what words are bizarre and/or hilarious when spoken in an american accent?

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no offence intended here of course (i love the U.S. accent as much as they love mine)...

lets start with...

'wanker'

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

teatime

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

ok, basically just really 'british' words...but keep em coming please

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Any word will do. ;-)

― nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

snicket?

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

by eckers like

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

mobile.

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

ilkley moor b'ah tat

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

aww, i wanted 'wanker'

hmm, i could've phrased that better...

i got the one of the guys from OXES to say 'big up the hypotheticals' for my bassist's dictaphone... i discovered that americans can't do 'big ups' and sound convincing.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think I could ever give a convincing "bollocks"

― Aaron W, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

"our well balanced president"

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

everyone always laughs when i say FASSY BOY

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Shagging

― smee (smee), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

ilkley moor b'ah't 'at. or maybe without the second apostrophe in the funny spelling of without, Surely?

― chris (chris), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

yeh, i'm rubbish with punctuation

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Tracer, I have no idea what FASSY BOY means.

Blimey is another.

(I love Gwyneth's over-compensatory use of British slang/ swearing in Sliding Doors 'Gerry, you bloody, sodding, wanker" "You shagging bastard." etc.)

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

tracer=e12 bwoy

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Rutherford.

― anthony easton (anthony), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:15 (twenty-two years ago)

"Pub" and "chips" (when the latter is not used in conjunction with casinos or with '80s cop dramas starring Erik Estrada). Also "telly," e.g. Scott Walker "The Amorous Humphrey Plugg" or Prince "Sign 'O' The Times."

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

You've got to say though, Gwyneth does do them well in Sliding Doors (and there is a certain middle class breed who do overuse swearing anyway to try and be street). Peter Howitt the writer/director of SD told me he put 'em in there to annoy her as apparently they are indeed the hardest words to get right, and she didn't have to say wanker in Emma.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Oregano.
Just cause they say it FUCKED.

― nellie (minna), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Half - posh-sounding "hahwlf" in otherwise American voice drives me nuts. Even I freaking say "haff".

― kate, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

My (American) significant other laughs her socks off whenever I say the word "rare" in an American accent. I sound more like a dog barking, but I just can't get my mouth around it! The only thing she laughs at more is "rarer". Gah!

― Mark C (Mark C), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

burger

― ron (ron), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

rather, what British slang sounds stupidest to Americans?

"ace" always reads to me as "neat-o"

― gabbneb, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

aluminium....does anyone in the States really pronounce it 'aloominum'?

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:16 (twenty-two years ago)

first, we spell it "aluminum." therefore, we pronounce it so.

― Famous Athlete, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

knobhead
cunt
rubbish

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

The answer to this question is definitely the word 'herb'. Now if you're a cockney and drop all your aitches 'erb' sounds OK but stuck in the midst of aitch-rich standard American it sounds really strange.

― Amarga (Amarga), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 22:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought we 'invented' 'big up'?! What's 'snicket'? I said 'punter' last night on the phone with Felicity. (I've been reading too much Stewart Home.) I haven't said 'tosser' out loud yet but it does float through my head. (Likely SH culprit again.)

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i think Jamaicans invented "big ups" (gah they invent EVERYTHING). brit accent closer to Jamaican than we, so they win by default.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Baroque.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 02:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Toque

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 03:04 (twenty-two years ago)

"American accent"? You crazy Brits, we've got at least five or six of 'em!

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

gopher.

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

New England, f'rinstance, where everything ending in an 'r' sounds hilarious. "car" = "cah"! Yay!

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

All those 'r's must have migrated from New England to St. Louis in the Westward Expansion.

― felicity (felicity), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 03:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Route.

― toraneko (toraneko), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 05:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"telly" sounds kind of stupid to me, as do similiar abbreviations ending in 'y', tho I can't think of any right now..
It occurs to me that I say "dude" a LOT. whenever I hear people trying to imitate an american accent I realize how broad and obnoxious it can sound. which is pretty funny.

― daria g, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 06:06 (twenty-two years ago)

The answer to this question is definitely the word 'herb'.

I work with a Scottish woman -- she works in what we'll just call another department and so I don't get to interact with her that often, but everytime she calls me it's the most wonderful thing ever. Once, at a work retreat, she was helping make spaghetti sauce, and she asked me if I had any "herbs". With an h! It was the most charming thing ever and it was all I could do to keep from bouncing up and down and demanding that she say it again and again and again...

British people doing not-particularly-passable versions of American accents = classic!

― Chris P (Chris P), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 06:17 (twenty-two years ago)

?? I'm sure I have heard Americans pronounce the 'h' in 'herb'.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Place names are good. "Lie-cester Square" is the obvious one, but my brother was once asked how to get to "Looger Barooger" (Loughborough).

On the same topic 'Buffalo' by Stump is still funny ("How much is the chips, does the fish have chips" etc)

― James Ball (James Ball), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Looger Barooger is just demented. I'm sure they have 'boroughs' in America, don't they?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:35 (twenty-two years ago)

You know, I was actually stretching the truth a little to get it in this thread. It was, in fact, an Aussie. Still demented, though.

― James Ball (James Ball), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I say Herb with an H, but my pronounciation, like my spelling, is not to be trusted.

