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Can British people pretend to speak like Americans?
Well, you're ahead of me, Liz -- I've never read the book version of the Last of the Mohicans. (And having had to suffer through such early American literary "gems" as Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter, I give fervent thanks for that oversight on the part of all my English teachers! Other than Washington Irving, they were all horribly tedious.)
I have seen Sexy Beast -- it's not bad. Ben Kingsley is certainly ... intense. And I loved the fact that the female lead character was an ex-porn star.
Well, Uriel...I've always thought you'll lose your US citizenship or simply become persona non grata in your own country if it turns out that you haven't read that. Now I see you can easily get away with it... :-)
My dad has always been a fan of the likes of the Last of the Mohicans - he has read practically all of the Leatherstocking Tales (quite honestly, I can't recall the titles). That's incredible - the man has patience (he read the Odyssey as well a couple of times amongst many others...oh Dear)!
I don't say that The Last of the Mohicans was dreadful. Actually, it was pretty enjoyable, nevertheless, I don't have a burning desire for reading the complete oeuvre of Cooper lock, stock and barrel.
As for The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick, they were passable as well, but I certainly wouldn't count them amongst my favourites.
If you wish to die of boredom, I recommend you to read some of the gems of early American literature such as Bradford and Wintrop and the fire sermons of Jonathan Edwards. Unfortunately, I picked this topic in my comprehensive exam in American Literature and I managed to mix up some instances of what they wrote because they wrote quite similar things in a slightly different form. The professor started to shout at me that I haven't read the books (I read them twice), then later she realised that I actually did. She claimed that it was nigh on impossible to mix up those things since these pieces are *entirely* different. Well, I'm glad she thinks so...
Liz, on the contrary, we pride ourselves on being able to escape the evil clutches of our teachers! I never read the Deerslayer or any of the rest of the stuff you mention, and only skimmed Moby and Scarlet for test answers. (There! I admit it! Take my passport!)
And what were you doing in an American Lit class? And what's up with this strange obsession of your dad's?
<<And what were you doing in an American Lit class?>>
Oh, it wasn't only one class...I had to "suffer" through several ones. It's part and parcel of your studies if you are an English major (literature, linguistics and a bit of history).
<<And what's up with this strange obsession of your dad's?>>
My dad was a late bloomer as far as his studies are concerned. He was pretty lazy at primary and secondary school in the beginning. The only thing he liked was literature, and he has read practically everything that he encountered.
PS: I *virtually* believe you that your passport is *real*. :-)
Well, the only ones I have to fool are the customs officials, Liz. Well, and the Border Patrol, since now they're requiring that you have a full-on, no-shit passport to re-enter the US! Canada and Mexico will still let you in with only a driver's license -- they don't care.
Homeland security, my ass. I think it's just a scam to make seventy bucks off everybody.
But I digress.
I only had to take one year of Am Lit in high school. The teacher was a moron, so I pretty much blew it off. I wasn't an English major in college, so I was mercifully spared in later years. And in early high school, when I should have been forced to read Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" (the only Hemingway novel that doesn't have sex or swearing or somebody getting their balls shot off, so it is deemed safe for juvenile consumption), I missed it by transferring from a school that had yet to teach it to a school that had already covered it. Sneaky, eh?
You know Liz, I did not want to admit this - but I quite liked the film 'The Last of The Mohicans'!!!! There goes my taste!! Look, it's my mum's favourite film and I have had to watch it MANY times ok!! It's not my fault!!!! I have not read the book though.
Everyone says this but it’s true; films never do the books justice. I just finished reading Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and all I can say is BLIMEY!! I never imagined this book would turn out to be that good. The film was absolute pants!!! Actually, the films ‘The Godfather’ 1 and 2 were as good as the book, from what I remember – but they were the only ones I have come across.
Basildon is ok I suppose. Being a 'New town' it is rather 'bland' and does not have much of anything (such as culture, history, places of interest etc – basically most of the benefits of living in a country such as England) Saying that though, it is quite handy having London a mere 30 mins away. Also, having lived in East London for the past 10 months I realise that it is not the worst place in the world either. But as soon as I finish my degree (sometime within the next century) I am off though - I need beaches Liz, sadly Southend is just not up to snuff.
Yep, Ben Kingsley as a cockney geezer is an eye opener that's for certain. Funnily enough, he actually got an Oscar nomination for it. He was good, but I would not go that far.
I was a bit disappointed with 'Hot Fuzz', I think it was because I expected there to be a bit more to it. I mean, 'Shaun of The Dead' actually had an interesting message (how many of us literally live like zombies these days, so if we all actually turned into zombies then no-one would notice as it would not be much different - phew!!!) where as this was just a rehash of about a zillion Hollywood action sequences and, well that was it. You know something - I think I'm getting old.
The film was set in the cathedral city of Wells (which is a really beautiful city by the way) which is located in the county of Somerset (which is, erm... a really beautiful county) in the south west of England (do I sound like Damien or what - Blimey!!!). Most of the actors are not from this area and only do very mild versions of the accent. Saying that though, there is a scene (I think) where Simon Peggs character (I think) is talking to a farmer (I think) and his accent is so thick that he needs an interpreter (I think). From what I remember, that was a good example of a Somerset accent (I think). Sorry, I saw the film a while ago.
No-one knows what yarp is!!!!!!!! (I think it was just a piss take out of our ‘country folk’)
Oh, Uriel, I think you mentioned earlier about how film titles are changed, occasionally, from country to country. I just realised that the new film 'Die hard 4.0' was actually called 'Live free or Die hard' in the states. It begs the question Uriel - WHY????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, my hands hurt now.
Forget the passport thing, Uriel - I was just being tongue-in-cheek. You don't need to work out different strategies - you can keep your passport...or if you desperately want to become an EU citizen, you can get mine in exchange of yours. I'm game for it! :-)
Hey, I like Hemingway - at least there is a non-intellectual (did I just make up this word?) writer. What I find stupid is that his novel "The Sun Also Rises" got a new title especially for Europeans - Fiesta. How ridiculous! Obviously, publishers thought we were too stupid to understand such an "abstract" title as the original.
Fortunately, I have always had fairly good literature teachers - maybe that's why I've chosen to study literature at uni. Actually, no - my primary school literature teacher was a borderline case...I mean not psychologically (maybe that way, too - who knows?) - moron would be too harsh a word to use in connection with her, but she was a unique case for sure. I couldn't but appreciate her rather shambolic efforts to explain us that a blatantly communist poem of a that time devoted, but later disillusioned communist poet has got nothing to do with communism at all. You know, she was the one who claimed that I wrote like someone from the 19th century. :-)
<<You know Liz, I did not want to admit this - but I quite liked the film 'The Last of The Mohicans'!!!! There goes my taste!! Look, it's my mum's favourite film and I have had to watch it MANY times ok!! It's not my fault!!!! I have not read the book though.>>
There is no need to excuse yourself...feel free to say that you do like it. This is your opinion, that was mine. I just tend to be blunt sometimes in opining on things, that's it. :-)
Basildon Boy: No you don't sound a bit like Damien - who ever he is! Let me know if you find him again.
Anyway, true to form - here goes:
HOT FUZZ
PC (This one means Police Constable in Britspeak) Nick Angel - doing the high octane fast moving all action copper's job in the hard, harsh, mean, manic, crime ridden streets of London Town gets "promoted" to a sergeant's job in The Sticks (Brit speak for the country - as in the countryside, the rurals, the bucolics, the backs of beyond rustic lands - in this case a wee village called Sandford, in the depths of deepest darkest Cotswolds idyllic chocolate box cottagey roses round the door quaint village pubby with batty landlord Gloucestershire (pronounced "GLOS-tuh-shuh" - if you're English, "GLOS-turr-shire" if you're Scottish).
As has been indicated, Sandford is actually Wells, in the neighbouring county of Somerset. That's where all the filming was done, apart fom the London scenes right at the beginning. Wells itself really is stunningly beautiful, by all accounts - I've only been close by when my mate and I went down to Cornwall and we stopped off at Glastonbury, only a few miles from Wells, also stunningly beautiful - even though the Pop Festival usually ends up in a mudbath.
The whole film of course was a mad farce - a wild shoot out in a little English village stretches the imagination a wee bit. It simply doesn't happen, but it was good to watch - what a mess they made of Somerfields (a supermarket for those that don't know). As for the accents - I reckon they were much exaggerated for effect - when I was down in Gloucestershire and Somerset I hardly heard anyone speak the way the locals did in that film. Both counties are very "county" - in Britspeak: quite posh and upper class full of retired people with mega posh RP accents and all that kind of caper, and in Glastonbury people in the shops and the pub all seemed to speak a bit RP English English - and some of the younger people touched on a wee bit of Estuary I think. I hardly heard anyone speak all West Country local yokel type thing. We had to wait until,we got down to Devon and heard some of the old guys down there natter away to each other in the pub we went to in Mousehole (pronounced "MAW-zl" to rhyme with COW-zl.) They would have fiitted in well in Hot Fuzz.
I though the film was very funny. PC Angle (sorry - Angel) soon found that police work in The Sticks was far more frenetic than on the streets of London - but as I say, all done for good effect. No way could you compare London policing with that of the shires of "Middle England". In addition - no way would a copper in the Metropolitan Police (London) be spared and forcibly moved to The Sticks. It just wouldn't ...and couldn't ...happen - no way. The only way it would happen is when they put in a request to move out to a provincial police force.
