Post a bad thing that happened in your life today

[Ed Rooney]

1 hour ago, gvallee said:

 

I've tried for so many years to get rid of my accent, impossible... 

 

The nicest sound of English is when it's spoken with a French accent. An Italian accent is nice too. 

[Michael Ventura]

14 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

The nicest sound of English is when it's spoken with a French accent. An Italian accent is nice too. 

Completely agree

[Bryan]

56 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

The nicest sound of English is when it's spoken with a French accent. An Italian accent is nice too. 

 

Soft Scottish is rather nice too, I've just been listening to Karine Polwart singing, lovely. 

[John Morrison]

1 hour ago, Bryan said:

 

Soft Scottish is rather nice too, I've just been listening to Karine Polwart singing, lovely. 

 

Karine Polwart has been my lockdown 'find' too. She's terrific. The Good Years.

Edited December 24, 2021 by John Morrison

[John Mitchell]

I feel like a curmudgeon posting on this thread today, but this is something of a cautionary tale. We just heard from friends in Montreal, and the entire family has come down with COVID, plus boyfriend and girlfriend of teenage children, which means other families will be affected as well. Everyone now has to quarantine over the holidays. The Omicron variant is super transmissible by the sounds of it, so be extra careful everyone.

[Bryan]

6 hours ago, MDM said:

 

Could be very dangerous Bryan having close contact with anyone who is not very likely to be Covid-free right now. You really don't want to get Covid. It is totally unpredictable and much more likely to be serious in older people.

 

I have insisted that my son (who is at uni in your part of the world) self-isolate for 7 days and does daily lateral flow tests before coming home. Even then there is a risk but that should be relatively minimal by now. 

 

Yes thanks Michael, we'll all be carrying out tests before any meetings take place.  Our younger son and his partner had  a PCR test today, they have had a mix of +ve and -ve lateral flow tests, but don't have any symptoms.  We might get to see them with grandson in 7 days time - all being well.

 

The result is that we've got a fridge stocked for a gathering that's not going to happen., so the pressure is on to eat and drink too much.  I cooked pan fried cod tonight, but tomorrow I guess that the dreaded turkey will make its appearance.  A very long walk called for.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Bryan

[MDM]

43 minutes ago, Bryan said:

 

Yes thanks Michael, we'll all be carrying out tests before any meetings take place.  Our younger son and his partner had  a PCR test today, they have had a mix of +ve and -ve lateral flow tests, but don't have any symptoms.  We might get to see them with grandson in 7 days time - all being well.

 

The result is that we've got a fridge stocked for a gathering that's not going to happen., so the pressure is on to eat and drink too much.  I cooked pan fried cod tonight, but tomorrow I guess that the dreaded turkey will make its appearance.  A very long walk called for.

 

The frequent lack of symptoms while people are infectious is one of the main reasons the coronavirus has been so successful. When I got it back in September my wife kept testing negative for about a week after I tested positive and she was legally required to keep on working as she was doubly vaccinated at the time. As John says the Omicron variant is really highly transmissable even in comparison to Delta. Apparently 1 in 20 people in London have Covid at the moment which is an incredibly high figure. It is spreading like wild fire - not a time for taking chances.

 

As for accents, I love the Geordie variant among English accents (especially female versions) as well as Wesht Cork,  lilty Welsh accents, New York and any southern American drawl.

 

Happy Christmas everyone.

Edited December 24, 2021 by MDM

[Betty LaRue]

7 hours ago, Bryan said:

 

Yes thanks Michael, we'll all be carrying out tests before any meetings take place.  Our younger son and his partner had  a PCR test today, they have had a mix of +ve and -ve lateral flow tests, but don't have any symptoms.  We might get to see them with grandson in 7 days time - all being well.

 

The result is that we've got a fridge stocked for a gathering that's not going to happen., so the pressure is on to eat and drink too much.  I cooked pan fried cod tonight, but tomorrow I guess that the dreaded turkey will make its appearance.  A very long walk called for.

Brian, eat what you want of the turkey Christmas Day, then wrap well (double freezer bags, and freeze the rest until Boxing Day for your company. Turkey sandwiches with lettuce and veggies piled on is good. Put the turkey on bread then brown each side with butter in a skillet, then once out of the pan, add veggies. I like lettuce and tomatoes, maybe cheese, and some mayonnaise. Or spicy mustard.

Make a large pot of noodles, add bits of turkey to it.

