I was noticing the other evening when I was writing a mail to Alison that I now automatically seem to use the UK spelling most all the time now. Well specifically those words that here end in ‘or’ where there it’s ‘our‘ such as humour and colour. Well that in itself isnt that uncommon. But I got thinking about it more and realised I also use phrases and words now that 2 years ago I wouldn’t have ever imagined saying.. simple things really like ‘petrol’ I am often sending my love a text kiss from the petrol pumps, (the romantic man that i am!) :) Well here we say ‘gas‘ of course and even that is showing how lazy we are to shorten it from gasoline. And then not only do we use ‘gas’ for that, we call propane ‘gas’ too! And on top of that we call just about anything in a gaseous state that we use for fuel or burning, such as acetylene and such… yes ‘gas’ again! well in polite circles a fart is called ‘gas’ too but I dont want to go rambling on too much in that direction… lol
I now also ring someone instead of call. I can remember well watching those BBC sitcoms from the 60’s and 70’s and hearing them saying to ring someone and laughing at how absurd it sounded to me at the time. Now I don’t think twice about it, either writing it or saying it~ And car park… there’s another one! I dont know when that slipped in really. Well I still use parking lot often too, but its about 50-50 now. Well I don’t know when but I do know how I got to using it. Ever since Alison and I have been texting we have got into the habit of sending some at very specific times during the day, well in addtion to those off and on just to say hi. Theres the wake up text and kiss… well they all have a kiss in them! and then one when we leave the house for work, well naturally the one after that is the car park text! Well as I said I still say parking lot just as often too. It was just so funny the other day someone at work was asking me if I had an extra box cutter, and I said ‘No, but I’ll go out to the car park and get one from my car’ and it was only after I got a funny look from him that I caught what I said!
Of course over the last two years the both of us have been learning the differences together. And for the most part there hasnt been much that we haven’t understood at first ‘write’ . But we have had a bit if fun with each others language. I admit I was lost on a few of them the first time I read them “that’s when the penny dropped’ , ‘donkey’s years’ (ok I understood that one only from the context of the sentence it was used in, never heard it before though) Oh I am sure there were others but I can’t recall them at the moment. Oh I had to ask what a ‘chocolate teakettle’ was too! ;) I’m dim.. I know it. :) Anyway I was just thinking the other day how natural now all thes words and phrases and spellings are all just as natural to me as if I had used them all my life. Well we write each other several times a day and then chat quite often and speak some too so its bound to be that after a couple of years we seem to have merged our vocabulary into one. There are still some words come up from time to time that are new to the one of us. but we learn fast :)
There’s also the dialects and accents we both have. Now there’s a whole new area still to learn a lot about. Well when we are face to face its a bit different to be able to see the other person speak as well as hear them, but we both have t admit I think of the first few phone conversations we had, every other sentence was “What?!” lol Alison has whats known as a Geordie accent being from the northeast of England, and having been in Cyprus amongst the Greek cypriots has that bit in her too. Oh right there was an example now of something else I picked up.. amongst and whilst! lol definitly a Brit thing there! No american naturally says anything other than among or while!! ;) Well back to the accents. I found one site early on after we met that had a lot of audio files of examples of Geordie accents, but alsion was telling me they were very heavy accents and drawn out and even she was having a time understanding some of them. Well take a listen to some to get an idea. Here. http://www.bobjude.co.uk/bobjude/geordie/geordie.htm :) Well we were both like teenagers the first few times on the phone anyway so we just giggled and laughed more than talked. Well once we were togetrh it was really no problem understanding the other at all, maybe a few words here and there. but nothing of any measure. And here’s a clever site too if you ever have need to translate something INTO Geordie ;) http://www.whoohoo.co.uk/geordie-translator.asp
Ah hin yee Alison Michelle. :) Being as near to the border to Scotland as it is of course it sonds a lot of scottish to it as well as several of the other nearby British accents. I love my Geordie Girl :) Well whats going to happen when she gits here to good ol’ Nawht Caholina?!! poor baby! lol Well I know one thing, I cant wait to start learrning the language up close!
