Be where you act?

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

That was my first thought. Do you hear that sort of thing often down Nashville way?

Meanwhile, I've had another thought:
What if the guy is saying "Beware..." and not "Be where..."?

Amy
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Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Torsten]

Just another piece of information: After Foreman said the phrase, the audience brought into laughter so they obviously found it funny -- a reaction he clearly had anticipated.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

.
Did he happen to say it with a distinct or exaggerated Southern accent? (How does his accent sound otherwise?)
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Torsten]

Yes, his accent might have been the reason for the laughter. He might have been imitating his father speaking in a nasal southern accent.
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[prezbucky]

Amy,

Oh my goodness, yes.

I chuckle every time I hear (in the office) something like, "Where you at, boy?"

I can't help it.

Of course, when I see a company email which says:

"It's okay to wear jean tomorrow!"

...that causes a severe fit of guffawing as well.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[prezbucky]

Not that Northern Wisconsin is perfect...

I know many folks up there who say "acrosst" instead of "across"

as in:

"Where ya going tomorrow, eh?"

"Oh, acrosst the way."
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[prezbucky]

Torsten

The Southern accent was borne (I think) of English, Irish and French accents... a mixture which has, over the last 200+ years, gotten way worse. hehe

Basic Southern Vowels (severity differs), shown in word pronunciations:

***Note: "uh" here will be used to signify the world-famous American schwa (or shwa):

A:
Hay = Hi
Hat = Hah'yut
Pa = Pa'ow (Paw, rhyming with "now")

E:
Meet = Muh'eet
Better = Bitter

I:
High = Hah
Bitter = Bee'uhter

O
Hole = Howl
Good = Gee'ud
Toot = Tee'oot
Oil = Ole (rhymes with "hole")
Hot = Howt (see "Pa/Paw")

U
Fluid = Flee'wid
But = Boot ("oo" as in "book")

The letter itself is pronounced "Yeew"

As you'll see by pronouncing the words in this exercise, Southern vowels are almost invariably rounded.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Kim]

Hi Torsten,

Being that I know what tapes you are referring to and that I've heard Ed Foreman speak in person, I do know that he is saying "Be where you're at". What he means by the phrase is to focus on what you're doing. Concentrate on the task at hand. Don't be thinking of all the other things that you have to do. It's like a phrase that I like to use, "Be in the now".

I'm not surprised that it sounds like "act". When I saw him in person, I DID really have to concentrate because his accent was SO hard to understand.

Kim

[Torsten]

Yes Kim, and at his seminars he speaks pretty fast which somehow is attracting because you have to concentrate constantly. By the way I like the little story where two friends are driving in a car and one asks: "What is that big new building over there?" and the other says: "I don't know, it wasn't there yesterday!" Sounds all too familar...
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Kim]

Funny that you bring up that story, because I was going to mention it in my post. My friend and I always joke around about that story when we're driving somewhere together.

[Torsten]

Kim, how often would you say you have listened to that tape? Also, there is that part where he is talking about the rabbits that didn't develop arteriosus sclerosis in that experiment? Come to think of it, those tapes are probably excellent materials for people who want to improve their listening comprehension skills because the information is very interesting.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Mister Micawber]

.
OK-- Now I like Conchita's 'Be where you're at', since evidently the problem is having your mind somewhere else. Or we could go back to the 60s and say 'Be Here Now' (Yankee would have suggested that phrase if she were old enough to remember it.)

PS: Yipes! There's a whole other page of responses here I didn't even see. What happened to the email-notice-machinery?
.
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Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber