I Love Lucy: English Pronunciation
This is one of my favorite episodes of I Love Lucy. Since this Thursday's Grace Talk Soup is on the cultural differences in communication, I thought it'd be fun to post this segment of I Love Lucy where Lucy is trying to convince Ricky that his Cuban accent doesn't afford him the ability to speak "Correct English". I especially love the part where he can't figure out how to pronounce the different English words that all end in "ough".
English is a funny language and even Americans have a "tough" time of it! Or is that a "too" time of it? LOL
Do you have a funny cultural communication story you'd like to share? Come on the show on Thursday 8-9am PST and tell it! Or just post it right here and we may read it on the air!
7 comments
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This is one of my favorites, too. A classic! It has been said that English is one of the hardest languages to learn exactly because of things like this, too many different pronunciations for the same spelling. It does make it humorous, though! I can’t wait for Grace Talk Soup so we can learn about some of the other ways NATIVE American speakers say things. Note that I said “American speakers,” not “English speakers.” I have been told by many Brits that what comes out of our mouths is definitely NOT English. LOL
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Two instances cross my mind when I could not understand someone because of their accent. The first time my family moved to the deep south, I was working as a waitress. A man came in and asked for the “piper”. I stood with the dumbest look on my face (I was very young) and asked him again. Repeating it several times, he finally clarified by adding the word “morning”. A light bulb went on-“Oh, you mean the paaper!”
A more difficult circumstance came when we moved overseas to England. We stayed in temporary quarters and had a maid that we couldn’t understand for nearly a month. She sounded nothing like the other British we were in contact with. She spoke with a Cockney accent that is unbelievably hard. It took a bit, but we were finally able to understand her. I might add that Molly was a great maid. That was over 35 years ago.