Tags: accents, Alison, American, Brits, Cyprus, funny, Humour, Love, work
I was just on that Geordie translator site and happened to notice you can now send an entire email to someone and it will all be translated to Geordie speak! Well I thought I would give it a try with that entire post above and am pleased to present it here! Well it looks like a load of rubbish, but I bet to hear my baby saying it would curl my toes and tingle my soul! :)
wes neeticin the othor evenin when ah wes writin a mail tuh alison that ah neeo automatically seem tuh use the uk spellin most aaal the time neeo. wey specifically those words that heor end in wheor thor it sich as humoor an culor. wey that in itself isn’t that uncommon. but ah got thinkin abyeut it mare an realised ah also use phrases an words neeo that 2 yeors ago ah wouldn’t hev ivvor imagined sayin.. simple things deed leek petrol ah am often sendin me hin a text buss from the petrol pumps, (the romantic blurk that ah am!) wey heor wuh sa gas whey aye an evon that is showin ha spinnor wuh are tuh shorten it from gasoline. then neet anny dee wuh usegas; fo that, wuh caal propane gas an; aaal! an on top iv that wuh caal just abyeut owt in a gaseous state that wuh use fo fuel or burnin, sich as acetylene an sich… wey aye gas agyen! wey in polite circles a fart is caaled gas an aaal but ah divvint want tuh gan ramblin on an& aaal mich in that direction… lol ah neeo also rin wes insteed iv caal. ah gan remembor wey watchin those bbc sitcoms from the 60s an 70s an hearin them sayin tuh rin wes an laughin at ha absurd it sounded tuh wor at the time. neeo ah divvint think twice abyeut it, eithor writin it or sayin it~ an screeve wreck… thor’s anuthor yen! ah divvint knar when that slipped in deed. wey ah still use parkin lot often an aaal, but its abyeut 50-50 neeo. wey ah divvint knar when but ah dee knar ha ah got tuh usin it. ivvor since alison an ah hev been textin wuh hev got intee the habit iv sendin sum at geet specific times durin the da, wey in addtion tuh those off an on just tuh sa wye aye. theres the wyck up text an buss… wey the aaal hev a buss in them! an then yen when wuh leev the kip fo wark, wey naturally the yen eftor that is the screeve wreck text! wey as ah says ah still sa parkin lot just as often an aaal. it wes just see funny the othor da wes at wark wes askin wor if aa’d an extra box cuttor, an ah says no, but ill gan yeut tuh the screeve wreck an git yen from me car an it wes anny eftor ah got a funny lyeuk from him that ah caught warra said! of coorse owor the last twa yeors the both iv wor hev been learnin the differences togethor. an fo the most part thor hasnt been mich that wuh havent understud at forst write. but wuh hev had fair if fun wi each others language. ah admit ah waslost on a few iv them the forst time ah reed them thats when the penny dropped, donkeys years (ok ah understud that yen anny from the context iv the sentence it wes used in, nivvor heard it befawa though) oh ah am sure thor weor others but ah cannit recaal them at the ma. oh aad tuh ax wot a chocolate teakettle wes an aaal! ahm dim.. ah knar it. anywa ah wes just thinkin the othor da ha natural neeo aaal thes words an phrases an spellings are aaal just as natural tuh wor as if aad used them aaal me life. wey wuh write each othor several times a da an then chat canny often an speak sum an aaal see its boond tuh be that eftor a couple iv yeors wuh seem tuh hev merged wor vocabulary intee yen. thor are still sum words cum up from time tuh time that are new tuh the yen iv wor. but wuh learn fast thors also the dialects an accents wuh both hev. neeo thors a huurl new area still tuh learn a lot abyeut. wey when wuh are face tuh face its fair different tuh be yeble tuh see the othor gadgy speak as wey as heor them, but wuh both hev t admit ah think iv the forst few fow-un conversations wuh had, evarry othor sentence wes what?! lol alison hez whats knoon as a geordie accent bein from the neertheast iv england, an havin been in cyprus amongst the greek cypriots hez that bit in hor an aaal. oh reet thor wes an example neeo iv somethin else ah picked up.. amongst an' whilst! lol definitly a brit thin thor! nar na american naturally says owt othor than amang or while!! wey back tuh the accents. ah foond yen site early on eftor wuh met that had a lot iv audio files iv examples iv geordie accents, but alsion wes tellin wor the' weor geet heavy accents andrawn yeut an evon she wes havin a time understandin sum iv them. wey tek a listen tuh sum tuh git an idea. heor. http://www.bobjude.co.uk/bobju.....m wey wuh weor both leek teenagers the forst few times on the fow-un anywa see wuh just giggled an laughed mare than talked. wey once wuh weor togetrh it wes deed nar na problem understandin the othor at aaal, mebbies a few words heor an thor. but neewt iv any measure. an heres a clivvor site an aaal if yee ivvor hev neet tuh translate somethin intee geordie http://www.whoohoo.co.uk/geordie-translator.asp ah hin yee alison michelle. bein as neor tuh the bordor tuh scotland as it is whey aye it sonds a lot iv scottish tuh it as wey as several iv the othor nearby british accents. ah hin me geordie lass wey whats ganin tuh happen when she gits heor tuh canny ol nawth caholina?!! scrattor bairn! lol wey ah knar yen thin, ah cannit wait tuh start learnin the language up close!
