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Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]
Quoting Ben Okopnik (ben@linuxgazette.net):
> When you consider the mutually-unintelligible varieties of English - > e.g., Brooklynese vs. Louisiana "lazy mouth", or Chicano vs. Ebonics - > it becomes less startling. Unlike the varieties of Arabic, the base > words are (mostly) the same, but watching the 300-car pileup when people > try to communicate across those divides can be horrifying and amusing.
Yes, we're sort of in a silent conspiracy to make (other) foreigners believe we actually understand the Australians when they say, e.g., "Jareedna piper wairtsed abat the bushfires? Eiche nardly bleevit."
P.S.: http://users.tpg.com.au/users/bev2000/strine2.htm
-- Cheers, "I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate Rick Moen those who do. And, for the people who like country music, rick@linuxmafia.com denigrate means 'put down'." -- Bob Newhart
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Fri, Jan 25, 2008 at 04:16:29PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Ben Okopnik (ben@linuxgazette.net): > > > When you consider the mutually-unintelligible varieties of English - > > e.g., Brooklynese vs. Louisiana "lazy mouth", or Chicano vs. Ebonics - > > it becomes less startling. Unlike the varieties of Arabic, the base > > words are (mostly) the same, but watching the 300-car pileup when people > > try to communicate across those divides can be horrifying and amusing. > > Yes, we're sort of in a silent conspiracy to make (other) foreigners > believe we actually understand the Australians when they say, e.g., > "Jareedna piper wairtsed abat the bushfires? Eiche nardly bleevit." > > P.S.: http://users.tpg.com.au/users/bev2000/strine2.htm
[blink] The scariest part about it is that I did understand it, pretty much immediately. But that's probably because I'm a dam' furriner, and speak all that furrin language stuff. Or it could just be because I've been playing a whole lot of Scrabble and "anagramarama" lately...
"Ladle Rat Rotten Hut", on the other hand, is The One True English.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/ladle/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladle_Rat_Rotten_Hut
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Thomas Adam [thomas.adam22 at gmail.com]
On 26/01/2008, Ben Okopnik <ben@linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 25, 2008 at 04:16:29PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote: > > Quoting Ben Okopnik (ben@linuxgazette.net): > > > > > When you consider the mutually-unintelligible varieties of English - > > > e.g., Brooklynese vs. Louisiana "lazy mouth", or Chicano vs. Ebonics - > > > it becomes less startling. Unlike the varieties of Arabic, the base > > > words are (mostly) the same, but watching the 300-car pileup when people > > > try to communicate across those divides can be horrifying and amusing. > > > > Yes, we're sort of in a silent conspiracy to make (other) foreigners > > believe we actually understand the Australians when they say, e.g., > > "Jareedna piper wairtsed abat the bushfires? Eiche nardly bleevit." > > > > P.S.: http://users.tpg.com.au/users/bev2000/strine2.htm > > [blink] The scariest part about it is that I did understand it, pretty > much immediately. But that's probably because I'm a dam' furriner, and > speak all that furrin language stuff. Or it could just be because I've > been playing a whole lot of Scrabble and "anagramarama" lately...
Stereotypes. Pffft. I didn't understand any of it. Does that mean you'll repeat it to me, only louder this time?
-- Thomas Adam
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 07:36:10AM +0000, Thomas Adam wrote:
> On 26/01/2008, Ben Okopnik <ben@linuxgazette.net> wrote: > > On Fri, Jan 25, 2008 at 04:16:29PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote: > > > Quoting Ben Okopnik (ben@linuxgazette.net): > > > > > > > When you consider the mutually-unintelligible varieties of English - > > > > e.g., Brooklynese vs. Louisiana "lazy mouth", or Chicano vs. Ebonics - > > > > it becomes less startling. Unlike the varieties of Arabic, the base > > > > words are (mostly) the same, but watching the 300-car pileup when people > > > > try to communicate across those divides can be horrifying and amusing. > > > > > > Yes, we're sort of in a silent conspiracy to make (other) foreigners > > > believe we actually understand the Australians when they say, e.g., > > > "Jareedna piper wairtsed abat the bushfires? Eiche nardly bleevit." > > > > > > P.S.: http://users.tpg.com.au/users/bev2000/strine2.htm > > > > [blink] The scariest part about it is that I did understand it, pretty > > much immediately. But that's probably because I'm a dam' furriner, and > > speak all that furrin language stuff. Or it could just be because I've > > been playing a whole lot of Scrabble and "anagramarama" lately... > > Stereotypes. Pffft.
[laugh] Thomas, I was lampooning a certain attitude - unfortunately, a very common one - of believing that other languages are all a sort of a lump; you either speak them (all) or you don't. You know - "English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!"
> I didn't understand any of it. Does that mean > you'll repeat it to me, only louder this time?
