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I don/t respect HHH anymore.

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 10:54 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH
Various and sundry American accents can present their own problems. 

I recall reading about a "furriner" who was suggesting that we here in the US had it easy, with only one language to deal with (as opposed to Europe, where you can speak 5 languages in a single day - all on their native ground).

The reply was that the US resident said he could speak a pretty good Brooklyn, fair to middling Florida, reasonable Texas, great Midwest, and could get along in California...

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 8:20 AM

Various and sundry American accents can present their own problems.  I remember talking on the phone with a customer from the South, and managed take care of his issue after several attempts.  I quipped during the conversation that we seemed to be having trouble with each other's accents.

Having spent a lot of time holding or kicking a rugby ball, I've become able to understand most British and Commonwealth accents, with the possible exception of New Zealand.

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Posted by M636C on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 4:30 AM

54light15

M636C, I didn't say that the Krays were Scottish. East enders, not necessarily Cockney. Not sure about that. I've got friends in Dagenham and they sure don't sound like Dick Van *** in Mary Poppins.  (I wonder why it won't print his name?)

When I was in the Navy, most of the dummies were the crew. Officers, anyway. 

 
To be fair, nobody in the whole world sounded like the screen husband of the recently late Mary Tyler Moore in his role in "Mary Poppins", as revealed in the more recent movie "Saving Mr Banks", and most of us know why the surname is suppressed....
 
I didn't mean to suggest that you implied the Krays had a Scots accent: I have had little problem understanding London accents and Scots accents apart from Glasgow although other regional accents can be as obscure to me as anyone, and I was surprised that you thought they were in the same class of intelligibility.
 
I was careful not to link the museum dummies with my colleagues in the Navy, although I must admit the the museum pilot's briefing room reminded me of a time when I had to explain a Magnetic Anomaly Detection system (for locating submerged submarines) to a group of aircrew. The dummies might have got the point more quickly.
 
My experience is that dummies are found at every level in the armed forces, but sadly the officers have more influence. The smartest senior officer I remember was an Air Vice Marshal (two star) who manged to ease a situation between two of his Group Captains (full colonel equivalents) on a VIP flight awaiting departure but some two stars could be carved from wood.
 
Peter
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Posted by 54light15 on Monday, January 30, 2017 10:48 PM

M636C, I didn't say that the Krays were Scottish. East enders, not necessarily Cockney. Not sure about that. I've got friends in Dagenham and they sure don't sound like Dick Van *** in Mary Poppins.  (I wonder why it won't print his name?)

When I was in the Navy, most of the dummies were the crew. Officers, anyway. 

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, January 30, 2017 6:01 PM

tree68
M636C

No question - I was going for the virtually unintelligible (to those not familiar) accents used in the movie, such as was mentioned about a true, full, Scot's accent.

Speaking of regional accents, I think it was "Steel Magnolias" in which I read each of the five main characters had a Southern accent from a different region...

Likewise, with TV as the example, most regional accents are fading away in this country.  When I went to Jacksonville in 1990 to the Dufford Center I expected to have some problems in understanding Dispatchers from the offices from the South.  No problem with the Dispatchers, however, when having conversations with field personnel in the South from time to time it was a different story and one had to work hard in understanding their side of the conversation.

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, January 30, 2017 5:28 PM

M636C
But the accent used by the Kray Brothers would be a Cockney accent from the London area, totally unrelated to any Scots accent or any of the large number of regional accents like Liverpool (think of the Beatles) or any of the West Country accents.

No question - I was going for the virtually unintelligible (to those not familiar) accents used in the movie, such as was mentioned about a true, full, Scot's accent.

Speaking of regional accents, I think it was "Steel Magnolias" in which I read each of the five main characters had a Southern accent from a different region...

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Posted by M636C on Monday, January 30, 2017 5:17 PM

54light15

You're talking about the Kray brothers. Reggie and Ronnie, the terrors of the east end in the 1960s. They hung out in a pub called The Blind Beggar. I went to that pub last time I was in London. It's a dump! Very sketchy and a lousy beer selection. 

 

 

But the accent used by the Kray Brothers would be a Cockney accent from the London area, totally unrelated to any Scots accent or any of the large number of regional accents like Liverpool (think of the Beatles) or any of the West Country accents.

Quite some time ago I visited the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton, adjacent to the Royal Naval Air Station. They have a quite reasonable mock up of various interior scenes in an aircraft carrier (modified for disabled access) with full size dioramas of typical scenes with dummies representing crew with some animation including working fire hoses.

Why I brought this up was that virtually the full range of British regional accents were represented by the recorded conversations played during the animated scenes. Normally such detail isn't included, at least partly for intelligibility.

It is said that British regional accents are dying out, being replaced by a more or less standardised pronunciation resulting from more widespread centrally produced television.

Peter

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Posted by 54light15 on Monday, January 30, 2017 3:01 PM

You're talking about the Kray brothers. Reggie and Ronnie, the terrors of the east end in the 1960s. They hung out in a pub called The Blind Beggar. I went to that pub last time I was in London. It's a dump! Very sketchy and a lousy beer selection. 

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, January 30, 2017 12:21 PM

There's a movie making the rounds on the premium channels right now about some British gangsters entitled "Legend."  The lead characters have such heavy accents that one must really pay attention...

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Sunday, January 29, 2017 10:12 PM

54light15

Great thread and an excellent reference to Scotty in view of the recent Robbie Burns day. Lagavulin for me, thanks. In my job as a boiler inspector, the stereotype of a Scot in the engine/boiler room is totally true! On Front Street in Toronto is the place where the Royal Bank of Canada has its main technical office. The man in charge of the boiler plant, Barry Greaves was as Scottish as Tatties, Neeps and Haggis. On his office wall were posters from the Blue Funnel shipping line. An old merchant engineer. There were many others and most have retired in the last few years. Me bearins canna handle the straain! 

But, I ain't trying to sidetrack the thread about HHH. Hugh Hefner, right? But I thought his middle name was Marston. 

 

I thought his middle name started with H and rhymed with corny. Whistling

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Posted by 54light15 on Sunday, January 29, 2017 7:13 PM

Great thread and an excellent reference to Scotty in view of the recent Robbie Burns day. Lagavulin for me, thanks. In my job as a boiler inspector, the stereotype of a Scot in the engine/boiler room is totally true! On Front Street in Toronto is the place where the Royal Bank of Canada has its main technical office. The man in charge of the boiler plant, Barry Greaves was as Scottish as Tatties, Neeps and Haggis. On his office wall were posters from the Blue Funnel shipping line. An old merchant engineer. There were many others and most have retired in the last few years. Me bearins canna handle the straain! 

But, I ain't trying to sidetrack the thread about HHH. Hugh Hefner, right? But I thought his middle name was Marston. 

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Posted by wanswheel on Friday, January 27, 2017 11:04 AM

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Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, January 26, 2017 8:49 PM

Speaking of Scottish accents...

I'm sure we all remember the actor Jame Doohan who played Scotty the chief engineer on "Star Trek."

He told a story of when he was auditioning for the role of the chief engineer the producers Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon had him try several accents, English, Irish, Scottish, German, and so on.  They liked the (stage) Scottish accent the best so they stuck with it.

Doohan asked them, "Have you ever heard a REAL Scottish accent?"  Seems that during World War Two when he was in the Canadian Army stationed in Britain he was sent to the British Army's Officer Candidate School and roomed with a fellow from Scotland.  As Doohan remembered, "I couldn't understand a word he said!  Funny thing was, he understood me perfectly."

He let them have it with the real accent, and he said "The look on their faces was priceless!"

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Posted by M636C on Thursday, January 26, 2017 8:02 PM

Firelock76

Thank you M636, and remember...

"If you can see it's a braw, bricht, moon-lit nicht than ye'r all richt, ye ken!"

 
My father used to say that... in an incredibly heavy Scots accent that he never used for anything else.
 
Billy Connolly has the Glasgow accent pretty much down pat (since he once worked in the shipyards). I recall one of his TV shows where he made a tour of Scotland. He read the terrible doggerel about the Tay Bridge while overlooking the bridge itself, and discussed putting leads on "bairns" (children) in the islands to the north to stop them being blown away...
 
Many years ago I worked with an engineer from Glasgow. I found I had to concentrate hard to understand him. I'm told that while replying to him, I reverted to a strong Aberdeen accent which I never noticed but everyone else did.
 
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Posted by schlimm on Thursday, January 26, 2017 7:01 PM

Perhaps if the OP confined himeself to a fine single malt from Islay instead of the cheapest rot gut, his posts would be marginally more coherent?

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Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, January 26, 2017 6:54 PM

Thank you M636, and remember...

"If you can see it's a braw, bricht, moon-lit nicht than ye'r all richt, ye ken!"

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Thursday, January 26, 2017 5:18 PM

wanswheel

 

THANK YOU you made a Dreary Buffalo NY Day MUCH BRIGHTER!

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Thursday, January 26, 2017 5:01 PM

See what happens when I post late at night with a bottle of Laphroaig Scotch http://www.laphroaig.com/opinions/tour.aspx we end up in the Twighlight Zone-

 

 

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 10:54 PM

samfp1943
One might suspect that the contents of thay wee Fifth of Scotch might be to blame?Mischief

I think "wee" comes after the Fifth of Scotch.

Or "whee" as well.

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Posted by M636C on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 10:37 PM

Firelock76

 

 
Electroliner 1935
 
Firelock76
I believe "Gigalow" is a town or suburb in the Scottish Lowlands near the Firth of Fifth.

 

Not found in Google Maps, but Google returns 

Did you mean: Gigolo

 Search Results
 

 

 

Hey, wait a minute, I didn't say that!

Besides, Glasgow's  a city in Scotland!  As Sir Harry Lauder once sang..

"I belong to Glasgow, dear old Glasgow town...

What's the matter with Glasgow as it's goin' round and round..."

A drinking song as you might guess, and Harry pronouced it "Glasga."

 
Firstly, I agree, you didn't say that....   The dangers of editing posts....
 
My grandfather emigrated from Aberdeen on the other side of Scotland.
 
Many years ago we would have family singalongs in which Scottish songs were sung. "I belong to Glasgow" was popular, among many other songs...
 
We tended to pronouce it more like "Glasgee" but my recollection of your second line was that it started:
 
"But somethin's the matter with Glasgow..."
 
but you shouldn't forget the later line:
 
"When I've had a couple of drinks on a Saturday, Glasgow belongs to me...."
 
In 1974 I visited Aberdeen and was amazed that virtually everyone sounded just like my family...  except for one maid in the hotel who said something completely unintelligible to me. Another maid saw what happened, explained the situation (one of the hotel's elevators was being used for moving laundry) and she said about the other maid "nobody can understand her, she's from Glasgow.."
 
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Posted by NKP guy on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 7:34 PM

   I took the time to listen to the recordings ("Just a gigalo") here; in my opinion Bing Crosby just nailed it.  But then again, he just nailed "Buddy, can you spare a dime," too.  Too bad he recorded so much dreck in the second half of his career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovndTa7hQDE

   As far as having fun with puns on "Gigalow," I'm reminded of how Lady Margot Astor replied to film star Jean Harlow, when she carelessly mispronounced Lady Astor's first name: "The t is silent, as in Harlow."  

 

 

 

 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 5:08 PM

Electroliner 1935
 
Firelock76
I believe "Gigalow" is a town or suburb in the Scottish Lowlands near the Firth of Fifth.

 

Not found in Google Maps, but Google returns 

Did you mean: Gigolo

 Search Results
 

Hey, wait a minute, I didn't say that!

Besides, Glasgow's  a city in Scotland!  As Sir Harry Lauder once sang..

"I belong to Glasgow, dear old Glasgow town...

What's the matter with Glasgow as it's goin' round and round..."

A drinking song as you might guess, and Harry pronouced it "Glasga."

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 7:32 AM

tree68

 

 
schlimm
Add a grammar and syntax checker.

 

Leave my mother's mother out of this.  And I'll be darned if I'm going to pay more money to the government...   Smile, Wink & Grin

 

Larry, I like your humor.  Probably over the head to a few.

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Posted by samfp1943 on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 11:16 PM

NKP guy

My thoughts exactly!

Why blame Vice President Humphrey for anything?  Frankly, I miss the decency he brought to public service.

When in doubt, I always blame Nixon...for everything.

 

Does anyone here remember "Only a gigalo"?   I believe "Gigalow" is a town or suburb in the Scottish Lowlands near the Firth of Fifth.

 

  I was always partial to the Louis Prima version of the song...Not fond of David Lee Roths rendition... Whistling 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_824699&feature=iv&src_vid=CodmlmxpZeQ&v=F4q8_2q44CQ

As to the minor disfunction of the OP's titling....NKP guy may be on to something..A case of PWI [Posting while intoxicated?]  One might suspect that the contents of thay wee Fifth of Scotch might be to blame?  Mischief

 

 

 

 


 

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Posted by K. P. Harrier on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 11:10 PM

Did a certain Mr. or Miss Typo mean Bungalow (as with a control point) and EHH (E. Hunter Harrison) instead of HHH?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.

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Posted by wanswheel on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 10:14 PM

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Posted by Electroliner 1935 on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 9:19 PM

Firelock76
I believe "Gigalow" is a town or suburb in the Scottish Lowlands near the Firth of Fifth.

Not found in Google Maps, but Google returns 

Did you mean: Gigolo

 Search Results
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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 9:15 PM

schlimm
Add a grammar and syntax checker.

Leave my mother's mother out of this.  And I'll be darned if I'm going to pay more money to the government...   Smile, Wink & Grin

LarryWhistling
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Posted by schlimm on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 8:30 PM

edblysard

 

 
CandOforprogress2

Because he is the Gigalow of railroad managers. I loved him at CN/IC but he he came a gun for hire at Pershing Capital he lost my respect.

 

 

 

Ya ever think of trying spell check?

 

 

Add a grammar and syntax checker.

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