Mr. Rilch and I were at dinner this evening with another couple. These other people are theater actors, and the wife mentioned that she’d been cast in a role that required a New York accent, which she’s never had to do. Being a Californian by way of Colorado, she hasn’t heard many Enywe accents IRL either.
“Well, just rent a Scorsese movie!” I said. Laughter ensued as Mr. Rilch and the other guy began quoting from Mean Streets and Goodfellas. Under cover of this, I added flippantly, “Or borrow our Sopranos boxed sets…no, wait, that’s North Jersey, but there are some New Yorkers on the show…anyway, the whole show is like a primer for someone who wants to learn a New Yawk accent.” Mr. Rilch chimed in to further praise Sopranos, and the subject veered back to the production this woman was working on.
Now Mr. Rilch thinks I may have jeopardized our Sopranos collection. He claims that my remark was taken as a serious offer, when in fact, I was only making a statement about the show itself. It was never an offer to lend those DVDs, just an offhand remark about the show itself as part of a larger discussion. I also think that if it had been taken as a definite offer, one or the other of them would have followed up and said, “Can you bring them over” or something like that.
Sounds like an offer to me. You’re lucky they didn’t take you up on it.
Further HO: Unless you live in a cave, you have to know what a New York accent sounds like, given the enormous amount of popular entertainment that comes from there. Half the shows on TV, near enough, are based in New York!
I’ve never been there, and I can do a NY accent. Fuhgeddaboudit!
Brrr…Well, in a way, I wish they had taken me up on it, because then I could have said “No, I was kidding” and that would be the end of it. Anyway, they can rent them, the same as they can rent Scorsese movies.
**
Yyyeahhh…but there’s a difference between “doing” an NY accent—any accent—for the heck of it, and making it sound natural, live on stage. This woman has a small role in some Neil Simon thing, so I daresay everyone will be doing an NY accent, and they’ll all need to be consistent with each other.
Although, come to think of it, she did mention a dialogue coach. That SHOULD make contribution from me unnecessary.
While it’s not exactly the same as “We’ll lend you our Sopranos boxed sets,” it’s might close. The offer to lend is implicit, and the whole thing is your idea. Saying “Watch some Sopranos” would have been different.
What about that statement doesn’t sound like an offer to lend? If you were having car trouble and I said, “or borrow our car…no wait, it’s a Chevy, but it’s still a car.” you’d consider it an offer to borrow my car, no?
I think, if you wanted to avoid making an offer, you shouldn’t have said, “…or borrow our Sopranos boxed sets.” That kind of made it an offer, you see.
I have made offers to people using much the same wording, intending it to be taken as an offer, and had it accepted as an offer. Why would it be taken otherwise? I see that to you, the set is not something you would ever consider lending, so maybe it seemed like the offer was ludicrous, like if I said, “or come and live with my grandma in NY for a month, then you’ll learn it!” BUt to someone else, an offer to let someone borrow a DVD set is not uncommon, so it could easily be taken that way.
I have to agree with Indygrrl here… and not just because we live in the same state.
What is the problem with lending them your DVD’s… you act like they are some kind of prized possession… they are movies sitting on your shelf. They were meant to watch. The way I see it you are getting more money out of your investment by watching (or having others watch) them.
Sounds to me, though, that since they didn’t take you up on the offer, you really needn’t worry about it until they call you up and say, “remember when…”
You haven’t even lent the things out yet, so I think it’s a bit premature to think you’re never going to get them back.
The only problem with loan DVDs is they are like books…people never return them.
I do loan both books and DVDs but only ones that I won’t be upset if I don’t get back. That way I get to keep my friends. The Sopranos boxed sets are expensive. I would be very upset if I didn’t get them back because they would cost a lot to replace.
I’m not the one who’s uptight about lending; Mr. Rilch is. However. The people in this anecdote are trustworthy, and have returned borrowed items in good condition before. However however. I think if they were going to take me up on it, they would have done so right then.
:::Rilchiam slouches off to paint her tongue black:::
