There's actually a really good explanation for the "in hospital" thing. It means you're there as a patient, as opposed to any other reason such as working, visiting, etc. We Americans do the same thing when we say "going to school" (attending classes as a student) vs. "going to the school" (for some other reason) and "going to church" (attending services) vs. "going to the church" (for some other reason). There's also an archaic usage which survives in the nursery rhyme "this little piggy went to market."
Badgers are members of the weasel family, which includes wolverines! All are pound-for-pound insanely ferocious. BTW one reason (at least here in Georgia) that red foxes are on the decline is coyotes. They eat pretty much the same thing, and of course the expanding coyotes drive out the red foxes. Grey foxes eat smaller prey, so they aren't as effected by the expanding coyote population.
I agree! Also, I knew Mewa mentions London specifically but some dialects of northern England pronounce the as just t, or sometimes even not at all. It can become a caricature, for example "it isn't in the tin" becomes "tintintin".
I can't remember what I was watching now -- I think it was some Man Vs Food rip-off -- and I just did not have a clue what was being said by the restaurant owner, who was from Georgia. It was almost like his jaw needed tightening to form the sounds I am used to. Generally if I'm listening to American English I struggle with southern accents more than Northern ones. And Canadian English sounds all ooo-ey. I've lead a sheltered life.
We watched The Commitments for our Saturday night movie this weekend. We were often tempted to turn the English subtitles on. Oh, and the guy who plays Rumplestiltskin on Once Upon a time? He's a wee bit Scottish. Try listening to his interview on the DVD extras without a translator. Och!
I communicate with people all over the world at work. I speak a little Spanish. I have written some French. But I almost never have a problem speaking with the English speaker in foreign offices. But the people that I have the hardest time understanding over the phone are the Brits.
^Aye. There's an old story I read in a gun magazine where one of the writers shot a badger with a .357 mag, and it also started chasing him instead of dying.
A badger will fuck you up. I wouldn't trust a fucking grenade to kill one on the first try. And yet, the area where my chihuahua got lost and spent the night outside alone is fucking lousy with them. Found dozens of badger dens when I was looking for his little ass.
Oi! I watch a lot of Brit TV. Have to use the subtitles to unnerstan' anything north of Sheffield, innit. And Glaswegians might occasionally clear their t'roats and buy a vowel AFAIC. But, yeah, what Forbin said about the Deep South. Except for N'Awlins, which sounds almost like Brooklyn.
My daughter just lined up a gig as a mother's helper for a family from England. When I went with her to meet them and make sure everything was on the up and up, it was a real struggle to not keep asking them to speak clearly.
When one of our Scottish cousins came for a visit when I was 12, I drove him crazy asking him to repeat himself constantly. No idea what he was saying most of the time.
Before Netflix, I couldn't watch much British TV, because all the accents would start to sound muddled after ten minutes ,and not every programme had closed captioning.
The UK does have the best crime dramas. But, yeah, between Luther's Cockney and David Mumblemouth O'Hara, I've had the captioning on for the past two nights.
I think Aaron Sorkin needs to do a British TV show. Between the accents and the rapid-fire talk-over-each-other dialogue, no one would ever understand a word!!!!
Garamet, the writer and creator of Luther has written a Luther novel and plans to do more. I loved the first one.
I remember taking a cab ride with my nephew in Edinburgh to go pick up a rental car. I was talking with the driver on the way. The driver had a truly profound Scottish accent, and I had to listen very carefully to make out what he was saying. My nephew whispered to me: "What language is he speaking?" I said: "English!" One example: I told him we were going to the Firth of Forth to see the Victorian-era Rail Bridge that spans it. The driver referred to it as "the reel bridge."