That was cute.I never realized (realised) there were so many spelling differences until I met Elle and started chatting w/ her on IM. Oh, I knew from The Moody Blues album that “favour” was the spelling and that what Python, Benny Hill, etc. was “humour”.I also never knew there were so many regional dialects in England. Elle could mimic many of them, and could also do Cockney. (just fed my Liza Doolittle fetish, that’s all. I’m good at the rhyming bit “In a stupor” = “on the computer”) One of the times she was here, Elle was offered a radio commercial while she and I were window shopping in a downtown store. Freaked her out and she declined. I was chatting via IM w/ her one night / her early morning and she asked if I had eaten yet. I told her no, and she was concerned that I was staying online just to chat w/ her and not eating properly. She urged me to “ring” for a pizza to be delivered (and if I’d gone to get it, it’d been “takeaway”, not “carryout”). This was in my dialup days, so I had to get offline to call. Something had happened to my phone, though, and the cheap thing wouldn’t dial. I got back online, told her and she said it was no problem, she could ring them for me and order. Long story short, the local Pizza Hut thought it funny that someone in Oxford would call them to order someone local a pizza. Elle said it threw them off when she first spoke w/ her lovely “posh” accent (Oxford light intellectual, I suppose!) and really floored them with the order.My fav. Brit euphemism/slang is “spend a penny”. It’s worth 2 cents here at the current exchange rate.
You know reading Elle’s posts where were I first noticed the many spelling differences too. And I have to admit i picked up quite a few phrases too from her that kept me from appearing but so dim when Alison and I first started writing :) Well I loved to read elle’s posts and still do think of her from time to time. Hope she’s doing well, I miss her. :( Hey that Moody blues album was the first time I ever noticed there was difference between our spellings! Well it wasn’t until Alison and I started writing that I noticed the …zed versus …sed endings on words. Oh the first time I saw her write them like that I was thinking she had just misspelled it , but then they just kept coming and I realized then it had to be another one of those US/UK things! Well from so many mails now I think we both interchange the spellings and to tell you the truth I cant for the life of me tell you whether it’s us that uses the ‘z’ or the Brits! LOL well from rereading your post I realize now we have the z ;)I have to say I like the look of the UK spellings more. ‘…our’ just looks cool.. so does the ‘re” at the end of some words, theatre and centre … I don’t know that I could pick a favourite euphemism though. well we have written so much to each other these last two years, I think by now I don’t even notice there is any language difference. I think the one thing saying we have both used more than any is “loving you up” Well I’m not sure thats a UK thing or not, I hadn’t heard it before, and neither had Alison either. A friend of hers there in Cyprus is from the same general area of England and having the same Geordie accent , maybe heavier, than Alison’s.. Well we were chatting one night I think it was and she got a text from her friend. Well I think it was that she was to slow to reply so the girl texted back and said “Oh are you loving Chester up then?” well something like that it was.. and we were having a good laugh but it was spot on as to what we were doing, loving each other up in the chat. :) Oh “spot on”… there’s another! See I can’t even think of them when I try but let me get writing and they seem to come out without thinking now! Well writing is a bit different and its easier to read than to hear the words spoken with us both having accents of our own areas. Well when we first met we had started out writing under the premise of just having someone to talk to and share the thoughts and feelings of what we had both been through of losing a spouse. Well I say under the premise as thats what our first mails subjects were, and to get to know the other a bit, where we lived, our families.. etc.. well there was also that certain something we both felt from the very first but I think we were scared to mention it to each other… but that didn’t take long either! ;) We wrote a right good while before we ever spoke on the phone. I was really wanting to hear her voice and I made a video on Easter thinking it might be a way to get her to do one too, and kept telling her I wanted to hear her voice. Well she kept saying she thought her accent would scare me off! lol Well she was saying someday she would try and make one and for now just to write… (playing