[Bryan]

1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

Brian, eat what you want of the turkey Christmas Day, then wrap well (double freezer bags, and freeze the rest until Boxing Day for your company. Turkey sandwiches with lettuce and veggies piled on is good. Put the turkey on bread then brown each side with butter in a skillet, then once out of the pan, add veggies. I like lettuce and tomatoes, maybe cheese, and some mayonnaise. Or spicy mustard.

Make a large pot of noodles, add bits of turkey to it.

Thanks Betty, it's just as well we bought a new fridge freezer ! Our Boxing Day guests are vegetarians, so the meat will have to wait a while. Then turkey sandwiches for lunch followed by turkey curry for dinner etc.

[Inchiquin]

20 hours ago, gvallee said:

 

I've tried for so many years to get rid of my accent, impossible... 

 

I love a French accent. But not as much as an Irish accent... <swoon>. I'm anybody's for an Irish accent.

 

When I lived in the US I found that American women love a British accent.

 

Alan

[gvallee]

9 minutes ago, Inchiquin said:

 

I love a French accent. But not as much as an Irish accent... <swoon>. I'm anybody's for an Irish accent.

 

When I lived in the US I found that American women love a British accent.

 

Alan

 

Very kind of you to say so but .... when French accent is not sexy 

[Allan Bell]

15 hours ago, MDM said:

 

The frequent lack of symptoms while people are infectious is one of the main reasons the coronavirus has been so successful. When I got it back in September my wife kept testing negative for about a week after I tested positive and she was legally required to keep on working as she was doubly vaccinated at the time. As John says the Omicron variant is really highly transmissable even in comparison to Delta. Apparently 1 in 20 people in London have Covid at the moment which is an incredibly high figure. It is spreading like wild fire - not a time for taking chances.

 

As for accents, I love the Geordie variant among English accents (especially female versions) as well as Wesht Cork,  lilty Welsh accents, New York and any southern American drawl.

 

Happy Christmas everyone.

 

I am from the North but not a Geordie, not having been born in that particular area of Tyneside.  Never did have a broad accent even when I was living at home with my parents but after I left for the wide world I did my best to get rid of it. Each area I worked in after that I seemed to pick up some of the local accent which further diluted my northern accent.

 

In the end people try to guess where I am from, some are close others are hundreds of miles away.  I think I have a fairly cosmopolitan accent now.

 

Allan

 

[meanderingemu]

22 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

Why do people love to dump on the French. They do it here too. Must be envy... all that fabulous food (the bread even) and beautiful language (and sexy accents).

 

Paulette

 

i usually dump on them when  they destroy the language, and think the are the centre of the Francophone world. 

[meanderingemu]

20 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

The nicest sound of English is when it's spoken with a French accent. An Italian accent is nice too. 

 

Funny I dislike English with a French accent (i assume you mean the one from France, not mine).  Italians i agree.  Two of the best accents i have heard travelling were from Italians, one who learned in Ireland, the other in Australia, it was perfect.   

 

 

 

as for French Accents the Acadian one has to be my favourite.  Such a melodic sing-songy language,

Edited December 25, 2021 by meanderingemu

[gvallee]

10 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

Funny I dislike English with a French accent (i assume you mean the one from France, not mine).  Italians i agree.  Two of the best accents i have heard travelling were from Italians, one who learned in Ireland, the other in Australia, it was perfect.   

 

Ditto. I despair that my hubby, who is a Brit and was an English teacher in Portugal, refuses to correct me. He doesn't want to hurt my feelings. Or when I made a mistake and people say to me 'I know what you mean'. Well that's not good enough, tell me I made a mistake so I can learn! Ha diplomacy... 

 

I love how Brazilians cannot pronounce words in English ending with a consonant. They add 'ee'. So a hot dog is a hot-ee dog-ee. 

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by gvallee

[meanderingemu]

11 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

Ditto. I despair that my hubby, who is a Brit and was an English teacher in Portugal, refuses to correct me. He doesn't want to hurt my feelings. Or when I made a mistake and people say to me 'I know what you mean'. Well that's not good enough, tell me I made a mistake so I can learn! Ha diplomacy... 

 

 

 

 

yeah, the mistake thing is always hard, i'm fluent so i want you to tell me, this is not me making an effort in another language- though at this point i probably make as many mistakes in French as in English,

 

 

The other problem I have is how to you inform the person that you also speak French.  Some will be relieved and gladly change, but others will be insulted that you thought their English was bad.  Still remember these two French backpackers in a hostel in  NZ speaking to eachother in painful English, not realising they both share some mother tongue, after a couple minutes listening to them struggling I asked "wouldn't it be easier if you just did it in French?".  

