 |
| This is a juice box - a box with juice, see? |
I glanced over and smiled inwardly, but played innocent.
"A juice box?", I questioned with interest.
"You know, an old-timey record player," he explained. (First, how does an 8 year old know about record players?)
Andrew and I smiled. And Michael learned the difference in a juice box and a jukebox!
This reminds me of the time my way-younger-than-me brother was little and kept saying "valilla" for the flavoring. I told him to watch my mouth as I emphasized each syllable "vuh-NIL-luh." And he said vanilla right from then on. I kind of regretted that as I rather like when little kids mispronounce words on occasion.
Actually what am I talking about?! Some folks in this country would daresay I mispronounce some words because of my oh-so-charming southern accent. For starters I say min, tin, pin, uh gin. At least I don't type in my accent. See: men, ten, pen, again. You understood my written words, right?
What words do you tend to mispronounce or hear mispronounced by those close to you?
A foreign friend of mine who shall remain nameless laughs when I say "hamburger." Yes, he finds it so hilarious that I pronounce this word like an American!
Hellooooooooooo, Nameless Friend!
 |
| I am an American! |
Photo of Susanne, Teresa and Denise - July 3, 2009
11 comments:
i would love for you to attend one of my classes one day to hear the terrible pronunciation. i love accent a lot.
i love hearing different accents with their different ways of saying things.
they say i am good with pronunciation , i don't know how to know to say a word without hearing it before "smart i guess" lol .i wish i was better in writing like speaking :( , lol i drifted again.
Wafa', I love hearing whatever you have to say so speak as much as you want! :)
Do you teach English? I bet you pronounce things correctly because you watch a lot of American movies. :)
Thanks for your comment!
(Regarding the picture on the bottom of your blog)
All the girls (and kids) in 70s looked funny. Though when they grow older they don't.
Now here I give you something to figure out. :)
...and I just noticed your photo in this recent post.
Tell your friends that Usman says Susanne is pretty. And they aren't. :)
Usman, isn't that young kid picture of me great? Ha, ha! It makes me giggle whenever I see it. :) I think I was trying to grow my hair long, but you see it just looks rather, um, lionish. Roar! :-)
Did you grow up in the 70s or just like to laugh at people who did? :-P
By the way, how have you been doing? I hope Ramadan is going well for you. Thanks for dropping by.
My one friend (Teresa) is really silly. She looks better when she doesn't have decorations sticking out of her mouth. :)
Have a good day!
I like that I apparently forget people have accents. You've mentioned yours before, I know you have a Southern accent, and when I read your posts I read them in my own voice. It reminds me of another online friend a few years ago who had me draw a (very simple MS Paint-version) picture of her...I basically drew myself, and she laughed and told me she looked nothing like that. But I wasn't even aware till she said something that I was seeing myself! I just drew her the way I pictured her in my head when I read her posts. :D I wonder if everyone does that?
My dad says "advertisement" as "ad-VER-tiss-ment" and it always makes me giggle. That's all I can think of right now for mispronounced words.
Kids are fun to be around.Waseem does these funny pronounciations as well esp in Tamil.His English is okay except for his grammar.He does jumble up words when he attemps to talk like a train :)
Is Micheal shy around people? Waseem is! But he's a handful at home and with his friends.I bet he'll get as much fun as Micheal did with the juicebox :)
I've read many American novels with different accents.I did have difficulty understanding at first but as I read on I get the flow.It's very unique.Even tamilans have accents of their own just like the Chinese.Isn't it amazing how our minds interpret language according to the environment we live? Our brain is one magic box :)
Susanne--very cute post, and I am sure your accent is charming!
A Saudi friend sent me this and I thought it fits well with your post:
24 Things You Might Be Saying Wrong
I would add in lose vs loose; it seems some in the blogosphere are forever "loosing" something, they would "loose" their heads if they weren't attached. Or if I caught them saying "loose" when they mean "LOSE"!!!! LOL :)
Sanil, thanks for your comment! I love the example of you drawing yourself. Ha, ha! I don't picture everyone looking like me, but I very much DO have mental pictures of most all my blogging friends. I like to imagine what you all look like behind the computer screen. (Kind of like when you hear someone on the radio and try to picture what they look like.) So it's always a treat for me to put real faces with names and I've been able to do that with some folks. I know others just don't care to be that public on the internet and I totally respect that. But you know me. I guess I have no fear presently. ;)
Your dad says advertisement the British way! Or at least that's how I've always thought the Brits said it. How cute! Glad you shared that example.
Thanks for your comment!
Lat, I loved your comment. Michael can be a bit shy, but usually not so much. He can actually be very talkative. I think he has to be in the mood though...kind of like me. I can sometimes be shy (or less talkative). :) I enjoyed reading about your son. Sounds so cute!
I don't see too many books written in accents so that's cute that you've read some. Generally I see books written in our standard writing although occasionally I'll see a book about black people or southern people that is written in our way of speaking. I sometimes find it hard to follow as I'm used to just regular ol' American English in books. :)
I find accents rather fascinating especially when I try to imagine the history of them - how they formed. Like WHY do people in the Southern US tend to speak quite differently than Northeasterners? Is it our mixture of accents such a Irish/Scottish and African? Well, I know that people in the North have moved around more so the accents probably mixed together and standardized a bit more. In the South, we have more farms so people stayed in one place and you can find pockets of accents varying from place to place (farm to farm maybe). Enough rambling about that.
Enjoyed your comment - many thanks!
Chiara, thanks for that link. I enjoy reading stuff like that. I like to see what I might be saying wrong. :-D
Oh, the loose/lose thing is tough even for me sometimes. Same with chose/choose. :-/ I usually get it right, but those I have to think about. Along with effect and affect on occasion. :)
Thanks for your comment! Nice to see you. :)
Post a Comment