hard to get) ;) Well it was getting me curious and one evening i just decided to go searching online as I had her fll name… Oh I just admitted to being a stalker I think!! LOL ;) Well after a an hour or so I found it! well I found two of them.. her husbands name is Nicos.. well there were two of them the best I can remember now… and I don’t remember how it was I chose the right one, but in the end I did. Well I had it a day or two trying to get the nerve to ring her … ;) I had the day off one day and spent half the morning working up what I thought would be a good way to say hello and sound like I was one smooth guy. Well I dialed the number a few times after trying to get the country codes figured out just right. Finally it was ringing :) and then I hear it being picked up… thump thump thump my heart is going… and its her son saying hello? I was dead silent then and lost every thought in my head!! I dont know why I didn’t have t in my head he might be the one to answer. Well it threw me off a few seconds and I just said hello and can I speak to Alison.. and he said “What” Oh-no! there went my whole planned talk right down the drain.. they weren’t going to understand this NC accent I thought! Well I hear him call for his mom to pick up the phone.. “it’s a man!” he said.. Oh shit! I was thinking if he has to say its a man I am going to be scaring the hell out of her! Well to make the lovely vision our first phone call I had had in my head just minutes before totally disappear, she was asleep and he had woke her up! LOL Oh it was just all funny from there then.. well I asked “is this Alison Michelle?… ok I wasn’t sure then i had the right number at all as i had earlier talked to her on email and she didn’t say anything of taking a nap…well I had given her that middle name of Michelle (another long story lol) and it was all I could think of then to say as if it WAS her number she would automatically know it was me calling having never heard my voice.. well she realized it was me and was shocked that I found her number and then we just seemed to act like two teenagers and giggled and laughed more than we spoke! And when we did we kept asking the other “what was tat? or pardon me? Oh we were having a time with the accents and the initial shock of it all that we were finally speaking too.. Oh we had a god laugh and it tuned to be one memorable call for sure. But it was difficult to speak to each other and understanding the other. Well a few more call then we started to make a bit of progress but we still ended up doing a lot more laughing than talking. so it was back to writing a bit more. Well by May when she came to the US we had gotten over that shyness just a little and we managed pretty good hen she was hear. well its easier to understand an accent when you are face to face too than it is over the phone… Well we still had a few “What did you say? during the holiday but only a few sentences and phrases. Well by the time I was there in October to see her, we had seemed to not have any trouble at all with any of it. And since then we have spoke a lot more on the phone too , well every night now.. her night/ my afternoon… I love hearing her voice… music to me! Oh that was one long ramble there wasn’t it! And to what point… I had one when I started… gone now… LOL never-mind, just enjoyed remembering that first time we spoke.I’ll not be so long winded on the next reply… maybe! ;)Thanks for posting Mike, appreciate it! thanks for signing up! maybe I will have a better handle on this board than the last one.. a lot happened then tough and wasn’t paying much mind to it.. love ya dude G
Ive been trying to get myself organised ( organized ) so I could sit and post a reply back to this site , of course I am such a busy girl at times, you know its hard to drag myself away from the YT site , ive been there most of the morning relivng my youth listening to Freddy Mercury and some of the other legends of the 70’s, and once on there I love reading all the comments of different individuals , although sometimes I find them pathetic and start t get myself in a sort of argumentative mood of sorts and I have to resist getting into a back and forth situation with posting my own opinion then getting some stick back form others …so I try just to post posetive comments and stay calm …..anyhow im here now and in the mood to write a bit ….hope I dont bore you 2 mates ( friends ) with my ramblings and chin wagging on line , well I did enjoy reading all about the various accents and sayings that have been experienced from you Americanos when dealing with us Brits in the past …and present ;)oh Mike so you have got to know a bit of cockney rhyme and slang then ! ,that made me remember my grandad as he had some southerners