Just got a Call from Tennessee

[Kiwi Phil]

Just got a phone call from a Pen Co. I buy promotional pens from for my customers.
I am pretty sure they come from Tennessee.

The poor bloke on the other end of the phone, I mean, he is very well spoken and polite, with a real American drawl, and when I speak, he sort of stops-dead in his tracks.
My accent and jargon must completely confuse him, and i can just about hear him thinking-thinking-trying to work out what I just said.

I never order my pens from the paperwork they send me. I wait for them to call. I get more value/fun that way.

I often wonder what the rest of you here sound like in person. I mean, there is nothing wrong with the way I speak!

Cheers
Phillip

 

[rbh]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

Wife's niece was born in Canada, but raised and lives in NZ, when we all get together for some drinks on skype she has to remember to translate some of the jargon for us as well as her husband.
Not a whole lot different once you understand the slang (boot=trunk etc)

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

Phil...... to about 99% of the people in the world (outside of Oz) think EVERYONE sounds like Paul Hogan

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

Via the internet I started to corresponding with a man in England who's mother's maiden name was the same as my last name. We became good friends and he started to call me once in a while out of the blue. We always had a good laugh when he called, he said I bet you can hardly understand what I'm saying with my "cockney" accent. I sure miss hearing that accent, he passed away a few years ago due to cancer. Thanks for reminding me of him today Phil.

 

[Deadwood]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

"The ryein in Spyein stays myenlee in the plyeine" Where's En'ry 'Iggins when you need him???? Kiwi....a big THANKS for making me laugh...I needed it today.

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

Phillip, I can always understand your printed word. I'm sure you and I would have to have a translator if we ever spoke over the phone.

G-day,Mate

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

I used to work for an insurance company headquartered in Wisconsin. Back when, all reports came in via cassette tape. The transcribers had to be taught to hear in New Englandese, Deep Southernese, etc.

I have friends in both Australia and England and when we would get together twice a year, it took a bit to get back understanding them. I am sure it true the other way around as well.

 

[JB]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

That happens even within US borders, Phil.

While my girls were growing up we lived in Tennessee, then North Carolina, then Virginia before moving to Illinois.

After her first day in school in IL I asked her how she got on with the natives. She said, "Oh, just fine, Dad, but they sure talk funny."

Four years later we moved to Texas, where she announced that Texans "sure talk funny."

Four years after that we returned to IL and guess what? They sure talked funny.

 

[dwco5051]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

When I was in the Navy I was TAD on the island of Majorca for a short while. I once spent an evening with a couple of chaps from Liverpool. After they had a few half and halfs I discovered I could understand the Spaniards better than them and I don't even speak Spanish.

One of my ex's who was from Montreal had a brother-in-law who was somewhat fluent in English. He was a truck driver and was telling me a story about having a problem communicating with the weigh master at a scales in Tennessee. I told him not to worry as I sometimes had the same problem understanding people in Tennessee.

 

[642mx]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

That happens even within US borders, Phil.

Your right JB! Accents and the speed of people talking is a huge thing to deal with. I get the pleasure of talking to people all over the US every day. I've got a customer in Rockford, IL that I can't hardly understand... he knows me well and has slowed down his words for me, but I often times have to ask him to repeat himself. On the other end, I talked to a guy in NC yesterday and could have fell asleep before he could spit a sentence out....

 

[Cofe]

Re: Just got a Call from Tennessee

This has made a good read Phil, and has made me laugh and remember some gents I have met over the years.
One gent I used to work with was proficient in seven different languages. Unfortunately his English was not proficient.

I caught him at a work computer one day ordering parts from the warehouse. He said I can not find moped........confused I questioned him further and replied that we had no mopeds in the warehouse.... after considerable time and effort I finally figured out he was trying to order a mop head.