# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/81 "2010-01-17T03:46:44Z")
> [@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. I don’t recall him mentioning people fussing about not understanding him, except maybe for one old Irish fellow, but I do remember stuff in the earlier books about not understanding what people were saying. Part of it was the difference in regional accents, but I think most of it was the unfamiliar slang and occasional mispronunciations/misuses. My personal favorites are him listening to his first case history and not understanding a word of it and “thou shittin’ old Bovril!” ---
**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, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/82 "2010-01-17T04:05:14Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > 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. TV’s Craig Ferguson (_The Late Late Show_) is from Glasgow. ---
**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 17, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/83 "2010-01-17T06:21:23Z")
> [@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. Benny Hill was completely incomprehensible, but I suppose he wasn’t speaking the Queen’s English. And one couldn’t really infer meaning from context, because the context was always breasts. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/84 "2010-01-17T07:37:42Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I find Kiwi and Aussie accents harder. They’re so broad and twangy with their vowels, if I don’t know the context, I can get lost. I’m not surprised – there are times we cannot even understand each other. I knew a girl whose family came out to NZ from Townsville in OZ (on the east coast… up towards the pointy bit) who had to take elocution lessons in NZ because Kiwis couldn’t understand her. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/85 "2010-01-17T09:22:07Z")
> [@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)? MidAtlantic American and no problems at all. Oh, and I love the Arctic Monkeys, so thanks :D. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/86 "2010-01-17T10:04:43Z")
I remember when I was working for a short-order grill and taking orders, I could get orders and names just fine for a variety of US, Saudi Arabian, Indian, Japanese, African, European, and Latin American accents, but with Australians I had to ask them to repeat their orders several times, and the name “Paul” in an Australian accent didn’t sound like a name- or a word, or anything- to me. I apologized to that guy a lot that day, because it was rather embarassing. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/87 "2010-01-17T13:50:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > How do they eat green peas? Smushed onto the back of the fork along with little bits of other food from the plate, using the knife to move the bits about and to press them onto the fork. I picked it up after being there for a few months and still find myself doing it sometimes without thinking. ---
**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 17, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/88 "2010-01-17T14:51:55Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > That was pretty much the situation. 😃 😃 Just in case anyone failed to get even the final translation: “A Hedge is a Hedge. He only chopped it down because it spoilt his view. What is reaper moaning about?” ---
**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 17, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/89 "2010-01-17T17:02:42Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I don’t see much difference between Canadian and Midwestern, except for the sounds used in “doubt” and “about” (and of course, “eh”). 😉 Actually, most Canadians pronounce those two words like “dowt” and “abowt”. The only time (and that was only a couple of times) I heard the stereotypical “doot” and “aboot” was in Toronto, and only among older people – I’m thinking it comes from a Scots inflection. “Eh” of course is everywhere in Canada, and it is not a stereotype at all, but it sounds a little better than someone saying “y’know?” and “huh?” Funny Americanisms - the pronounciation of “root” and “roof” where the double o is sounded like “uh”; the first doesn’t rhyme with “boot” and the second sounds like the noise a dog makes – what’s up with that? Not to mention using the English-sounded “ont” for “Aunt”, which in Canada is pronounced more like “ant”. When I was a teenager living on the border with Minnesota, the kids from International Falls figured they could bug us by calling us “Limey”, which was hilarious enough (we, on the other hand referred to them as “Yanks”), but when we reminded them that all their Founding Fathers spoke like Limeys, it used to really tee them off… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/90 "2010-01-17T17:21:27Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > Actually, most Canadians pronounce those two words like “dowt” and “abowt”. The only time (and that was only a couple of times) I heard the stereotypical “doot” and “aboot” was in Toronto, and only among older people – I’m thinking it comes from a Scots inflection. I heard it all around Hamilton, Ontario, (Toronto area) but it was widespread throughout the generations. At least it seemed so to me. And it’s not quite that they’re pronouncing it “aboot.” To me, it sounds halfway between an “abowt” and “aboat.” It’s subtle, but it’s there. Whenever NPR plays CBC radio programs (like Definitely Not the Opera) here in the US, I notice it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/91 "2010-01-17T17:27:21Z")
[Here’s an example of the sound I’m talking about.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS60w2vgAkM#t=45) Notice how she says “out” in “I decided to nerd out.” ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/92 "2010-01-17T17:35:30Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > I don’t recall him mentioning people fussing about not understanding him, except maybe for one old Irish fellow, but I do remember stuff in the earlier books about not understanding what people were saying. Part of it was the difference in regional accents, but I think most of it was the unfamiliar slang and occasional mispronunciations/misuses. My personal favorites are him listening to his first case history and not understanding a word of it and “thou shittin’ old Bovril!” The comment about the doctor was referring to Doctor Who, not the vet (we’d never call a vet a doctor, anyway) - I was responding to several comments in one paragraph, but of course quoting takes away that context. I doubt anyone back then would have found Herriot’s vet’s accent hard to understand because it would have been the RP accent used by every posh person and everyone in the media. Benny Hill had a funny way of speaking - maybe he had speech impediment or maybe it was an affectation. I’m not surprised foreigners found him difficult to understand. Not that many people paid attention to the words, anyway. 😃 ---
**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 17, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/93 "2010-01-17T18:01:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [Here’s an example of the sound I’m talking about.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS60w2vgAkM#t=45) Notice how she says “out” in “I decided to nerd out.” I don’t know…to me she sounds more like a space cadet, than anything else. Everyone I know says “owt” for out…it must be that American TV influence. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/94 "2010-01-17T18:16:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Some friends and I went thru the first 2 seasons of “The Wire” on DVD, and had to turn on the captions in order to fully understand the drug dealers. There was a lot of druggy slang and “negro dialect” that was just too hard for us to understand otherwise. > > I’ll second what someone said upthread about Scottish folks. I spent a week in Scotland and 100% of the time could not understand a word that was spoken to me whenever a conversation was initiated. It helped once some context was established-- then I could understand some of what was said. Funny thing is, I was actually there working with some folks at an oil company, and there was one Engineer from Louisiana who was even harder to understand than the Scottish guys because he had such a think Cajun accent. Um, “negro dialect” isn’t, er, the _preferred_ term exactly. We do have trouble catching everything the farmers say in _All Creatures Great and Small_, but we can safely assume there’s something wrong with that cow that will necessitate some poor sap putting his hand up where the sun doesn’t often shine. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/95 "2010-01-17T18:30:13Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I am watching Avatar (I won’t go into how I am able to watch it at home and how I am able to watch the same bit repeatedly. Let’s just say that I will one day pay money to watch a better version of it) > > In one part our guy says ‘I have something to admit… …to all of you’ (in na’vi so it is conveniently subtitled) and then makes this sound > > “thewursomystonormywurd” > > If I play it back four times each time I hear > > “thewursomystonormywurd” > > What the fu…dge is he saying?? I can only guess it is “The words of my stone are my word” which sort of sounds like something vaguely sensical but not fully. > > So is that what he’s saying? > (And why?) The guy that plays Jake is not American, he’s an Australian that was born in the UK, iirc. So once your lot learn to speak proper English I suppose we’ll be able to understand what you say. Not sure why Cameron couldn’t afford a native English speaker for such a key role. Maybe his budget couldn’t cover that and all of the special effects? ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/96 "2010-01-17T18:57:03Z")
I’d just like to add Glee to the list of things I can’t understand. This one is the hardest yet for me - I’m picking up about half the words, I think. I’ve only seen the first episode, so I’ll probably get used to it, but the worst culprit is the red-headed teacher who the main character talks to on occasion - I honestly can’t distinguish a word she’s saying! I’m half convinced she’s not saying anything and just mumbling incoherent sounds as some kind of joke! I think the people in this talk faster than most US TV shows, and the accents seem thicker to me. I keep turning the volume up, but it’s not helping much! ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/97 "2010-01-17T19:12:21Z")
**Candyman74** , I’m a native speaker of English with standard hearing, and I occasionally have trouble with Emma (the guidance counselor/ginger bushbaby) myself. I can’t quite think of the right adjective for her voice- it’s not exactly mushy, but it’s getting there. > [@Zsofia](#): > > Um, “negro dialect” isn’t, er, the _preferred_ term exactly. I’m pretty sure the quotation marks were there to indicate a reference to the current well-known use of the phrase by Senator Harry Reid. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/98 "2010-01-17T19:37:49Z")
Saw Sherlock Holmes last night and I certainly missed some of what was said , my wife said the same. ---
**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 17, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/99 "2010-01-17T20:07:51Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > I don’t know…to me she sounds more like a space cadet, than anything else. > > Everyone I know says “owt” for out…it must be that American TV influence. She sounds a lot like me and everyone I know, except for slight differences - I wonder if she might be from B.C. If at some point we could retired the idea that all Canadians say “oot and aboot,” I would be really, really happy. ---
**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, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/100 "2010-01-17T20:22:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I heard it all around Hamilton, Ontario, (Toronto area) but it was widespread throughout the generations. At least it seemed so to me. And it’s not quite that they’re pronouncing it “aboot.” To me, it sounds halfway between an “abowt” and “aboat.” It’s subtle, but it’s there. Whenever NPR plays CBC radio programs (like Definitely Not the Opera) here in the US, I notice it. For me, a Canadian is instantly recognizable when they say about. It’s not so much the “aboot”, but the clarity of the end sound made. It’s very crisp in Canadians, not so much in Americans. It is a cross between abowt and aboat as said above, but also it is enunciated more precisely. Or so it sounds to my ears. I love Craig Ferguson’s accent–I had no idea. I really cannot identify regions like that. I knew he was Scots, but that’s it. But I have no problem understanding him. Glad to know that some Aussies and Kiwis have trouble with their own selves! I also have struggled (rarely) in the deep South with rapid speech. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=6)