I'm going to be magnanananananimous and not charge you a translation
fee. Translation from Aussie: "Did you read in the paper where it said
about the bushfires? I can hardly believe it." 
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]
Quoting Ben Okopnik (ben@linuxgazette.net):
> On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 07:36:10AM +0000, Thomas Adam wrote:
> > I didn't understand any of it. Does that mean you'll repeat it to > > me, only louder this time? > > I'm going to be magnanananananimous and not charge you a translation > fee. Translation from Aussie: "Did you read in the paper where it said > about the bushfires? I can hardly believe it."
Um, I hope you got Thomas's joke: He was very drily lampooning the (cringe-worthy) stereotype of the Englishman (or, certainly, American) who thinks people abroad will understand him better if he speaks English louder.
I think Thomas was perfectly capable of pushing the "Translate" button on the page of 'Strine samples.
(Much English humour is close cousin to my native Scandinavian variant, at least as to aridity.)
Thomas Adam [thomas at edulinux.homeunix.org]
On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 12:45:26PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Ben Okopnik (ben@linuxgazette.net): > > On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 07:36:10AM +0000, Thomas Adam wrote: > > > > I didn't understand any of it. Does that mean you'll repeat it to > > > me, only louder this time? > > > > I'm going to be magnanananananimous and not charge you a translation > > fee. Translation from Aussie: "Did you read in the paper where it said > > about the bushfires? I can hardly believe it."
Yup. My humour often rolls with the tumbleweed it's that dry [1].
-- Thomas Adam
[1] The added advantage being that if it does pass people by at least they get entertainment in the process.
-- "It was the cruelest game I've ever played and it's played inside my head." -- "Hush The Warmth", Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.
Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]
Quoting Thomas Adam (thomas@edulinux.homeunix.org):
> Yup. My humour often rolls with the tumbleweed it's that dry [1].
You might or might not appreciate the classic Scandinavian-American joke about the employer who was very happy when a young job applicant said he'd just come from "Yale"...
...until he added that his name was "Yohann Yannsen"
(Diagramming the joke, for some furriners' edification: ...and added that he was "applying for a yob".)
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 01:37:41PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Thomas Adam (thomas@edulinux.homeunix.org): > > > Yup. My humour often rolls with the tumbleweed it's that dry [1].
Yoicks. If we start telling Scandahoovian/Minnewegian jokes, there's no telling where this is going to end up. Sooner or later, the lutefisk stories will come out, and then you'd have to explain what "uff da" means (and how to pronounce it, for some furriners' edification), and... well, it's just best if we don't.
Well... maybe just this once.
Ole and Sven grabbed their poles and headed out to do some ice fishing. As they were augering a hole in the ice they heard a loud voice from above say, "There are no fish under the ice." Ole an Sven moved about 25 feet over and started to make another hole. The voice said a little louder, "THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE." They both looked around and then looked up. Ole said in a humble voice, "Are you God?" The voice spoke back, "No ya idiots! I'm the ice rink attendant."
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]
Quoting Ben Okopnik (ben@linuxgazette.net):
> Yoicks. If we start telling Scandahoovian/Minnewegian jokes, there's no > telling where this is going to end up. Sooner or later, the lutefisk > stories will come out....
This is as close as I get to lutefisk: http://linuxmafia.com/pub/humour/power-of-lutefisk.html
Deirdre's parents each had one firm requirement of anyone who might marry her daughter. Dad said the chosen bloke had to like Tom Lehrer. Mom (the Swede) required that he have a horror of lutefisk.
Suffice it to say, I met spec.
(I must say, the clan finds Minnesota/Midwest culture, including the allegedly Scandinavian kind, a bit exotic, though, my father's family having gone directly from Kristiansund, Norway to the San Francisco Bay Area, skipping the Land of Mosquitos^W Lakes, entirely. Still, listening to Garrison Keillor on the radio, one does find hauntingly familiar elements.)
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 12:45:26PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Ben Okopnik (ben@linuxgazette.net): > > On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 07:36:10AM +0000, Thomas Adam wrote: > > > > I didn't understand any of it. Does that mean you'll repeat it to > > > me, only louder this time? > > > > I'm going to be magnanananananimous and not charge you a translation > > fee. Translation from Aussie: "Did you read in the paper where it said > > about the bushfires? I can hardly believe it."
Yep; Kat and I were chuckling about it. One of the jokes I often tell is the old Pat McManus story, in which an Italian couple break down in the Southern town where he grew up, and the local sheriff calls a mechanic to help them.
M: "Yer transmission is broke." S: "Bubba, they're Eye-talian." M: "Oh, OK." [walks up closer] "YER TRANSMISSION IS BROKE!!!"
I guess my smiley wasn't sophisticated enough to convey the "funny
response to the funny response" air. I GUESS I SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN IT IN
ALL-CAPS.
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *