# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/61 "2010-01-16T19:34:54Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > It’s weird because I understand Colm Meany perfectly fine in Star Trek and Under Siege but I’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? The Snapper - third in the trilogy that began with The Commitments. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/62 "2010-01-16T19:39:36Z")
I find some American shows hard to follow. True Blood and The Wire are two; I have real trouble making out what some of the characters are saying. As for Snatch and Brad Pitt - yes, it’s a joke. He’s _supposed_ to be unintelligible. That’s the whole point. It’s really not relevant to this discussion. I find it harder in real life than on TV. TV accents are at least moderate to an extent, deliberately. When I speak to Americans on the phone I often have to ask them to repeat themselves several times, and vice versa. Real people have much thicker accents, plus they don’t enunciate as well as actors do or have multiple takes. Guys selling hot dogs in New York? I’ve not \*once \*managed to understand a word they say - it’s this mumble of unintelligible sound. I get by by pointing and making sounds (I guess it’s obvious I want a hot dog). ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/63 "2010-01-16T20:01:45Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Nah I and (I hope my countrymen) don’t take it personally. It’s kind of amusing 🙂 Funny, you found it [patronizing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11834271&postcount=10) just a few weeks ago. Don’t worry, we [backwater](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542035) colonials will work on comprehending our betters. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/64 "2010-01-16T20:05:42Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Funny, you found it [patronizing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11834271&postcount=10) just a few weeks ago. Don’t worry, we [backwater](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542035) colonials will work on comprehending our betters. Different context. And thanks for dragging down a light hearted thread. I appreciate that. The linked thread was talking about how customers who would say seemingly patronizing things to our call center operatives because they failed to understand them. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/65 "2010-01-16T20:14:19Z")
anecdote: My native language is American English. I spent last summer in India and had occasion to answer the office phone one day. Person on the phone: Can I speak to [boss guy]? Me, in my clearest, pretending-to-be-a-receptionist voice: He’s out of the office, can I take a message? Person: [boss guy]? Me: He’s not in. Can I take a message? Person: [Something in Telugu] Me: I’m sorry, I don’t speak Telugu. Person: Where is [boss guy]? Me: He’s not in, can I take a message for him? Person: Speak English, please! Me: I am speaking English. Person: What? Me: I AM SPEAKING ENGLISH. Person: _hangs up_. It was awesome. I told all my coworkers about it the next day. We got a good laugh out of it. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/66 "2010-01-16T22:13:37Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > I’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 I’m still fine with historical dramas and comedies… Pretty much the same here. In Canada, we were lucky enough to get a lot of British shows on TV when I was a kid, and my parents loved British shows (of course “British” anything was hot in North America in the 60’s, wasn’t it?), so I watched a lot of The Avengers and Secret Agent among other things, as well as the four shows TWDuke mentions. Of course, we also got all three US TV networks (CBS, ABC, NBC), but given that most Canadians speak with what is comparable to a US Midwestern accent (except in Newfoundland, parts of the Maritimes, Quebec, and the Ottawa Valley), most US speech was easily understandable because Midwestern accents are what is most often used on US TV. The only time I ever really had a problem understanding an American was when he spoke in a Cajun or other thick Southern accents; however, most of the time, if it couldn’t be understood right off, it was all a matter of getting attuned to them. The only real difference had to do with some regional expressions and regional names for things. An example occurred one day when I was at work, pumping gas, back in the 70s. Back then, oil came in cans. Now, what was the name of that tool that both punched a hole in a can, but also allowed you to pour the oil out through its hollow handle? Anyone I knew usually referred to it as an “oil scoop” or “oil spout”. Anyway, I had sold a can of oil to a guy with a very strong Southern accent and he asked me something that sounded like, “Yawll got an oil spicket I cun use?” I had to have him repeat himself a couple of more times before I understood that what he was saying was likely “spigot”, and when he went on to tell me that it was the thing that you put into the oil can so you could pour it out, I was finally sure of what he was asking for. I didn’t really know about some of the differences that occurred between US English and Canadian English even though I lived right on the border. In college one day, I was surprised in a lecture on this topic to find that a “Chesterfield” meant a couch in Canada, but a raincoat in the US, although I already knew that the Canadian “running shoes” or “runners” meant exactly the same thing as the US “tennis shoes” or “tennies” (and the UK “trainers”, for that matter), but then again, for the most part, Canadian English is a mixture of American and UK English – we use some terms found in each. ---
