Pop songs

[Daemon99]

[Alan]

Hi.

Thanks for that. The only one I've actually seen or half seen is the Catherine Tate show - I really don't find watching an old lady swearing is funny and so I wouldn't bother with that show, anyhow.

Alan
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[Stew.t.]

Hi daemon

In order to answer your question concerning Catherine Tate show , and not avoid it. It depends which character she plays, these sketch shows tend to have strong, unusual or OTT accents for comic effect. Which one did you find the hardest?

Coupling shouldn´t be too hard in comparison as it is a sit-com and not a sketch show. Any sketch show will be naturally difficult whether it is Harry Enfield and Friends, Alan Partridge, the Mary Whitehouse Experience, the Big train or French and Saunders. All of these, just like Stand up comedy, will be challenging to the listener.

But understanding is about exposure and developing your listening skills.

Try "Spaced" "Smack the Pony" or "the IT crowd" as alternative British comedy. And let us know which ones you find hard, and why.

Some accents are harder than others, even here you might find mine or Ralf´s accent harder to listen to than Alans.

cheers stew.t.
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[Daemon99]

Hi Stew,

It's the character of the student that's the hardest for me to understand.

She always gets into an argument with the teacher, and she speaks so fast ,with a totally unintelligible accent, that I can hardly make out anything

Yeah, I find Coupling relatively easier to understand.

[Lost_Soul]

[Ralf]

Ewes are all sheep
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[Prezbucky]

Jamie

Every choral director I ever had told us that it was proper to soften the "r" when it's at the end of the word and when it's part of an -rs ending.

...such that instead of singing "carrr" we would sing "cah" or "cahr" (soft r).

Grade school, high school and UW Concert Choir -- they all taught the "soft r" technique.
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[Prezbucky]

As for pop-music accents, many do seem to be a sort of "average" American accent.

Some young American rock bands make me gag with their valley-girl Cali accents (occents), but they still seem to be a minority.

Now... of course US Southern accents are featured in Country music.
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[Prezbucky]

Alex

Americans of different geographical areas can't agree on the pronunciation of U. Check it out:

Upper Midwest: yoo

SoCal: yeh'oo or yeh'w

Southeastern US (but not new Orleans): yeeew

(racking my brain to represent the northeastern U... but I can't decide how to do it)
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[Yankee]

.
If you had someone singing about 'water' with a South-Jersey/Philadelphia area accent, you might think they were singing about a lumberjack or a forest or something (i.e. the pronunciation of 'water' sounds like 'wooder').
.

[Jamie (K)]

[Prezbucky]

yah

or the phantom "r" that comes at the end of a word normally ending in a vowel (like "a")
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[Yankee]

[Prezbucky]

yah
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[NinaZara]

I always thought that they drop the R's because it's easier to enunciate the word when they have to stretch it, and sometimes in some melody, it sounds better, to my ears. Having trouble enunciating the R's I have always noticed this and I did wonder why.

Imagine doing the la la la thing with an R.

La la la laa and Lar lar lar laarr.

The later is difficult right? And did not sound as harmonious without the R.