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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 24, 2020 15:26:59 GMT
Thanks, Fumobici! There are a fair number of Canadians here, usually older ones. Sometimes it's obvious when they speak, but more often than not they have no distinguishable accent.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 24, 2020 15:33:42 GMT
I think that when it comes to movies (or 'fillums' as a friend of mine calls them) American actors' voices are the most glamorous...I didn't exactly faint away when I met Bixa and Kerouac, but it was a close thing...
>simper<
Also almost every child here tries to put on an American accent when playing... with hilarious and terrible (but wonderful) results. Jeff and I often listen to the little girls next door playing...and as for our two boys...playing Batman, Spiderman, Hong Kong Phooey and Inspector Gadget...soooo funny.
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Post by casimira on Aug 24, 2020 15:56:09 GMT
I know we've had this discussion before but, I don't think of Americans as having one singular way of speaking given all the different regions and accents associated with them. Our next door neighbor, a young man from Galliano, LA, deep in the heart of Cajun country was just here, and, to here him speak, you would be left saying "where the hell is he from?". I'm confused when I hear people say he or she has an American way of speaking or accent.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 24, 2020 16:37:31 GMT
No English speaking French who met my stepfather from North Carolina could understand a word he said. And when my parents moved to North Carolina for 2 or 3 years in the 1980's, he could not understand what the Carolinians were saying, since he had left the area in the 1930's.
The "standard" American accent is supposed to be the Kansas accent (Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather...). I'm pretty sure that people from the San Fernando Valley in California might have comprehension difficulties when they encounter anybody from the Deep South, New York City or Boston.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 24, 2020 20:45:17 GMT
Is there an American equivalent of 'the queen's English' ? I understand that there are many different accents in the USA, altho the only ones we hear about are those in films. I suppose that I first encountered American accents on TV shows...we watched Lost in Space, Wagon Train, The Monkeys, Batman, Hawii five-O etc.
We were more of a radio family really. Alistair Cook (Cooke?) read 'A Letter From America' every weekend on radio 4 and I really loved his voice and the gentle way he explained what had been going on in the USA.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 24, 2020 22:14:21 GMT
I lived in both southern and northern coastal North Carolina and the accents were radically different from each other.
Also in Louisiana, which is not a very big state, there are different accents in different parts.
Cheery, it seems to me that in the US people used to say that so&so spoke "the queen's English" meaning someone with proper grammar, correct pronunciation, diction, etc., but not referring to an English accent.
Many British actors can do an American accent that fools Americans, which is kind of proof that there is such a thing as a generic American accent, despite the persistence of regional accents.
Casimira, it's not that Americans have a single way of speaking, but there is a sort of "accentless" American spoken by many people. It might be because they've moved around a lot, or because they made an effort to lose any regional accent.
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Post by questa on Aug 25, 2020 3:03:45 GMT
Is this the accent called in the movie world the Mid-Atlantic accent?
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Post by spaceneedle on Aug 25, 2020 9:35:22 GMT
One of my best friends is the daughter of a now-deceased (and very famous) entertainer.
My friend's parent used to say that when actors and actresses were sent to diction coaches to lose regional accents, they were always taught to speak with the "Pacific Northwest" accent which was considered the most devoid of any regional sounds. Apparently this is also what those who go into broadcasting are taught too.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 25, 2020 13:52:41 GMT
That's probably what I mean by an 'American accent' thank you Questa and Spaceneedle...
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 25, 2020 18:14:09 GMT
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 25, 2020 18:16:48 GMT
I should add that since these pics were taken before the soffits were added to neaten it up...
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 25, 2020 19:38:37 GMT
Looks good Cheery. It's always good to have a 'handy' man around the house. That's what I keep telling Mrs M anyway. I presume Jeff knows this old saying -
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 26, 2020 18:07:09 GMT
Oh yes. One of his favourite sayings....altho he looked a bit puzzled when I showed him your picture
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 27, 2020 14:51:44 GMT
I'm all over the place, my tablet browser is firefox, and it had a huge update today...everything is different. I don't like change me...but I'm trying to fight my way around the blasted thing. Why do they have to change everything?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 27, 2020 15:26:53 GMT
I don't know about Firefox, but there is usually an option to return to the previous display. Which is what I just did with Facebook.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 27, 2020 17:57:55 GMT
But I think only until September some time when you'll get the new version whether you want it or not.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 27, 2020 18:16:00 GMT
Oh joy.
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Post by mossie on Aug 27, 2020 18:21:41 GMT
All these firms have to employ a band of teenage geeks whose sole job is to fiddle with the system to "improve" it.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 27, 2020 18:41:50 GMT
Mr. Kimby bought an iPhone 6s just like mine, yet the menus for things like Recent Calls and Contacts are totally different and practically unusable.
I’m wondering if it’s due to an operating system update that I haven’t been able to load on my older 16GB 6s because I have filled it up completely with photos and apps (that I can’t even open because of “not enough memory”)
Now I don’t think I WANT to do the updates I’ve missed.
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Post by whatagain on Sept 11, 2020 3:40:27 GMT
Going to Paris next week ! First time since Covid. Was missing it so much... Will choose a good hotel, then have a great meal with one good friend. Talking of wich, i will be back end of the month, so would Kerouac be free for dinner ? 28 or 29 i think.
Week after next will be, er, interesting in terms of travel. Bxl Orleans. Sleep Orleans. Orleans : meeting. Then Orleans Paris. Meeting. Then Paris Coesfeld, Germany. Sleep somewhere. Meeting in Corsfeld. Then Coesfeld Bittburg. Sleep there. Meeting, back home. Too complicated with trains. So car. At least 18 hours drive if no traffic jams. The car will acquire the smell of wildboar...
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 11, 2020 5:48:27 GMT
Wild boar ~ Looks as though you are making up for lost travel time!
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 11, 2020 5:55:11 GMT
Is this trip officially approved? Paris is still on the red forbidden list for travel from Belgium.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 11, 2020 6:25:56 GMT
Are there still regulations in place in France when driving through regarding the necessity to carry special bits of paper with you detailing the journey and reasons for it etc?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 11, 2020 6:52:52 GMT
No, all of that ended in May.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 11, 2020 10:40:01 GMT
Just checking. Thanks.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 11, 2020 11:09:51 GMT
We are getting an updated set of rules this afternoon. I'll let you know if any of it might concern you.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 13, 2020 13:31:16 GMT
I'm very excited. Because of work commitments we didnt see our eldest son December- March then with lockdown we havent been able to see them since...but we are driving to a little park close to where he lives for a socially distanced picnic this afternoon. My trusty trolley is absolutely stuffed with picnic goodies...including a bowl of chicken salad for me We've kept in touch b phone and the internet...but to actually meet up is lovely. Even Russell (youngest son) is coming too...and the dog. We will still be following social distancing of course...so no hugs...but I'm still jolly excited.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 13, 2020 13:46:19 GMT
Just don't give the whole family salmonella!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 13, 2020 13:57:49 GMT
I'll try x
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Post by bjd on Sept 13, 2020 14:36:46 GMT
It must be hard not to see close family when they live close enough to picnic together! We haven't see our son in Canada for a long time, other than on skype, but have seen the others ever since lockdown relaxed in May. We also spent a week together in the Pyrenees at the end of August.
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