Street Talk Egnlish Question

Seayuan   Thu May 04, 2006 2:31 pm GMT
"Sorry. It’s jus’ thad I think I blew the final’n now my parents’r gonna ged all ben’ oudda shape. I like todally drew a blank on ev’rything!"

I was wondering whether someone could tell me what the meaning of "thad" is?
Guest   Thu May 04, 2006 2:46 pm GMT
that

The whole sentence says:

Sorry. It is just that I blew the final (failed the final exams) and now my parents are going to get all bent out of shape (get angry). I like totally drew a blank on everything (I couldn't think of the answer to any of the questions).
Seayuan   Fri May 05, 2006 3:15 am GMT
Thank you!
Johnathan Mark   Fri May 05, 2006 10:41 pm GMT
Seayuan, where are you getting these excerpts from? Is it a book? If so, I don't know if it is the best literature for a student of English--it is hard for me, a native speaker of the dialect represented--to read. As I said before, if you wish to pick up on the dialect, I'd recommend movies. Language is first and foremost a spoken phenomenom, after all.
Travis   Sat May 06, 2006 12:20 am GMT
Just so you know, Seayuan, what is written above is essentially just a crude attempt at approximating spoken North American English, in this case with some Valley Girl-isms (the "like todally" part) in it. Asides for the "like todally" part, I would say that what the above attempts to represent is likely typical for a wide range of NAE dialects in actual everyday use.
Seayuan   Sun May 07, 2006 4:20 am GMT
"Seayuan, where are you getting these excerpts from? Is it a book?"

I got this material from my Egnlish teacher (ESL, Canada).

Regarding Johnathan's moive suggestion, I have a further question. It is hard for me (most of the International students) to understand all the conversations in the moive. Is it better to watch the moive at first, and then when I watch it a second time, I should watch it while reading the moive-script?
Johnathan Mark   Tue May 09, 2006 12:39 pm GMT
"Is it better to watch the moive at first, and then when I watch it a second time, I should watch it while reading the moive-script?"

I would say go ahead and have the subtitles on, if they help you understand, but don't forget to pay attention to the pronunciation and intonation of the speakers.
Guest   Tue May 09, 2006 1:45 pm GMT
I think I should point out to you Seayuan that it is spelt English not Egnlish. When I saw it in the title I thought it was just a typo but you have made the same mistake in one of your later posts as well.

With the whole movie thing I would watch the movie with english sub-titles, or maybe read the script before watching it (that way you'd have a rough idea about what was going on, even if you didn't understand every word). That's what I'm doing to learn German.