as relatives , and he often came out with a lot of it, well I got to know a few of them over the years , but went and out a google search just to refresh my memory and had a nother good hour reading that before coming on her to post ! here is just one bit I found :”Got to my mickey, found me way up the apples, put on me whistle and the bloody dog went. It was me trouble telling me to fetch the teapots.”which really means,”Got to my house (mickey mouse), found my way up the stairs (apples and pears), put on my suit (whistle and flute) when the phone (dog and bone) rang. It was my wife (trouble and strife) telling me to get the kids (teapot lids).”Oh its so funny isnt it how the different areas of any country vary with dialects and sayings etc. I doubt if your friend Elle would even understand the half of what I would be saying and we are both Brits , I have to admit not to liking my own ‘Geordie accent’ although mine is quite mild to some of the real Newcastle Geordies,Im from Sunderland which is slightly ‘posher ‘ lol……….I have to admit to loving your American twang though , and i hear that ‘z ’sound often….ask Chester about the restaurant we went to when I was there and I only dicovered it was called [i]Pots On [/i] rather than [i]Potzone[/i] many days later .well I will keep this post just a bit short as Im hungry and I want to sit and think if Im going to post a reply to the guy who labelled Freddy Mercury a ‘fag’ ………I know the singer was ‘ first of May’ ,but that as nothing to do with his singing or talent , GRRRRR…you see I am still trying to stay calm , well maybe I can make another post on that subject…….but for now Im going to eat my lunch so seeyawll soon ;)
see yawll soon ;D good job baby! well we’ll lurn ya a thing or two in no time ! lol I started out this reply a little while ago and got sidetracked with Pot’s On so i just put it in a separate post. It will always be a special place though as its where Alison “officially” said “Yes” : ) (I’ll maybe explain too one day why I put quotation mark around “officially”) ; )You know I never get that Cockney rhyme thing figured out too well. I would definitely be lost in any conversation dealing with that, well i can understand it being all written out and explained but if I were to hear someone speaking like it I may as well be from Mars trying to understand what the hell they are saying! I’m thanking God more and more for your Geordie one Alison! And your’re right from all I ahve heard now you have a slightly posher one from the Newcastle dialect. Oh its the same all arond I think, different dialects all in the same general area. Even here down on some of the islands of the Outer Banks, especially Hatteras Island, its like they come from 3000 miles away. High toid (high tide) its weird! I guess as the population grows and more people are coming in and out over time we will all be sounding pretty much the same…. se habla Espanol? ! Oh I guess that’s not a politically correct thing to say is it.. well I dont think the possibility is so remote is it?! lol
I just now set my CrapCleaner program to keep the cookie from this site, so perhaps I will be able to be signed in all the time and not have to try to remember my password. Alison, my friend elle said she still had trouble understand the way many Scots talk and she had married one! I loved both Trainspotting and Waking Ned Devine, but they were more enjoyable AFTER I turned on the caption and could catch the bits I couldn’t understand. I’ve got a Cockney rhyming joke/novelty book she sent around here somewhere.Did you have a run-in with a “queer-baiter”, Alison? I’ve many prejudices but I’m not anti-gay, having had some of my very best friends be of that sexual orientation. I’ve been accused of it myself, but if I’m anything, I’m secure in who and what I am, so that doesn’t bother me. I used to try to debate/rebut many of the knotheads on the ‘net, but there’s just so many, no matter where I go. :) ;) :D ;D :( :( :o 8) ??? ::) :P :-[ :-X :-\ :-* :’( like these types of forums, the things one can do. There’s a notice at the top that says HTML can now be used.
Got upset about thinking of the hate sent some folk’s way, when it’s none of their business. Anyway…Forgot a story: Elle came over and stayed for over two weeks and when she got back, her kids laughed at how she was speaking. She told them she didn’t think she was talking any differently until her daughter replied”Mum, when you were yelling at us to hurry up this morning, you said:”"Ya’ll better hurr’up. The bus is fixin’ to git here-er.”Elle always told me it sent a shiver down her spine to hear me say “Four”.I never took it to mean she thought it was sexy, just that she grew numb hearing me stretch it out into three syllables.