# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/121 "2010-01-18T21:46:21Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > The Snapper - third in the trilogy that began with The Commitments. Collectively, The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van are known as The Barrytown Trilogy and were all (imho, of course) quite good film adaptations of the original novels. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/122 "2010-01-18T22:43:19Z")
I spend a lot of my working time on the phone or in face-to-face consultations with people from every corner of the world. I’ve always fancied myself to be pretty sharp when it comes to picking out and picking up accents, and there are times when I can identify a caller’s origin in five words or less. Now and then, however, a case comes along that reminds me to remain humble. Our NPR station fills in some of its inter-program gaps with short “man-on-the-street” monologues to add local color. A segment last week featured the strident voice of a lady whose thick accent left me completely stumped. “Where on EARTH is she from?” I pondered to myself, trying to pierce through the layers. “I don’t think I’ve EVER heard anyone speak like that.” A few moments later she proudly proclaimed the name of the town where she was born and raised. Which just happened to be my Dad’s home town. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/123 "2010-01-19T00:39:26Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > 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. I don’t know about The Wire, but the accents on True Blood mostly aren’t real, so that could be part of the problem. The guy who plays Jason is Australian; Sookie’s Canadian; Bill is British; Andy’s from the west coast; Tara, Hoyt, and Terry are from out west (TX & NV)’ Lafayette is from Illinois; Jessica from NY… lots of fake southern accents going on, there. Sam and Arleen, though, are real southerners. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/124 "2010-01-19T00:47:56Z")
This thread reminds me of the first time I saw Oasis interviewed on MTV. There were subtitles. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/125 "2010-01-19T00:55:14Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > I was in a bar/restaurant a few years ago, when some drunken Scots came over to me. I had a ten minute conversation with them and didn’t understand a single word they said. When I was in Australia in 1999, I spent some time in the casino in Melbourne playing blackjack. For the last couple of hours I was there, 4 Aussie army guys sat down and played. They were on leave and quite drunk, but very friendly. They found it hilarious that I had to keep asking them to repeat what they said, because I could only understand every third word or so. But it was not just them being drunk that threw me. I have a horrible time with any kind of thick accent. And I never did figure out how to say Canberra properly. > [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > That’s my go-to, subtitle ON when I can’t quite catch something on a DVD. > > The worst time I had was when I was in London and I met someone who was born in India, who had an accent from India, and was speaking British-accented English with his Indian accent on top of it. My American ear has an OK time with either a British accent or an Indian accent, but not the two on top of each other and mixed together. Conversation was very awkward, 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! When I was in Glasgow, I went to a little hole in the wall Indian place for lunch. The man there may have been speaking perfectly correct English, but he was doing it with the sing-song Indian accent, overlaid with a very thick Scottish accent. I could not understand a single word he said the entire time. But the food was great. 😃 A couple of nights later, I was talking to a couple of guys, all of us having just met that night. They started doing friendly insults about being from Edinburgh and Glasgow. I stopped them and asked them if they could really tell the difference between the accents of the two cities and they both said sure and looked at me like I was crazy. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/126 "2010-01-19T01:30:52Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I don’t know about The Wire, but the accents on True Blood mostly aren’t real, so that could be part of the problem. The guy who plays Jason is Australian; Sookie’s Canadian; Bill is British; Andy’s from the west coast; Tara, Hoyt, and Terry are from out west (TX & NV)’ Lafayette is from Illinois; Jessica from NY… lots of fake southern accents going on, there. > > Sam and Arleen, though, are real southerners. The _True Blood_ accents are AWFUL. They’re the worst kind of fake Southern accent. It makes me cringe. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/127 "2010-01-19T01:47:27Z")
All right! This reminds me of one of the strangest things I ever witnessed. I was at party and found myself beside 2 guys talking. One was obviously Scottish and he would say something in a very strong accent and the guy he was talking to would answer him with lines from that **Monty Python** sketch about the Scottish poet. Then the Scottish guy would say something else, then the other guy would quote from the sketch again. Later on I talked to the non-Scottish guy and asked what that was all about. He said this guy just started talking to him, he couldn’t understand him, and just decided to reply in the only “Scottish” he knew. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/128 "2010-01-19T01:55:43Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I don’t know about The Wire, but the accents on True Blood mostly aren’t real, so that could be part of the problem. The guy who plays Jason is Australian; Sookie’s Canadian; Bill is British; Andy’s from the west coast; Tara, Hoyt, and Terry are from out west (TX & NV)’ Lafayette is from Illinois; Jessica from NY… lots of fake southern accents going on, there. > > Sam and Arleen, though, are real southerners. Whether they’re southerners or not doesn’t really make a difference to me; I’m hearing “thick American accent”. Bill and Jason, bizarrely, are fairly clear to me. Do you find those in the show faking the regional accents harder to understand? Maybe your’e right and they’re just not speaking clearly because they’re faking it. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/129 "2010-01-19T02:15:43Z")
Midwestern American family checking into the campground at Disney: Disney Cast Member (DCM): “Do you have any paaants?” _Sin family all look at each other like ?huh?_ Sinjin: “What?” DCM, louder: “Do you have any paaaants?” Sinjin: “Ummm, no, we only brought shorts.” DCM: “Not paaaants, paaaats.” Sinjin: “Ummmm, my name is Pat??? Does it make any difference?” DCM: “Not Pats…pats, pats, you know, dogs or cats.” We still giggle about it. ---
**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 19, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/130 "2010-01-19T02:25:41Z")
How do you get “pants” out of “pets”? ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/131 "2010-01-19T02:32:06Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > How do you get “pants” out of “pets”? It was the long drawn out aaaaaaah sound. We were totally confused. For some reason the first word that came to mind was pants, then Pats. The word did not sound like pets at all. Four people were totally confused until she mentioned dogs or caaaaaaats. IE; pets was said with the same vowel sound as cats, only dragged out for a couple of breaths. ---
**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 19, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/132 "2010-01-19T02:48:02Z")
I’ll just say one final thing and drop it - I don’t hear anyone around me saying “aboot.” If all y’all tell me you hear Western Canadians saying “aboot,” I guess you must, but I truly don’t hear it. ---
**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 19, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/133 "2010-01-19T02:48:53Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > IE; pets was said with the same vowel sound as cats, only dragged out for a couple of breaths. I am Southern and cannot pronounce the writing instrument “pen” like a Yankee without a certain amount of concentration, but I’ve never noticed “pets” pronounced that way. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/134 "2010-01-19T04:12:09Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’ll just say one final thing and drop it - I don’t hear anyone around me saying “aboot.” If all y’all tell me you hear Western Canadians saying “aboot,” I guess you must, but I truly don’t hear it. That is the thing about accents, you never hear your own. I know I have one, but I have no clue as to what it sounds like to others. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/135 "2010-01-19T05:14:26Z")
I had no problems with the Arctic Monkeys song. Then again, I’ve never really had much of problem being able to decipher the various variations on English in the UK and Ireland. > [@AHunter3](#): > > Well, then there’s [this…](http://matadorabroad.com/what-english-sounds-like-to-people-who-dont-speak-it/) > > (many of you have heard it before) For some reason, that song reminds me of [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k3Dxl-jz6w&feature=related). While the words are clearly in English, you still may not be able to understand any of it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/136 "2010-01-19T23:14:01Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I am Southern and cannot pronounce the writing instrument “pen” like a Yankee without a certain amount of concentration, but I’ve never noticed “pets” pronounced that way. I bet you say “pin.” We had a transfer student totally pissed at us in one of my math classes because she asked if someone could lend her a pin, and we tried to suggest she try the home ec room. Finally she yelled something about “ **a pin to write with**!” and we figured out what she was saying 😛 She obviously believed we were yanking her chain, but we honestly had no idea she wanted a pen. ---
**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 20, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/137 "2010-01-20T01:01:16Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I bet you say “pin.” My friend from Brooklyn handed me a ball point and said, “I was gonna give this to you this morning, but it took me all day to get the pigs out”. I presume this is a joke on a pen or enclosure being pronounced differently than the writing instrument. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/138 "2010-01-20T03:54:40Z")
> [@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”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108170/trivia). It was supposed to be a sequel of sorts (same characters) as “The Commitments”, but because 20th Century Fox owned the film rights to the Rabbitte name, the characters names were changed. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/139 "2010-01-20T04:13:59Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > 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) With depressing frequency. Most reliably in the case of very thick lower class British accents. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/140 "2010-01-20T15:01:25Z")
I was already beaten to the punch in revealing that the actor in the scene in question is Australian which might have something to do with it. I haven’t seen the movie but have seen several clips and he does not speak particularly clearly. I’ve never had a problem understanding Brits in general and certainly not my own boyfriend until he informed me that a friend of ours left him a voice message asking if he could recommend a porn shop, as he was looking for an extender. We went back and forth for a good twenty minutes before I realized he was looking for a _pawn_ shop and an extender ( I think that was the term) was not some male enhancement device but a ladder :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=8)