**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, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/67 "2010-01-16T22:34:45Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > I didn’t really know about some of the differences that occurred between US English and Canadian English even though I lived right on the border. In college one day, I was surprised in a lecture on this topic to find that a “Chesterfield” meant a couch in Canada, but a raincoat in the US, although I already knew that the Canadian “running shoes” or “runners” meant exactly the same thing as the US “tennis shoes” or “tennies” (and the UK “trainers”, for that matter), but then again, for the most part, Canadian English is a mixture of American and UK English – we use some terms found in each. Some of these may be dated or regional terms, but to me “Chesterfield” is first a brand of cigarettes, second a piece of furniture, and third a geographical location which I could not point to on a map. I had no idea it was a raincoat – but then again, I live in sunny Southern California. I would also distinguish between running shoes (sleek, specialized athletic footwear that seemed to really take off in the '80s) and tennies (simpler, boxier, casual shoes that have been around forever, aren’t endorsed by superstars and don’t promise a competitive edge), although I would more likely use the term “sneakers.” ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/68 "2010-01-16T22:50:25Z")
Sligo and thereabouts accents make my brain hurt. There’s a great guy who owns a bar in Chicago I’ve known for years but in all that time I’ve understood maybe 1 word in a hundred. In a whole other league are the lyrics from Cocteau Twins. Check out Pitch the Baby. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/69 "2010-01-16T23:46:11Z")
Years ago I read of a British academic who’d written a whole long thesis about feudalism in the American West - it was the cornerstone of his whole academic career - and it had got started because of a comment by John Wayne in a movie, which quote he often used in his work. One time he was telling an acquaintance about this; the acquaintance knew the movie well, and was puzzled by the reference. Eventually he lit up in comprehension: 'Oh! You mean where John Wayne said ‘it’s all _futile_. We pronounce futile and feudal the same way.’ I always wondered if the academic just carried on regardless. > [@Wile\_E](#): > > I thought it funny that Eccleston’s Doctor was always getting comments about his Northern accent, is it that odd to hear in London or was it just odd that an alien had a Northern accent? So the rest of Britain has trouble understanding those accents, too? Would that include Yorkshire? I remember James Herriot’s books talking about how much trouble he had understanding the local dialect. Yorkshire accents are not hard for the vast majority of people to understand. Strong Newcastle accents, though, they can be difficult. Herriot was writing quite a long time ago in the countryside - there would have been more variety in dialects back then and less mutual intelligability. If there were comments then it probably was just about him being Northern, because the previous doctors were all RP, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/70 "2010-01-17T00:09:44Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Yorkshire accents are not hard for the vast majority of people to understand. Strong Newcastle accents, though, they can be difficult. Herriot was writing quite a long time ago in the countryside - there would have been more variety in dialects back then and less mutual intelligability. If there were comments then it probably was just about him being Northern, because the previous doctors were all RP, IIRC. Also, there’s a stereotype attached to “Notherners”, one which frequently involves Flat Caps, Mills/Factories, Everyone being really poor, and being almost clannish. Also Tripe and Jellied Eels. None of these are things you’d associate with The Doctor. It was basically just very… unusual to have someone from “oop Narwth” being The Doctor, but it’s one of those things you either “get” or you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/71 "2010-01-17T00:24:53Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > In a whole other league are the lyrics from Cocteau Twins. Check out Pitch the Baby. Nah, Liz was usually singing the noises in her head rather than anything comprehensible in any kind of [Grangemouth](http://www.rossgrahamphotography.co.uk/pics/central_sw_scotland/Grangemouth1.jpg) accent. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/72 "2010-01-17T00:29:07Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > 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! They also added open captions to Ashes to Ashes part way through the first season (the only season they’ve show so far as I know) BUT ONLY for some characters. 😕 Either caption everything or nothing, it’s not like Heroes or Lost where characters are speaking Japanese or Korean! ---
