# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/141 "2010-01-21T00:29:19Z")
I’m American (born & raised near Los Angeles) and my husband’s British. (Brummie born-and-bred) We “dated” long-distance-like, for over 10 years before he caved in and moved to California. We celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary in another 2 weeks. Anyway, I digress. During our “dating” I learned that he “toned down” his accent when with me, and I did the same. We didn’t realize it at first. Only when HE was with HIS friends or I was with MY friends did we realize that we couldn’t understand each other. He is fairly well educated & works in the computer tech field, so he’s had to deal with a lot of people by phone and in person. I worked at a call center, international airline reservations at the time, so I dealt with a lot of accents. I think that helped. I didn’t consciously change my accent when speaking with him, but one time when I called in to work from his house, for another day off (allowing for the standby flight at the time, don’t you know) he told me that I immediately switched into “California mode” and he completely lost the conversation. It’s fun! He explains the jokes & colloquialisms in British TV & movies, and I do the same with the Americanisms. We’re getting better, but still rely on each other to translate. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/142 "2010-01-21T00:51:22Z")
What is “California mode” and how do you tone it down? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/143 "2010-01-21T00:59:39Z")
> [@mecaenas](#): > > An Australian speaking with an American accent though. [Australians can’t even understand one another.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YM9Ereg2Zo) ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/144 "2010-01-22T04:36:32Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > What is “California mode” and how do you tone it down? I guess I was speaking too fast, or using slang or something like that. I’m not from “the valley” but I imagine it’s similar to what’s known as Valley Girl speak – think Moon Zappa. As I said, I didn’t even realize that I was slowing down & enunciating more when I spoke to him. It was \*after \*the phone call that he looked at me like a sort of lost puppy-dog and said that he’d totally lost the conversation. As I said previously, he’s a Brummie, and I’m sure the British dopers here can attest to their thick accent. With him it’s not so bad…unless he’s had a drink or is out with Brummie friends. Or, og help me, BOTH. I’ve heard other Brits say that even THEY can’t understand their fellow countrymen from Birmingham or Liverpool. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/145 "2010-01-22T05:16:15Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Okay, sincere question for the Canadians, now that we’re on this topic: > > Can we at least agree that there is a Canadian inflection on the “ow” sound that appears in the words “house” and “about” that is different from the way Americans usually pronounce those words? I’m not going to get into what that sound is, but can we at least agree that there is a slight accent diversion on this sound? > > I can’t tell if Canadians genuinely believe there is no accent differentiation between themselves and American on this sound, or if they just don’t like the way Americans interpret it. I don’t hear it on TV. I can’t tell the difference between the Canadian and American actors on Battlestar Galactica or Firefly, say. I can hear it in eastern Canadians and many regional American accents, but the people on TV sound like me, for the most part. I’ve talked to people from upstate New York and they had no accent I can detect, but they could hear mine loud and clear. It’s a strange thing, I get a kick out of it. There’s just the right amount of culture shock travelling to the states in general. ---
**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 22, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/146 "2010-01-22T05:46:31Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I don’t hear it on TV. I can’t tell the difference between the Canadian and American actors on Battlestar Galactica or Firefly, say. I can hear it in eastern Canadians and many regional American accents, but the people on TV sound like me, for the most part. I’ve talked to people from upstate New York and they had no accent I can detect, but they could hear mine loud and clear. It’s a strange thing, I get a kick out of it. There’s just the right amount of culture shock travelling to the states in general. When I really notice it is if I’m watching a baseball game and my team is playing the Blue Jays. If there is no other broadcast feed then I’m forced to watch the Blue Jay announcers (RAEG!) and I can’t _stand_ they way they certain words. “He’s out” is more like “He’s owwwwt” ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/147 "2010-01-22T06:04:56Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Okay, sincere question for the Canadians, now that we’re on this topic: > > Can we at least agree that there is a Canadian inflection on the “ow” sound that appears in the words “house” and “about” that is different from the way Americans usually pronounce those words? I’m not going to get into what that sound is, but can we at least agree that there is a slight accent diversion on this sound? > > I can’t tell if Canadians genuinely believe there is no accent differentiation between themselves and American on this sound, or if they just don’t like the way Americans interpret it. > > Where’s **Helen’s Eidolon**? She had a particularly amusing (to me) revelation a couple years ago when she realized that Canadians and Americans pronounce that sound differently. Well, just from personal linguistic experience, there is a very specific Las Vegas accent- perhaps via California? that features the same owblong. It’s really weird and rownd aboot to hear. ---
**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 29, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/148 "2010-01-29T12:02:08Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Sookie’s Canadian… _cough_ Kiwi. 😉 Well, OK… born in Canada, family moved out to NZ when she was four, generally identifies as NZer. ([Anna Paquin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Paquin)) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/149 "2010-01-29T15:20:57Z")
I’m terrible with accents. I recently rented _The Full Monty_ and didn’t understand a damn thing until I put on the subtitles. I’m usually okay at understanding other American accents, though. Except something that drives me apeshit… when I worked in Manhattan (I’m from the Midwest), my coworker kept saying to me, ‘‘My name’s not Kerri. It’s Kerri.’’ I thought she was screwing with my head. They sounded exactly the same to me. I laughed at her, and she got mad. She repeated it over and over. ‘‘Kerri’’ Kerri. You know, like the difference between merry and marry.’’ I’ve had this lecture at least three or four times since living in Jersey, as if there’s any distinguishable tonal difference between these two words. ‘‘Marry’’ and ‘‘Merry’’ sound exactly the same to me. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/150 "2010-01-29T15:37:06Z")
I’ve always been pretty good at accents. I thought the idea that people couldn’t understand english as was overblown Then I once watched a documentary on Celtic folklore. It was kind of a surreal experience. The narrator would speak for about 30 seconds of general knowledge, then they would do the switch offs to the experts, like the normal History channel format. Every one of the experts was some 230 year old man or women from some tiny Irish, Manx, Welsh or Scottish village. They all had no teeth, so they mumbled, they spoke in unimaginably thick accents, used vocabulary and idioms I wasn’t familiar with, and kept referencing ancient Celtic Proper names I had never heard and were composed of sounds that don’t actually exist. I challenged myself to try to understand one freakin sentence and after an hour I gave up, having caught very few words, let alone sentences. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/151 "2010-01-29T16:07:53Z")
Yes, you Canadians say “oot”, nothing to be ashamed of. After living in England for three years I’m pretty sure I can understand fairly anything thrown at me now. However, the reverse is not true. I’ve gotten used to that faraway look in the eyes of the person I’m talking to, when they are trying to match what I’m saying to what they think I mean. On the phone it’s really bad, because I will have to repeat myself about four times. The other day I went to the post office and thought, this tears it, I’m going to pretend to be English. The woman behind the counter didn’t ask me to repeat anything! Almost the first time. Today I spoke to someone on the phone about the deadline for some forms being turned in. I had to repeat, and repeat, and he finally said he wanted me to email him. I did, after thinking “What an idiot, his office is the one who deals with this forms, is he new or something.” Turns out he thought I was talking about fees, which he doesn’t actually deal with. And I’m a midwesterner, who has a fairly clear accent. I hesitate to imagine if I was from Canada or something 😛 ---
**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 29, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/152 "2010-01-29T16:30:50Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I thought she was screwing with my head. They sounded exactly the same to me. I laughed at her, and she got mad. She repeated it over and over. ‘‘Kerri’’ Kerri. You know, like the difference between merry and marry.‘’ I’ve had this lecture at least three or four times since living in Jersey, as if there’s any distinguishable tonal difference between these two words. ‘‘Marry’’ and ‘‘Merry’’ sound exactly the same to me. How about “Mary”? Marry/merry/Mary is actually a common dialectal marker. Some dialects (like mine) pronounce all three the same. Some all uniquely. Some a combination of the two (for example, pronouncing “Mary” and “merry” the same, but “marry” differently.) It’s hard for me to hear, too, since I don’t distinguish the sounds and prounce “Kerry” and “Carrie” the same, but the difference in sound is basically the difference reflected in the spelling: short “e” vs short “a.” ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/153 "2010-01-30T20:48:46Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I’m usually okay at understanding other American accents, though. Except something that drives me apeshit… when I worked in Manhattan (I’m from the Midwest), my coworker kept saying to me, ‘‘My name’s not Kerri. It’s Kerri.’’ > > I thought she was screwing with my head. They sounded exactly the same to me. I laughed at her, and she got mad. She repeated it over and over. ‘‘Kerri’’ Kerri. You know, like the difference between merry and marry.‘’ I’ve had this lecture at least three or four times since living in Jersey, as if there’s any distinguishable tonal difference between these two words. ‘‘Marry’’ and ‘‘Merry’’ sound exactly the same to me. This is funny to me because I have had similar problems with Midwesterners (I’m from California). When I lived in Chicago, my boss’ name was Don. I once asked a coworker if they’d seen Don around lately, I needed to talk to him. Coworker: Who? Me: Don. Coworker: Don? Me: Yeah, Don. Coworker: Who’s Don? Me: OUR BOSS. Coworker: OH, **Don**. I thought you were looking for DON. Me: WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE AM I GOING CRAZY? Eventually comes out she thought I was looking for a woman with the name _Dawn_. In her mind, they were totally different words. For me, they are homonyms. And I once had a similarly confusing conversation with a coworker here in Michigan with the words _pond_ and _pawn_. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/154 "2010-01-30T20:59:03Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I don’t hear it on TV. I can’t tell the difference between the Canadian and American actors on Battlestar Galactica or Firefly, say. I can hear it in eastern Canadians and many regional American accents, but the people on TV sound like me, for the most part. Haven’t seen Battlestar Galactica, but I agree that neither Jewel Staite nor Nathan Fillion have discernible Canadian accents. I don’t know if that’s intentional or just their natural accents. I’ve always been baffled by Canadians’ general refusal to admit they have this accent. Do you think that this is some kind of American conspiracy to annoy y’all? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/155 "2010-01-30T21:11:23Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > This is funny to me because I have had similar problems with Midwesterners (I’m from California). When I lived in Chicago, my boss’ name was Don. I once asked a coworker if they’d seen Don around lately, I needed to talk to him. > > Coworker: Who? > Me: Don. > Coworker: Don? > Me: Yeah, Don. > Coworker: Who’s Don? > Me: OUR BOSS. > Coworker: OH, **Don**. I thought you were looking for DON. > Me: WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE AM I GOING CRAZY? > > Eventually comes out she thought I was looking for a woman with the name _Dawn_. In her mind, they were totally different words. For me, they are homonyms. . Heh. When I was a junior in college, we got a new hall director. The very first day back in the dorms, she held a meeting with the upperclassmen to introduce herself. Towards the middle she mentioned that she lived with Don. Okay, sure, why not. It wasn’t too unusual for an unmarried HD to have an SO live with them. Why she looked nervous about saying this was beyond me, and the others…until someone asked her what she thought about moving to New England. Then she enthused that she was looking forward to seeing snow for the first time, and so was Don because **she** had never seen snow before either. Oh! You could almost see the lightbulbs go off on everyone’s faces as we realized that she was living with DAWN not DON. We all liked Dawn, but not one person in the room realized that she was talking about a woman because they sound the same to us. I have trouble understanding people who claim that Mary, Marry, and Merry sound the same, yet I think that Dawn/Don sound the same, and Concord/Conquered sound the same (but **not** Concorde) Caught/Cot, Taught/Tot etc, so it’s weird that so many of us have this sort of incredulity when it comes to others not hearing an difference in other word pairings that “obviously” sound different. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/156 "2010-01-30T21:53:58Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I’‘Kerri’’ Kerri. You know, like the difference between merry and marry.‘’ I’ve had this lecture at least three or four times since living in Jersey, as if there’s any distinguishable tonal difference between these two words. ‘‘Marry’’ and ‘‘Merry’’ sound exactly the same to me. I know that some accents pronounce those words the same, but I don’t understand how you can hear a New Yorker say “merry” and “marry” and not \*hear \*the difference in their accent, even if you don’t pronounce it that way yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/157 "2010-01-30T22:22:51Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > …until someone asked her what she thought about moving to New England. This explains it. You New Englanders talk funny. We had an English teacher in high school from New Hampshire. We learned to follow along with her most of the time, but her first day there, she mentioned that we would be reading out loud from “Chos” the next day. None of us had a clue about what she meant. The next day she told everyone to open their textbooks to “Chos” and we all wondered what she meant. Someone asked her what she meant, and she said “Chos, on page xx” We went to that page and found the short story “Charles”. :dubious: Seriously, on MASH when Hawkeye and BJ would make fun of Winchester’s accent, their most exaggerated version was clearer than hers. > [@elfkin477](#): > > I have trouble understanding people who claim that Mary, Marry, and Merry sound the same, yet I think that Dawn/Don sound the same, and Concord/Conquered sound the same (but **not** Concorde) Caught/Cot, Taught/Tot etc, so it’s weird that so many of us have this sort of incredulity when it comes to others not hearing an difference in other word pairings that “obviously” sound different. And around here, I would say that Mary & Marry sound the same, Merry doesn’t, Dawn and Don both start and end with the same letters, but the middle doesn’t sound the same, Concord & Concorde sound the same, but neither sounds like conquered, and that caught and taught both have faint w sounds in them, but cot and tot rhyme with not. And since _I_ speak basic American Midwestern English, _you_ are _obviously_ wrong if you disagree with me on these pronunciations. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/158 "2010-01-30T23:06:08Z")
Eyebrows of Doom writes: \> I know that some accents pronounce those words the same, but I don’t \> understand how you can hear a New Yorker say “merry” and “marry” and not \> hear the difference in their accent, even if you don’t pronounce it that way \> yourself. Look up the concept of a “phoneme.” When one learns as a child to speak a language or a dialect, one learns the distinctions between phonemes (i.e., distinctive sounds) that are made in that language or dialect. Distinctions that are not significant in that language or dialect are actually hard to pick out for the speakers of that language or dialect. The distinction that you make between “merry” and “marry” is irrelevant for some other dialects of English, so it’s hard for them to even tell that you’re making a distinction. To them it’s just two ways of pronouncing the same word in a way that’s perhaps slightly different but hard even to hear. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/159 "2010-01-31T07:02:51Z")
> [@Lok](#): > > This explains it. You New Englanders talk funny. We had an English teacher in high school from New Hampshire. We learned to follow along with her most of the time, but her first day there, she mentioned that we would be reading out loud from “Chos” the next day. None of us had a clue about what she meant. The next day she told everyone to open their textbooks to “Chos” and we all wondered what she meant. Someone asked her what she meant, and she said “Chos, on page xx” We went to that page and found the short story “Charles”. :dubious: It sounds like your teacher had a speech impediment. Charles, which is a family name on my father’s side, sounds like Charles, with an “r” and an “l” and everything even here. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153/160 "2010-01-31T15:08:37Z")
Then there must be a lot of people there with speech impediments, since I have met others from that area of the country that speak the same way. Not many of them, but they are out there. And if you are from that part of the country, of course you will always hear the “r” and “l” sounds, for the same reason Canadians get upset when told they say “aboot” and “oot” instead of “about” and “out”. You don’t hear your own accents, because it is what you are used to hearing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-pesky-americans-sometimes-you-say-things-in-films-that-are-incomprehensible/525153.md?page=9)