I Love Lucy: English Pronunciation
7 comments
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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.
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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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This video is exactly my case, but in the opposite way, my husband in American and I am ??from Honduras.?
The English’s spelling is a mystery for me.?
Bye, bye
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Oh thanks for the stories folks! Perla, English spelling is a mystery to Americans too!! lol
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One of my favorite episodes!! Love it! Our English language is a MESS isn’t it??? So hard for people to learn it from different cultures! So glad I was born into it – rather than having to learn it later!