# You pesky Americans. Sometimes you say things in films that are incomprehensible. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153 "2010-01-16T01:29:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/21 "2010-01-16T05:07:31Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I think there is some US school of thought that indistinct delivery of your lines is more naturalistic. eg Brad Pritt in Snatch šŸ˜‰ ---
**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:** [January 16, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/22 "2010-01-16T05:26:34Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > You (almost) owe me a new monitor and keyboard. That was feckn hillarious! I thought it was going to be this video - [sub-titles!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVCvthr95io) The worst trouble Iā€™ve had being understood was in Chicago - how do I say this politically correctly - the people with the really urban accents couldnā€™t understand me. My husband says my accent is that I enunciate clearly. I was wondering by the time we left if I would be understood better if I slurred more. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/23 "2010-01-16T05:42:34Z")
Well, then thereā€™s [thisā€¦](http://matadorabroad.com/what-english-sounds-like-to-people-who-dont-speak-it/) (many of you have heard it before) ---
**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:** [January 16, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/24 "2010-01-16T05:57:55Z")
I needed subtitles for _Trainspotting_. There was a scene in _Chicken Run_, where Mel Gibson as the American rooster (ironic, given that heā€™s Australian) gets chewed out by the Scottish hen. Afterward he asks one of the other hens, ā€œWas that English?ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/25 "2010-01-16T06:09:29Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Yeah but thatā€™s like saying the sun rises in the East. > > Back to the OP I think it has something to do with the fact that they are acting. I think there is some US school of thought that indistinct delivery of your lines is more naturalistic. > > The actor in question in Avatar is an Australian. Maybe. I think I do something similar. Iā€™m in Southern California and speak very little Spanish, among a population that almost homogeneously knows at least two languages, Spanish and English. I have grown up hearing Spanish, took a few classes, but just canā€™t remember it really, though, soā€¦when I try to say something in Spanish, or actually HEAR a word Iā€™ve seen before but didnā€™t know it sounded like THAT, I try to repeat it quickly and smoothlyā€¦and invariably get it justā€¦a littleā€¦wrong. I do much better just going slower, even though I sound like a noob either way. Trying to sound ā€˜naturalā€™ just soundsā€¦wrong, apparantly, when you really donā€™t know what the hell youā€™re doing. Whoā€™da thunk. šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/26 "2010-01-16T06:27:47Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Well, then thereā€™s [thisā€¦](http://matadorabroad.com/what-english-sounds-like-to-people-who-dont-speak-it/) Well, that sure is weird. I think I heard a ā€˜freezing coldā€™ and a couple of 'alrightā€™s, in there. Itā€™s actually kind of like listening to someone speak Old English, where you think you can maybe understand some of it, but not quite. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/27 "2010-01-16T06:34:25Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > There was a scene in _Chicken Run_, where Mel Gibson as the American rooster (ironic, given that heā€™s Australian) gets chewed out by the Scottish hen. Afterward he asks one of the other hens, ā€œWas that English?ā€ Two interesting facts: Mel Gibson is not Australian, he just lived here for a good length of his life. The scottish chicken is voiced by Craig Fergusonā€™s sister Lynn. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/28 "2010-01-16T07:36:58Z")
I know some Americans have a heck of a time with British accents. I recently listened to a couple of coworkers talk about how they didnā€™t enjoy the new Sherlock Holmes movie because they couldnā€™t understand the dialogue. As for me, 10 minutes into the movie I forgot they were even speaking with British accents. (Of course given the nationality of most of the cast, perhaps they werenā€™t.) Iā€™ve never had any trouble with received pronunciation, or what used to be called BBC English. That probably has something to do with growing up on Monty Python, Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, Yes Minister, etc. And Iā€™m still fine with historical dramas and comedies. But modern, contemporary dramas lose me sometimes. I caught the pilot of Being Human just recently. I had no trouble understanding vampire boy, barely got a word of what ghost girl was saying, and the werewolf was kind of hit and miss. He had one monologue where I had to rely almost entirely on his facial expression and a few key words to figure out what he was saying. They were some great words too. Iā€™m sorry I couldnā€™t make out whole sentences. Even BBC Radio seems to have a lot more accents or ways of speaking that to my ear are kind of loose, mushy, and inarticulate compared to the crisp and precise language that used to dominate. That may sound more judgmental than I mean it to be, but I canā€™t think of how else to describe them. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/29 "2010-01-16T08:09:22Z")
I once had the misfortune of taking a bus from Athens to Munich - and as if that isnā€™t bad enough, about half the bus was British and the other half Irish - they once had to stop the bus due to a fight that broke out when some Irish guy started singing a song I couldnā€™t understand, but the song mightily pissed off the Brits. To make matters worse, I was sitting in the back with an Irish country girl and her Scottish boyfriendā€¦she had to translate his English to me, and he was pissed off that I couldnā€™t understand him as he could understand me. On one of my first visits to London, I saw a chain of bookstores and couldnā€™t figure out how to pronounce the name - so when I returned to Berlin I asked two British teachers I worked with how to pronounce the name of this bookshop; **whsmith** ā€œDo you say Wazmith? Wihsmith?ā€ They looked at me oddly and one said, ā€œWe pronounce it W. H. Smith.ā€ Never dawned on me that it was simply spelled without punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/30 "2010-01-16T08:13:49Z")
> [@luv2draw](#): > > What? Thereā€™s no subtitles on your pirated copy? Now\* thatā€™s\* funny. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/31 "2010-01-16T08:58:01Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Are you kidding? Of course we have trouble understanding you guys. I have long heard Brits being described as speaking through a mouthful of marbles. Sorry, nothing personal, you do have cute accents. Heck, even BBC America has that little ad in front of some programs telling you to how to turn on your closed captioning. I even saw it in front of Doctor Who! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/32 "2010-01-16T12:28:41Z")
The first time I saw _The Full Monty_, it took a few minutes for my ear to get attuned, and even then, I got lost with certain slang or idioms or something. I understood the words, but not when they were strung together. Most of the time, though, my problem is with people who mumble or just speak too softly, regardless of the language. There are times I canā€™t understand my own daughter! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/33 "2010-01-16T13:33:08Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Even BBC Radio seems to have a lot more accents or ways of speaking that to my ear are kind of loose, mushy, and inarticulate compared to the crisp and precise language that used to dominate. That may sound more judgmental than I mean it to be, but I canā€™t think of how else to describe them. Thereā€™s a reader/reporter on the BBC World Service whose voice I really like, Lyse Doucet. Iā€™ve never heard an accent quite like it. Wikipedia says sheā€™s from New Brunswick, Canada. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/34 "2010-01-16T13:51:47Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > ā€¦Does the reverse happen? (Americans watching English productions fail to understand any of the words being spoken in one sentence by a non-American English speaker, even after repeated hearing) Are you kidding? My husband and I watched the DVDs of ā€œLife on Marsā€ recently and even after hearing the words and seeing the subtitles we still had no idea what the characters were saying. An example (made up): ā€œYou and the plonk move the noddy kip and Bobā€™s your uncle, guv.ā€ Whaaaa??? I think itā€™s English; you tell me. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/35 "2010-01-16T14:28:36Z")
Pfft. For a wonderful counterexample I give the incomprehensible Emma Watson, who can be understood about 1 line in 3 from the third HP movie onward. Seriously, I had to turn on the subtitles! ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/36 "2010-01-16T14:29:10Z")
> [@legalsnugs](#): > > An example (made up): ā€œYou and the plonk move the noddy kip and Bobā€™s your uncle, guv.ā€ Whaaaa??? I think itā€™s English; you tell me. Translation: This here bloke 'n meselfā€™ll will up right ho, eh? And then Bjorn Stronginthearmā€™s yer uncle, soir. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/37 "2010-01-16T14:37:21Z")
Out of curiosity, can the Americans here understand the lyrics in [this song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEKJAw_tuxg)? Out of further curiosity, can the southern Englanders understand it also? šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/38 "2010-01-16T14:46:59Z")
Itā€™s weird because I understand Colm Meany perfectly fine in Star Trek and Under Siege but Iā€™ll be danged if I understand every 3rd word he spoke in The Commitments. Slight highjack: Colm Meany was in another movie that I needed subtitles to understand. He played the father to an unwed young daughter who refused to tell who the father was. Does anyone remember this and know the name? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/39 "2010-01-16T14:52:24Z")
I could not understand almost anything anyone said in [Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120735/). Mind you, I did get the gist of [these parts](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWt24vCZxQU). What _was_ their accent by the way? ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/40 "2010-01-16T15:02:46Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > What _was_ their accent by the way? Mostly cockney (working class Londoner), but there were a couple of scousers if I remember correctly. (Scouse is the Liverpool accent). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=3)