Most Americans I know - with a few exception - say 'Erb. This drives me NUTS. (But then again, everything is driving me nuts today.)

― kate, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Still demented, though.

Especially so, for they have ERINSBOROUGH.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Overheard on a Circle Line tube, sometime in the late '80s: middle-aged American lady: "Excuse me, does this toob go to High Saint Kenneth?"

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

ha james, i've had 'looger baroo' from an aussie also

plus, the river tammes, and southwalk. aussies are very good for this

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

"Lie-cester Square" is the obvious one

Equally hilarious of course is when Brits come to the Lower East Side looking for [roughly transliterated] "Hewston Street."

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:47 (twenty-two years ago)

heh an american chum of mine called someone off the telly a "cockney twat". it sounded most odd!

i have a book at home written by an american gentleman in which he goes to GREAT lengths to convince the reader that while "herb" pronounced with an H is acceptable, it's much better to pronounce it "urb".

i have also given an American tourist directions to "lie-sester square". till then i'd thought that this pronunciation was an urban miff.

― katie (katie), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah but but you do have a 'Hewston' so it's not so mad. There is no Lie-cester.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Most Americans I know - with a few exception - say 'Erb

does this also apply when they are referring to the musicians 'Erb Alpert and 'Erbie Hancock?

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah but but you do have a 'Hewston' so it's not so mad.

"Not in New York!" -Jonathan Richman

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, but n, surely they pronounce the place hoo-stun, rather than hew-stun, so that not an excuse, and then the street is how-stun?

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

saddam, obviously.

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Americans - o-REG-ano
English - ore-GAN-o?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

"knackered"

But then I'm Irish and in the minority so I can't really make fun.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I only heard of the 'herb' 'urb' thing when that bloody HERBAL ESSENCES shampoo suddenly landed. And then all those women! Dancing around the courtroom! Having the URGE to URBAL! It was hilarious!! Go U!S!A!

― Sarah (starry), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Schadenfreude.
Wunderkind.
Gerhard Schröder.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

well, ronan, you've got the monopoly on saying "to be sure" and "carphone warehouse" properly.

― g-kit (g-kit), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

On the Lie-sester Square theme,
Any tourist trying to pronounce Sauchiehall Street = Hysterical

― smee (smee), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 16:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Tis true for ye

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

For the record those Herbal Essences commercials are atypical of American TV (sadly).

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, but n, surely they pronounce the place hoo-stun, rather than hew-stun, so that not an excuse, and then the street is how-stun?

The city in Texas is Hew-stun. (Hyoo-stun, Hugh-stun.) The street in New York is How-stun (or maybe even How-stin).

"Looger Barooger" didn't make much sense to me until I realized you weren't pronouncing the Rs so much.

― Chris P (Chris P), Thursday, 9 January 2003 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

driving in New England listening to the radio this evening, I thought of this. imagine a bunch of people from Boston singing "Get the Party Started". maybe they could play it at Red Sox games. hah.

― daria g, Thursday, 9 January 2003 04:32 (twenty-two years ago)

er, thats what i said chris!

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 9 January 2003 06:18 (twenty-two years ago)

burgundy.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 9 January 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

The one time I heard an American begin their sentence with "Right then...", it cracked me up something fierce.

And I'm trying to hear it as "HHHHHHHHerb" in my mind's-ear, it just ain't clicking.

Which is funny, 'cause I notice a big difference between English and American dialects is how English often don't physically pronounce "H" and "T" consonants in words. Such as "I've 'ad just abou' enough of you."

My favorite is the inflection Southern Americans put on "R"s...words like "fucker" that should be pronounced more like "fuckah" end up all "fuckURRRRR". I love that shit.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 9 January 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Me too. "Fucker" only gains its true effectiveness when said in this manner.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 9 January 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

"Dastoor"

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 9 January 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Surely some of those pronunciations are different because, in the U.S., they're actually closer to the foreign root, e.g. "herb".

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 9 January 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

We have a special pronunciation for that word, Nabisco.

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 9 January 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Im not sure I understand this herb thing, but hearing people butcher Avril's name brings back memories of trying to tell Subpop interns how to pronounce their own artists names. Julie Doiron must have had her name pronounced everywhich way.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 9 January 2003 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Like Mark, I find Brits impersonating the American "rare" hilarious.

My boyfriend and I argue over the pronounciation of "Bernard".. but that's about it.

I say "Bern-ARD"

He says "Bernud."

― Mandee, Thursday, 9 January 2003 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

risotto.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 10 January 2003 00:31 (twenty-two years ago)

clique.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 10 January 2003 01:10 (twenty-two years ago)

CLEEK or CLICK? We say both. And I'm sorry, but nobody sounds better saying "risotto" than the guys who stand around on Mulberry Street. ruh-ZOTE(oh)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 10 January 2003 08:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Yonks

― Leee (Leee), Friday, 10 January 2003 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

as discovered a couple of nights ago: americans do say herb. if it is someone.

but they also do say yoomur instead of humour [bill clinton does, at least] and yooman instead of human [woody allen does, at least].

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 13 January 2003 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

mirror.

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 26 January 2003 03:00 (twenty-two years ago)

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