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Hi my friends here,
I have some difficulties of understanding the following converstation. I am wondering if someone could tell me the meanings.
Thank you in advance!!
- Kim: Oh, yeah! I had a blast! I love sweading like a pig with a buncha lardos with pot bellies who all reek ta high heaven. Sorry, I’m jus’ nod inta this health kick.
- Liz: Oh, ged off it. It wasn’t such a killer class. Guy, don’t be such a wuss. Ya jus’ hafta ged into it. Like they say, no pain, no gain.
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Kim: Oh yes, I thought it was fun. I like exercising close to fat people who have an unpleasant odor issuing forth from the bodies. Sorry, the first two statements are false. (= I really do not enjoy exercising close to fat people who have an unpleasant odor issuing forth from their bodies.
Liz: Stop complaining. The class was not as bad as you thought. Dude, do not be so weak. It is necessary for one to become familiar with with the class, and perform the exercises multiple times before one may enjoy the exercise class. As many exercise experts have said: if exercise is not painful to the body, there is no reason to perform it. Exercise is only useful if it causes the body to be strained/in great pain.
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blast = a fun time [sarcastic in this story]
sweading = representation of sweating as pronounced in North American English.
like a pig = supposedly a pig expels much sweat
buncha = multiple
lard = fat; -o = person
pot bellies: a certain type of pig, that is fat = a person with a large stomach
reek = stink
ta = [t@] = pronunciation of "to" in rapid speech
high heaven = expression: up to the sky = someone who "reeks to high heaven" smells very bad
jus' = [dZis?] = just = only
nod = representation of "not" as pronounced in North American English.
inta = into = interested; not into = not interested
kick = fanaticism
get = representation of "get" [gIt] as pronounced in North American English. ; get off it = stop
killer class = strenuous and painful exercise session
guy = in reference to the other speaker. A way of avoiding saying the name of the other person. Sort of like "man" or "dude", but usually in reference to a male speaker.
wuss = a weak person
hafta' = have to = it is necessary for
get into it = become interested in it
Like they say = as experts often say
No pain, no gain = if exercise is not painful to the body, there is no reason to perform it. Exercise is only useful if it causes the body to be strained/in great pain.
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I think no American talks like that, full of idioms and slang... Right??
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>> I think no American talks like that, full of idioms and slang... Right?? <<
Of course not. We all speak King's/Queen's English ;)
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I've said it before, and I'll say it again--the spelling is trying to represent speech patterns. It is very innacurate, and a better way of doing it would be using the IPA, which isn't that hard to learn. I don't know where you guys are getting this stuff (I think I've seen it before from someone other than you, Seeyuan) and I truly do think it should be avoided.
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Seayuan,
Re: Kim: Oh, yeah! I had a blast! I love sweading like a pig with a buncha lardos with pot bellies who all reek ta high heaven. Sorry, I’m jus’ nod inta this health kick.
- Liz: Oh, ged off it. It wasn’t such a killer class. Guy, don’t be such a wuss. Ya jus’ hafta ged into it. Like they say, no pain, no gain.
In my opinion, your text is interesting from a sociolinguistic point of view because it does reflect how a small minority of people in America tend to speak. However, most Americans still consider this type of speech very low class so it's not advisable to use it as a regular speaking style. If you did, many people would admonish or belittle you; some might even throw a punch at you.
Below is a translation of your text I made in an English that is more reflective of how most American speakers would really say it. It is a mixture of both formal and colloquial aspects. The words in parentheses are alternative words which could be used:
-Kim: Oh, yeah! I had a WONDERFUL (GREAT) time! I love sweating like a pig with a bunch of fat people with big tummies who stink to HIGH HEAVEN (BIG TIME). Sorry, I'm just not into all this health stuff
-Liz: OH, STOP COMPLAINING! (DON'T GROAN!). It wasn't such a GREAT (COOL) class. Don't be so WEAK-KNEED (LILLY-LIVERED ;WIMPY). You just have to apply yourself more. Like that old athletic proverb says, "NO GAIN WITHOUT PAIN." ("NO GAIN, NO PAIN").
I also agree with some of Guest's suggestions and like Jonathan Mark, I also love the International Phonetic Alphabet.
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Boy Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:21 am GMT
I think no American talks like that, full of idioms and slang... Right??
No, Boy, we DO talk like that all the time -- in fact, we are so used to it that we would hardly notice that much of it IS slang to the rest of the world. I would have read that as pretty straight-forward English, myself.
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Hmm. In my opinion, it sounds like how foreigners would talk--using way too much slang. No one around here would talk like that. It would be very jarring and annoying if someone actually had a conversation like that. Maybe for a humorous or satirical play... but even still, it sounds absolutely revolting.
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That particular conversation may be a little overdone, but these are all very common expressions:
I had a blast!
Sweating like a pig
Reek to high heaven
Health kick
Get off it
Don't be a wuss
Get into it
No pain, no gain
What throws me off is the use of D for the final T's. We don't use D's there; we just don't aspirate the T's. Transcribing them as D's makes these speakers sound like they have a head cold!
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