**Author:** ![nameless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/73 "2010-01-17T00:51:37Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I’m an American and understand it, but I don’t generally have a problem with accents. Midwestern American, and I got no troubles with the Arctic Monkeys. Lovely accents on those guys. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/74 "2010-01-17T01:20:07Z")
I used to live in Newfoundland. When I first arrived, I talked to a net maker, and didn’t understand a word he said. Five years later, I saw him again, and understood every word. Here’s an [easier to understand Newfoundland accents](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rIbitJAbQ&feature=related), and here’s [a slightly tougher one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12lCfrsYIfc&feature=PlayList&p=DC34D90C55037770). Of course on the Southern Shore people have unreconstructed Irish accents, to the point that the Irish hospitality industry would recruit people to work in Ireland, 'cause if you’re vacationing from Boston, you want the colleen at the B&B to have the appropriate voice. Now where I grew up, [people talk like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdiNYHFQ22A), so I’ve got no room to talk about accents. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/75 "2010-01-17T01:36:17Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Also Tripe and Jellied Eels. Now I wish that at least once the Ninth Doctor had offered an adversary a little paper bag and said, “Care for a jellied eel?” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/76 "2010-01-17T01:39:07Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > 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? 😃 American (southwest), and I can understand it fine. Well, as “fine” as I can understand any song. Now the real question is how much of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wg_JPuXTns&feature=related) song can ANYONE understand? I can understand a bit, but a good amount of it is unintelligible. Of course, most of the stuff I do understand is muddled by a missing word somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/77 "2010-01-17T01:58:11Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Now the real question is how much of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wg_JPuXTns&feature=related) song can ANYONE understand? I can understand a bit, but a good amount of it is unintelligible. Of course, most of the stuff I do understand is muddled by a missing word somewhere. Wow. I can understand it for a few seconds, and then it goes off the rails completely, then it’s comprehensible again, and repeat. I feel like if I listen to it a dozen more times I might be able to grasp it all, though. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/78 "2010-01-17T02:00:26Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > then only went downhill during dinner when I ate with my fork prong-side-up. He and his family looked at me as if I had three heads! How do they eat green peas? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/79 "2010-01-17T02:04:31Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > **pravnik** you reminded me of a bit from ‘Hot Fuzz’ > > Edit: Found it! > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM45TACI4H4&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM45TACI4H4&feature=related) That was pretty much the situation. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/80 "2010-01-17T03:01:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Brad Pitt is supposed to be speaking a “Pikey” accent there, which is an Irish Travelers/gypsy accent. How good it is, I don’t know. I’ve heard people say that it sounds like an extreme Newfoundland accent. > > Within Edinburgh, you can get some pretty rough accents, too. It ranges from what sounds to me like Scottish-inflected Queen’s English to what you get in Trainspotting (which takes place in Edinburgh) and beyond. Ah. I don’t speak Pikey–I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before that clip. I am not sure just what a Glaswegian accent would sound like, but no doubt I’ve heard it before. I loved the James Herriot series on TV and had no trouble following the gist of things, if not the actual word for word (and some of that trouble comes from the slang used and again, the lack of facial expression/enunciation). I once had a German teacher who had come over from what used to be Estonia just after WW2. He had an accent, but not too bad. It was his emphasis on the wrong syllable that used to throw us. Example: he would say “enVELope” to mean the outer wrappings for a letter, not something surrounding an inner core. I don’t see much difference between Canadian and Midwestern, except for the sounds used in “doubt” and “about” (and of course, “eh”). 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=5)