
Please just spell your name for people and don’t get all huffy. As someone who takes names over the phone a lot for my job I have heard every different spelling possible for every different name, and it would be bad for me to misspell someone’s name. It is also possible to be misheard, have a bad connection, or maybe there was a sudden noise that distracted the person or made you difficult to hear. Is it really so hard to say 5 letters? ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/32 "2009-02-04T02:29:23Z")
The way Isee it, everyone has an accent. My brit friendss an I used to jokingly argue about who has an accent. Thy told me that I had an american accent which to their ears must sound as different as their accents do to me. Anbd of course, people with southern accents don’t sound like what I consider “no accent”. My wife id from the midwest and she has said that I pronounce words differently than she does. (I am from the east coast, Delaware/Pennsylvania/Maryland area). She says I say words like “bury” to sound like “berry” and “frog” like “Frawgg”. Its subtle, but people from different areas have different accents. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/33 "2009-02-04T02:45:48Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > Are said young people usually chosen to be a receptionist, where a significant percentage of their work necessitates phone communication? I would believe it. At one of the restaurants near here they had two girls in their early 20’s working the Drive-Thru one afternoon, BOTH deaf. Not totally deaf of course, but they both wear hearing aids, they’re just so short on people at some of these places. One of the girls has moved on, but the other is still working there and is really a good worker, but she struggles noticeably at times. She’s messed up my order a few times but not very badly, it’s just a coffee shop (Tim Horton’s), once in a while I get a French Vanilla instead of a coffee, meh. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/34 "2009-02-04T03:28:08Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > My wife id from the midwest and she has said that I pronounce words differently than she does. (I am from the east coast, Delaware/Pennsylvania/Maryland area). She says I say words like “bury” to sound like “berry” and “frog” like “Frawgg”. 😕 How does she think those words are supposed to sound? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/35 "2009-02-04T03:59:52Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > The way Isee it, everyone has an accent. My brit friendss an I used to jokingly argue about who has an accent. Thy told me that I had an american accent which to their ears must sound as different as their accents do to me. Anbd of course, people with southern accents don’t sound like what I consider “no accent”. > > My wife id from the midwest and she has said that I pronounce words differently than she does. (I am from the east coast, Delaware/Pennsylvania/Maryland area). She says I say words like “bury” to sound like “berry” and “frog” like “Frawgg”. > > Its subtle, but people from different areas have different accents. I think you’re typing with an accent. 😃 (I pronounce “bury” as “burree” and “frog” as “frog”.) ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/36 "2009-02-04T04:16:36Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Just FYI, there’s plenty of young people who are deaf or have some degree of hearing impairment. And most of them probably realize early on that a job that requires a lot of voice communication may not be the best choice for them. There are plenty of people who are blind or have some kind of visual impairment, as well. But I think most of them realize that they should probably steer clear of Professional Sniper or Air Traffic Controller. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/37 "2009-02-04T04:23:33Z")
Hm, this is not like my life at all. I have a hyphenated last name (don’t blame me, my parents gave it to me) and no one EVER EVER EVER gets it. Neither of my last names are particularly odd when taken separately, but run together it sounds bizarre if you don’t know what you’re listening for. When I give my name on the phone, I say it and spell it immediately afterwards, unless I have reason to think they already have my name up on a computer (like if I had to punch in an account number before talking to a human). It works for me. People very rarely get it wrong, probably because they really do have to listen to get it right. OTOH, so many people think they know how to spell my first name before I spell it out that they often write it wrong AS I AM SPELLING IT OUT FOR THEM. Guy at deli: What’s your name? Me: Kyla. K-Y-L-A. _Guy writes down K-A-Y-L-A._ Me, internally: _It’s four fucking letters, dumbass. You can’t even pay attention for the length of time it took for me to spell that out? Jesus._ ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/38 "2009-02-04T04:26:16Z")
Phones cut out high frequencies. This makes /s/ and /f/ hard to distinguish, since the acoustic difference between the two is in the high frequencies. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/39 "2009-02-04T04:44:47Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Do people really make it to adulthood now-a-days without being exposed to the last name Smith as a common name? So that when they hear it they act as if it’s terribly exotic and foreign and hard to understand, like M’Balia or Upuriasukul? Hey, maybe to Batswaliimajakai M’Buntufakaran your name really _is_ exotic. ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292/40 "2009-02-04T05:54:00Z")
People often had trouble spelling/pronouncing/understanding my unusual & somewhat ethnic maiden name, so any time I was asked for it, I responded with “Name. N-as-in-Nancy-A-M-E.” Everyone was always grateful, and it reduced hassles. Sometimes I had to spell it twice or phonetic the other letters, but not often. Then I married a Jones, and foolishly thought the world could spell Jones. Now I can’t win. If I say just Jones, some people hear “Joan” “John” “Johnson” “Joad” (Nice to know receptionists read The Grapes of Wrath), or what have you. Many ask me to spell it. But if I offer the spelling of the bat like with my maiden name, 1/2 the time I get dirty looks of the “Do you think I’m an idiot? I can spell Jones” variety. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-modern-world-we-live-in-really-minor-rant/484292.md?page=3)