potato in the mouth?

Guest   Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:53 pm GMT
I was trying to sound ironic.
bkm   Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:20 am GMT
I failed to see it.
Cassis   Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:26 pm GMT
I've heard that Chinese people think Americans sound like ducks and my first thought was, "Look who's talking!" ;)
K. T.   Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:43 pm GMT
Americans sound like ducks? I admit that I do think some languages sound like waterfowl speaking, but I don't want to offend the people who speak these languages, so I won't mention them by name.

I don't think Chinese sounds like ducks though, not Mandarin or Shanghai dialect anyway.
Guest   Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:21 am GMT
This morning I saw two little 4 and 6 year old Chinese children , they were spoking Chinese ( I don't know the exact dialect) loud, and I thought: poor children , the don't know other language appart from that, God bless them.
K. T.   Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:19 am GMT
I don't understand. Were you afraid that they couldn't get help in your country because they only spoke Chinese or does Chinese sound "funny" to you?

Somehow Chinese doesn't sound funny to me, but there are some languages that I occasionally hear that make me laugh outloud. It's terrible, actually. I don't do it around other people though.

Not very PC, but at least I laugh in private.

I suppose I should learn the one that makes me laugh the most. Maybe that would cure me.
Guest   Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:27 am GMT
I don't know if they also spoke Spanish too, probably not. They seemed so happy speaking Chinese and ignoring the fact that they probably will forget it and learn a totally different language. It's sad in some way.
K. T.   Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:36 am GMT
Don't be too sad. Some kids go to Chinese school (or classes) and maybe their parents will help them keep it as a language. Charming, isn't it to hear kids chatting away in other languages. It gives hope to all of us that we can learn foreign languages too.
michael   Sun Dec 23, 2007 1:41 pm GMT
@bkm

Sorry, this is absolutely the wrong forum for explaining that, as it is strictly forbidden to post anything about German here
Earle   Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:32 am GMT
The whole "potato in the mouth" thing is just silly. No language sounds so. It's a derogatory term used to describe contemptuously anyone who speaks a different language, or even a dialect. I've heard it used from people from Frankfurt to describe Austrians. I've also heard it from Austrians to describe accents from Mitteldeutschland. It belongs right up there with myths about personal hygiene, diet and all the other useless stereotypes. When someone uses something like that, he (or she) has told me a great deal about that person's ability to listen accurately to other languages. And, yes, my native tongue is English, but I'm very fluent in German...
Lo   Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:50 am GMT
I just somehow can't think of anyone having a whole potato in their mouths to begin with.

Having said that, I don't really think we sound like there's anything in our mouths when we speak at all, I think that most American accents sound by far more clear than other accents like Australian or Kiwi. I have the hardest time trying to understand Heath Ledger. [off topic: what kind of name is Heath anyway?] And what about Irish or Scottish?
Maybe it's because I'm accustomed to, and speak with, American accents that I think this way. I also don't think this about Canadian accents.
Humble   Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:35 am GMT
I am against any derogatory remarks, but yes, some languages sound nice to one's ears, some - funny or unpleasant.

Just on a side note, here's from Humorous Quotations:
"German is the most extravagantly ugly language. It sounds like someone using a sick-bag on a 747."
- William Rushton, Holiday Inn, Ghent, 1984
Damian in Edinburgh   Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:13 am GMT
I have never heard of the expression "potato in the mouth" but I have heard similar - "plum in the mouth" - referring to the super posh, very refined, Eton educated Brian Sewell type of English English - a form of extreme RP, mega "upper class" way of speaking The Queen's English, which, as far as I can say from up here in Scotland, hardly anyone speaks any more. At one time of the day even the aristocracy - the lairds themselves and their spouses and offspring used to be quite "plum in the mouth" in a weird Scottish sort of way (some of them). Not even the Queen herself speaks quite like that any more by all accounts. She sounded very "plummy" indeed in some of her old broadcasts and has since undergone a series of lessons in electrocution to tone down her bowels.

I love malapropisms, don't you?
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:21 am GMT
You can judge for yourself how The Queen's accent has changed over 50 years - not to mention her voice! This was her Christmas 2007 message to the people of Britain and British Commonwealth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzLvBxldMNc
John   Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:41 am GMT
As am American I find her speech easier to understand and much easier on the ears today than it was 50 years ago. Her accent in 1957 almost sounds artificial to me. Did people really talk like that back then?