Wells is a "city" because it has a cathedral - it only has a population of about 6,000 or so. The smallest "City" in England. Back home in Scotland the "city" of Dunblane has the same distinction.
http://www.plus44.com/towns/wells/wells.html
http://www.catnip.co.uk/wells/
There you go - as I say - my post - true to form! Nobody forces anyone to read all my guff! :-)
Cheers - and good night from the London Borough of Wandsworth (Putney division).
Good night, huh? Poor boy. It's only 5 pm here.
<<Oh, Uriel, I think you mentioned earlier about how film titles are changed, occasionally, from country to country. I just realised that the new film 'Die hard 4.0' was actually called 'Live free or Die hard' in the states. It begs the question Uriel - WHY????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>
They do it all the time. I don't think it has anything to do with not understanding, per se; I think it has more to do with marketing -- they simply think one title will resonate with a particular demographic more than another. And they may be right. Die Hard 4.0 is faintly amusing as a nudge at the fact that it's sequel #4, and how many more times can they get poor Bruce to do this crap before he's using a walker? "Live Free or Die Hard is much more amusing to me, since it cleverly (well, sort of cleverly) mashes the rousing slogan "Live Free or Die!" (the state motto of New Hampshire -- you always think of New Hampshire when you think of rousing rebellions, don't you? Of course you do.*) with Die Hard, the name of the franchise. And you know, there's that whole playing into the terrorist--ooh, scary! mindset, which Americans love, and Brits, just to be contrary, try really, really hard to downplay. (Sorry. We ain't much for the stiff upper lip over here. Must be all those waves of immigration from southern Europe in the 1800's -- we actually enjoy being excitable.)
<<Nick Angel - doing the high octane fast moving all action copper's job in the hard, harsh, mean, manic, crime ridden streets of London Town gets "promoted" to a sergeant's job in The Sticks (Brit speak for the country - as in the countryside, the rurals, the bucolics, the backs of beyond rustic lands >>
Ha ha -- we use the same expression for the same idea!
<<Both counties are very "county" - in Britspeak: quite posh and upper class full of retired people with mega posh RP accents and all that kind of caper>>
Okay, we don't use that one. Here, county just refers to a portion of a state. Except when you're locked up in county -- then it's just short for "county jail".
Well, if Shaun of the Dead was a spoof of zombie movies (with a bitingly funny [no pun intended] dig at real life), I think Hot Fuzz was meant to be a send-up of high-octane cop movies. The transposition of an American art form (our cops aren't really that exciting in real life, so emphasis on the ART) to the UK is pretty funny for us, because no matter how gritty your life really is over there, here the stereotype is of course that you're all very polite and well-behaved and we were utterly boggled for years that you didn't even ARM your cops. I understand that you have sensibly started doing this as of late.;) And Nick Frost seems to have cornered the market on spouting wildly innapropriate Americanisms (his "What's up, niggas" had me on the floor!). I don't know if it's funny for you, but dang, it's funny for me.
That's another thing -- I have a feeling that we could all watch the same movie and be laughing at very different parts, just because of cultural differences.
No, it wasn't as clever as Shaun of the Dead, but I still enjoyed it. And I spent at least 10 minutes trying to tell my friend that that was indeed Timothy Dalton. And that half the actors in one had been in the other. And there were little cross-referential snippets like the stuffed monkey. And seeing a nebbishy goofball like Shaun morph into a pumped up adrenalin-junkie was also hysterical.
*The New Hampshire thing, for those of you who aren't American -- oh yeah, basically all of you -- was sarcasm; New Hampshire isn't known for much besides maple syrup and bus tours of the fall foliage. They certainly aren't much for hellraising anymore. So it's always funny to see that slogan on their license plates.)
PS, for Liz:
<<Forget the passport thing, Uriel - I was just being tongue-in-cheek. You don't need to work out different strategies - you can keep your passport...or if you desperately want to become an EU citizen, you can get mine in exchange of yours. I'm game for it! :-) >>
Hell, no. Not after I forked out $70! Well, on second thought, it WAS a few years ago, after that bad perm incident where I had to chop off all my hair ... it might be worth it if I can get a new picture taken!
I'm American (live in Washington State, Seattle area) and we don't have accents!
In regards to Hugh Laurie - I had NO IDEA he was not American so I have to say he pulled off the American accent very well! Wow! I'm amazed!
<<I'm American (live in Washington State, Seattle area) and we don't have accents!>>
To whose point of view?
Any English spoken will be spoken with an accent, from the viewpoint of other people. In your case, to a UK citizen, you do have an accent.