 

Interestingly since moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia, this is one of the first place in Canada where people have actually identified my accent, but i think it is more because people of Acadian decent get so rarely to use their French here and really want to use it.   I have no problem with that, but the speech pattern and evolution of the language really does require concentration. 

[meanderingemu]

 

Happy Christmas to everyone (and boxing days to those who have moved on).  Hope you find some light and focus to brings you some positive in all this negative.  

 

 

reading some of the worries that people have to go through getting together, i am starting to think those of us who had planned a so-called "christmas alone" may have it easier again this year.  

 

stay safe.  

 

 

[Mr Standfast]

RIP J Marley

[MDM]

3 hours ago, Inchiquin said:

 

I love a French accent. But not as much as an Irish accent... <swoon>. I'm anybody's for an Irish accent.

 

When I lived in the US I found that American women love a British accent.

 

Alan

 

Have you any particular preference? There are probably as many different Irish accents as there are British accents. A Kerry accent is as different from a Belfast accent as a Devon accent is from Glaswegian. 

[MDM]

 

 

2 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

I am from the North but not a Geordie, not having been born in that particular area of Tyneside.  Never did have a broad accent even when I was living at home with my parents but after I left for the wide world I did my best to get rid of it. Each area I worked in after that I seemed to pick up some of the local accent which further diluted my northern accent.

 

In the end people try to guess where I am from, some are close others are hundreds of miles away.  I think I have a fairly cosmopolitan accent now.

 

Allan

 

 

I would have known you were from the north of England but would not have been able to tell where. 

[Michael Ventura]

I always have a fire in the fireplace on Christmas Day but not this year, going to be around 70 degrees F (20c). 

[meanderingemu]

5 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

Have you any particular preference? There are probably as many different Irish accents as there are British accents. A Kerry accent is as different from a Belfast accent as a Devon accent is from Glaswegian. 

 

my favourite "Irish" accent is the one from Newfoundland.  😉 

 

to be honest, the subtlety of regional accents is something i never acquired in English, i am happy to identify the major ones, including the one i never recognised being South African-which technically meant i did recognise it as "the different one".

 But I guess it is the same as me recognising 6-8 different Francophone accents in Canada (including 4 major ones from Quebec alone which even a French people would be hard pressed to differentiate).   

[Betty LaRue]

My accent? Hmm. Not quite southern, but close. When my husband was stationed in the north, everyone in Indiana thought we were from the south, mentioning our accent. I guess it depends on who is listening, how they categorize me. When I visited a southern state, I stood in line at the market behind a women whom, I noticed, was buying bananas and vanilla wafer cookies. I said, “Looks like someone is making banana pudding”.  She turned and beamed at me and said, “Yes I am! We southern women do know how to make a good banana pudding, don’t we?”

 

 

So I guess I passed.

Our regional cooking is greatly influenced by southern cooking, with a bit of Tex-Mex thrown in bleeding up from Texas. Our friendliness is the same. It’s sort of the “nobody knows a stranger”. Like me starting a conversation in the checkout line with a stranger. A friend of mine I used to work with was from the far northern U.S.  She eventually moved back to her home state. After a few years, she came down to visit me and we went shopping and to the movies, ate out. She told me, “I’d forgotten how friendly people are here.”

Edited December 25, 2021 by Betty LaRue

[MDM]

43 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

my favourite "Irish" accent is the one from Newfoundland.  😉 

 

to be honest, the subtlety of regional accents is something i never acquired in English, i am happy to identify the major ones, including the one i never recognised being South African-which technically meant i did recognise it as "the different one".

 But I guess it is the same as me recognising 6-8 different Francophone accents in Canada (including 4 major ones from Quebec alone which even a French people would be hard pressed to differentiate).   

 

I learnt French in school but have never used it except on a few brief trips to France. I always found it very difficult to speak French, mainly because of the r, which I could never get. The Spanish r comes a lot more naturally to me. I could not distinguish different French accents - I think you need to be very fluent in a language before reaching that stage. 

[Cecile Marion]

49 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

I always have a fire in the fireplace on Christmas Day but not this year, going to be around 70 degrees F (20c). 

I don’t have a fireplace now, but as a kid growing up in Central Florida, my father once built a fire and then turned on the air conditioning on Christmas Day. We’d never consider doing something as wasteful as that now. Merry merry everyone!