OT Pet Peeves

[geofflambert]

Somewhere in Tennessee at a filling station, paying by credit card. Older gentleman at the register "Wuts yer taig?", that's a long i in "taig". Me "huh?" Him, more insistently "Wuts yer taig?" Figured out he wanted my license plate number, as in "What's your tag?"

[Lecivius]

Another peeve. Going to a different country & finding out your CC is no good. Everyone else on planet earth uses chipped cards, but here in the U.S. it is cheaper to just keep rolling them outta the machine, and making the users suffer fraud.

[Treetop64]

People who pronounce Jaguar like "Jag-wire".

"Ooohhh! You drive a JAG-wiiire?!"

:/

[Lecivius]

Jag-u-war

or just 'Jaug' [8D]

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL geofflambert
A woman speaking cockney, however, is the opposite. Think Billie Piper pushing her best cockney in Dr. Who.

Americans have a weak spot for any UK accent. I once worked with a guy from Scotland who said his accent placed him on the bottom of the pecking order in the UK. It was a working class Scottish accent. He was brilliant and had gone to school at Cambridge or Oxford on a scholarship (I forget which, I know the distinction between the two is a big deal to those in the UK). He said he couldn't get a date in the UK with his accent, but once he emigrated to the US, suddenly he was cool and exotic and got a lot of attention.

I know another guy from Petersburough who has a working class accent (though he grew up middle class and his sister was in the Royal Ballet company). He was initially very wary of hanging out with people with college degrees here in the US, but nobody cared and most thought the accent was cool.

ORIGINAL: Lecivius

Another peeve. Going to a different country & finding out your CC is no good. Everyone else on planet earth uses chipped cards, but here in the U.S. it is cheaper to just keep rolling them outta the machine, and making the users suffer fraud.

US credit card companies are rolling out the new cards. Over the last year all of my credit cards have been replaced with the new chipped ones. The last one was replaced yesterday.

Bill

[Treetop64]

ORIGINAL: wdolson


US credit card companies are rolling out the new cards. Over the last year all of my credit cards have been replaced with the new chipped ones. The last one was replaced yesterday.

Bill

Got mine changed over a year ago, almost as soon as it was possible in the States.

Though, it's kinda like NASCAR - held up by "tradition" - belatedly and hesitantly adopting fuel-injection only in 2014 or whatever, while everyone else around the world have been racing with fuel injection for decades. [:D]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

ORIGINAL geofflambert
A woman speaking cockney, however, is the opposite. Think Billie Piper pushing her best cockney in Dr. Who.

Americans have a weak spot for any UK accent. I once worked with a guy from Scotland who said his accent placed him on the bottom of the pecking order in the UK. It was a working class Scottish accent. He was brilliant and had gone to school at Cambridge or Oxford on a scholarship (I forget which, I know the distinction between the two is a big deal to those in the UK). He said he couldn't get a date in the UK with his accent, but once he emigrated to the US, suddenly he was cool and exotic and got a lot of attention.

I had the same experience in Oz. Attention American men! Go to Oz before you get married! That is all.

[rustysi]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: wdolson

ORIGINAL geofflambert
A woman speaking cockney, however, is the opposite. Think Billie Piper pushing her best cockney in Dr. Who.

Americans have a weak spot for any UK accent. I once worked with a guy from Scotland who said his accent placed him on the bottom of the pecking order in the UK. It was a working class Scottish accent. He was brilliant and had gone to school at Cambridge or Oxford on a scholarship (I forget which, I know the distinction between the two is a big deal to those in the UK). He said he couldn't get a date in the UK with his accent, but once he emigrated to the US, suddenly he was cool and exotic and got a lot of attention.

I had the same experience in Oz. Attention American men! Go to Oz before you get married! That is all.

Can I go now that I'm divorced?[:D]

[aspqrz02]

Not by boat! [;)]

Phil

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: wdolson
Americans have a weak spot for any UK accent. I once worked with a guy from Scotland who said his accent placed him on the bottom of the pecking order in the UK. It was a working class Scottish accent. He was brilliant and had gone to school at Cambridge or Oxford on a scholarship (I forget which, I know the distinction between the two is a big deal to those in the UK). He said he couldn't get a date in the UK with his accent, but once he emigrated to the US, suddenly he was cool and exotic and got a lot of attention.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58
I had the same experience in Oz. Attention American men! Go to Oz before you get married! That is all.

I know an American who wouldn't exactly be considered a "catch" here (overweight, bad PTSD with night terrors, physically disabled from multiple injuries, introvert to the point of being anti-social, divorced three times) who moved to Australia and got remarried a few months after moving there. Once you get to know him, he is entertaining (very quick wit), but it takes a long time to get to know him that well.

Bill

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: wdolson

ORIGINAL geofflambert
A woman speaking cockney, however, is the opposite. Think Billie Piper pushing her best cockney in Dr. Who.

Americans have a weak spot for any UK accent. I once worked with a guy from Scotland who said his accent placed him on the bottom of the pecking order in the UK. It was a working class Scottish accent. He was brilliant and had gone to school at Cambridge or Oxford on a scholarship (I forget which, I know the distinction between the two is a big deal to those in the UK). He said he couldn't get a date in the UK with his accent, but once he emigrated to the US, suddenly he was cool and exotic and got a lot of attention.

I had the same experience in Oz. Attention American men! Go to Oz before you get married! That is all.

American men? What are we gorns supposed to do? Are there gorn women in Oz? Or do I have to go to NZ to find those?

[witpqs]

I think females on the island of Komodo would find a Gorn accent attractive. [:D]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

A woman speaking cockney, however, is the opposite. Think Billie Piper pushing her best cockney in Dr. Who.

warspite1

Billie Piper (thankfully) had only a very mild Cockney or estuary English accent in evidence in Doctor Who (well she was born in Swindon? for goodness sake).... Even so it really bugged me on the few occasions it came through to any degree and she would fail to pronounce a t for example. No one expects BBC English anymore, but....

Sadly this lazy way of speaking is becoming more prevalent in the UK as people think its cool and moron, right-on media bosses go out of their way to hire presenters, DJ's etc who speak like this. Even worse are two fairly recent happenings: Firstly the rise of Jafaican, where dumb-arse white kids think its cool to speak with a mix of cockney and Jamaican patois. Pet peeve? No that £$%^ turns me into a homicidal loon. I got on the train the other day and a young kid who should know better was on da phone asking his mate "where is you?". I had to stick my ipod on loud to drown out the assault on my eardrums; either that or chuck him off the train before reaching the station. The even more recent phenomena is for previously "normal" speakers to start purposely adopting a cockney accent as they think they are "gettin daan wiv da youff".

So no its not cool its just plain lazy. My dad and his family - 4 brothers and sisters - were "true" cockneys - born within the sound of the bow bells, just before during and just after the First World War, into a poverty that our generation would find a world away - sharing a "bathroom" with other families, no hot running water, and certainly no money. My dad went to school only until he was 13, but despite that upbringing he never dropped an H or missed a T in his life. No one has to speak that way - its just lazyness (or worse - idiots trying to be cool).

As for regional accents, they are a real mixed bunch. I think they all have a charm of their own - provided they are not toooooo broad, at which point they can become difficult for the listener in fully understanding. It also depends a lot on who is speaking of course. I find female regional accents generally sweet. Brummie is perhaps the least "ear-friendly" of them all - regardless of who is speaking [;)] Sorry to those from Birmingham and environs [:)]

Wheyey Cheryl, you can talk Geordie to me all day pet - I'll listen [:D]

[Feltan]

A picture of a woman like that should not be in a Pet Peeves thread.

Unless, of course, you are a beneficiary of a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court.

Regards,
Feltan

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Feltan

A picture of a woman like that should not be in a Pet Peeves thread.

Unless, of course, you are a beneficiary of a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court.

Regards,
Feltan

warspite1

For those of us this side of the pond can you explain what that ruling was please? That flew over my head I'm afraid.

Thanks

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: Feltan

A picture of a woman like that should not be in a Pet Peeves thread.

Unless, of course, you are a beneficiary of a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court.

Regards,
Feltan

ORIGINAL: warspite1

For those of us this side of the pond can you explain what that ruling was please? That flew over my head I'm afraid.

Thanks

It's a political comment, which doesn't belong here. Sorry.

Bill

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

ORIGINAL: Feltan

A picture of a woman like that should not be in a Pet Peeves thread.

Unless, of course, you are a beneficiary of a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court.

Regards,
Feltan

ORIGINAL: warspite1

For those of us this side of the pond can you explain what that ruling was please? That flew over my head I'm afraid.

Thanks

It's a political comment, which doesn't belong here. Sorry.

Bill

warspite1

That's a relief. I mean I know the Geordie lass has her detractors but I would be surprised if there was a Supreme Court Ruling against Cheryl Cole's existence [;)]

[Feltan]

Apologies. Didn't occur to me at the time that such a comment was within the political realm. Seems like it has become just part of daily life.

Regards,
Feltan

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Feltan

Apologies. Didn't occur to me at the time that such a comment was within the political realm. Seems like it has become just part of daily life.

Regards,
Feltan

Gotta remember you're not in Kansas anymore. [:D]

[geofflambert]

Kansas = people of the south wind