Hugh Laurie was born in the university seat of learning city of Oxford.....but chose to to go to uni at the rival seat of learning city of Cambridge! Trust him to be a wee bit difficult!
His American accent sounds mega sound as a pound to me - but what do I know for sure. Both Oxford and Cambridge are awash with American tourists (as well as students) most of the time so maybe the accent has rubbed off on our wee Hughie for reproduction purposes. I see loads and loads of Americans too - both here and back home but no way could I keep up any pretence of any kind of authentic American accent. My Rs would give me away (sorry if that sounds like something it shouldn't). I think it's easier for an English person to adopt a reasonable American accent than it is for a Scot.
http://www.phill.co.uk/people/l/laurie.html
Seattle doesn't have an accent? That's got to be weird - if they've got the power of speech then they have an accent I would have thought. I met two people - a young(ish) married couple - in the queue to enter the House of Commons a wee while back and they were instantly recognisable as Americans by their accent. They said they came from Seattle, but were based with the US military at Lakenheath, in Suffolk, England - an interesting couple to chat with, and we sat together in the public gallery to listen to a debate which interested them very much as it was their first ever visit to London let alone the public gallery of the House of Commons. It was really cool for me to tell them that the bloke up on his feet giving his Parliamentary spiel to the House as we took our seats on the benches was my own local MP John Barrett, speaking in his distinct Edinburgh accent. They had no difficulty at all understanding him or me as our accents are pretty much identical although he is 28 years older than I am.
***Good night, huh? Poor boy. It's only 5 pm here***
Always thought you were miles behind the times over there! You stand no chance of ever catching up with us! :-)
It's now 11:36hrs British Summer Time here...I'm working from "home" this morning as I'm off on an assignment down near Guildford, in Surrey, this afternoon - my first outside of London so far since being down here. I wonder if they will all have "posh" accents down there? I'm just a wee bit nervous. :-)
I will report back! And no - this isn't Damien! I'd hate to be a Damien......has a strange effect on people. I was at a local Waitrose once and my checkout bill came to £6.66 - the lady smiled at me (sometimes they actually do). I said something about a wee beastie.
"In regards to Hugh Laurie - I had NO IDEA he was not American so I have to say he pulled off the American accent very well! Wow! I'm amazed!"
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He's very British, being born in Oxford in 1959. It's only recently that he has starred in American shows. I think he's not enjoying his time living in Los Angeles and wants to come back to Britain but his wife still wants to stay there.
His American accent is fake. It's probably easier for a Brit to fake an American accent than vice versa.
In the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe he is famous for starring in BBC comedy seriea Blackadder, in which he has played many different characters. In one series he was Prince George, the Prince Regent, in 18th Century England, in another he was a British Army officer in WWII and in another series he played an evil German who captures Blackadder and his friend Lord Melchett in an episode set during the Middle Ages.
He's comedy partners with Stephen Fry, who has appeared in Blackadder alongside Hugh, and the two were also the two stars in the British TV show Jeeves and Wooster, in which Hugh played the toff Wooster and Fry played his butler Jeeves.
In the United States and Canada, though, he is best known for playing Dr Gregory House in the medical drama House.
To whose point of view?
Any English spoken will be spoken with an accent, from the viewpoint of other people. In your case, to a UK citizen, you do have an accent.
To mine of course! :)
Yeah I was in London last fall and I am sure we stood out like a sore thumb. We were told we had an American accent but of course we don't notice it! But we certainly noticed the British accent! BTW, I loved it there. London is a HUGE city and I loved it! I loved the public transportation system, which is far superior than here in the Seattle metro area.
"In regards to Hugh Laurie - I had NO IDEA he was not American so I have to say he pulled off the American accent very well! Wow! I'm amazed!"
***********
He's very British, being born in Oxford in 1959. It's only recently that he has starred in American shows. I think he's not enjoying his time living in Los Angeles and wants to come back to Britain but his wife still wants to stay there.
His American accent is fake. It's probably easier for a Brit to fake an American accent than vice versa.
In the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe he is famous for starring in BBC comedy seriea Blackadder, in which he has played many different characters. In one series he was Prince George, the Prince Regent, in 18th Century England, in another he was a British Army officer in WWII and in another series he played an evil German who captures Blackadder and his friend Lord Melchett in an episode set during the Middle Ages.
He's comedy partners with Stephen Fry, who has appeared in Blackadder alongside Hugh, and the two were also the two stars in the British TV show Jeeves and Wooster, in which Hugh played the toff Wooster and Fry played his butler Jeeves.
In the United States and Canada, though, he is best known for playing Dr Gregory House in the medical drama House.
Thanks for the info. I have watched a few episodes of the show before. My husband likes it.
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