I have mentioned here before that I have issues with accents.
When watching The Crown I needed closed captions because sometimes I swear the Queen has marbles in her mouth.
Yesterday a woman called and I only understood 1/2 of what she said.
I felt so bad that I kept asking her to repeat.
When we got to the point of her giving me her email (so that we can send confirmation and attach a doc to tell her what to do before we get there) I was stumped.
She said it a 2nd time.
I now have the giggles inside...I was not at all laughing at her.
I was laughing at myself because I am thinking, I can't ask this poor woman again to repeat this. I am an idiot. How do I get this without offending her?
I can generally tell the difference between say, a Georgia accent (pretty and soft) and an Alabama accent, especially if they say the word important, then I know it's an Alabama accent. (I don't find it as pretty as Georgia's)
But this was not anything I have ever heard before.
This is what I heard: Hoe Gray dot caan. (like James Caan)
So I assumed there was a yahoo or gmail or some such thing missing too.
I again ask her and she says ever so slowly Hoe Gray dot caan
So there is silence. I so do not wish to offend her.
She was a very nice lady I just couldn't understand her. It's me.
I then tell her that I have trouble sometimes with accents and while hers sure is pretty (ok a fib) I was having trouble.
Thankfully she laughed and spelled out Hoe for me - W-H-O-L-E.
Oh, whole I said. She replied, Yes that is what I said.
Shit that was stupid of me to say.
Gray - G-R-A-I-N. okay, now we're getting somewhere Whole Grain.
Caan- C-O-R-N. So it was wholegrain.corn@xxx.com
Oh my goodness I didn't hear anything close to this.
Where did that R go in corn? My speech class teacher would flip his lid.
What will I do? I am moving south. This Yankee doesn't understand southern speech. Are there courses for such things?
I am more familiar with "Forget about it"
I apologized to this woman and I was very thankful she didn't get angry.
However, I do believe she may think I am 'special' & I need to wear a helmet in the house.
18 comments:
I'm right there with you. Claudia watches The Crown. I'll sit there for a minute, tell her "I can't understand anything they're saying", then get up and leave.
I'm terrible about accents, too, especially English accents. It happened to me the other day in the eye doctor's office. A lady was trying to ask me a question about my hair and with a mask on I realized I'm used to reading lips more than I thought I did.
I have to say Mike and Jean I am thrilled to know its not just me. And Jean I've had that realization too with the masks and not seeing their mouth. 😞
Me too on the needing closed caption on my phone, since I do use it for any TV program with accents involved. I'll bet she said "blessed her heart" after you hung up:) Good luck with that move south.
If her accent is as thick as you've indicated, she's probably accustomed to not being heard correctly. I once made a blunder when I said said "Yes, Ma'am" to a caller at the law firm. The reply I got was "I AIN'T NO MA'AM!". It was a sir whose high pitch voice sounded nothing like a male.
Totally understand what you are saying here. I used to do medical transcription (type up what doctors dictate after they see a patient). I had to do English as second language physicians' dictation. Their accents and some of their attempts of trying to speak English were so very difficult to understand. Southern accents are hard too if you aren't from that area. Its almost like they need to make an app that you can put the accent into from someone talking and they translate it for you.
betty
Patti, you and Rick were on the same page. He said the exact same thing! (bless her...) To Rick's delight I kept saying whole grain corn like her all night.
Boots, Oh I have a girlfriend who gets this all the time. Only they say, "yes, sir" while her voice is deep most find it sexy not male like. It used to make her livid, now she just lets it roll off her.
Betty - now there is your winning lottery ticket - Get busy and make that app - you'll be rich!
Before hearing loss I used to be a dab hand at accents. That is gone now. Closed Cap is a must 100% of the time but ESPECIALLY if it's British or Australian.
Ah well, thank goodness for captioning.
Linda I do agree. However, we need cc on my phone - you know like caller ID. That sure would have been helpful to me yesterday. I just felt awful. I hope I didn't hurt her feelings.
I so relate! I had a patient who was trying to give me her email and I finally asked her to spell it out. I just could not understand her, and like you I felt so bad having to ask and ask!! Luckily she was gracious about it, but do you agree that people go crazy when then put them together? And oh my, some of these people still have really really old email accounts. I always smile when then tell me it's AOL.com :)
Yvonne - yes Hotmail too. We had Verizon and AOL bought Verizon's email. So you could change your email to aol. No thank you, I'll keep verizon. I loved it when it was Verizon - it worked and there was customer service. Then we get the emails that are filthy - why use that for a professional situation like a doctor's office? sluttykitten I will never ever forget. I couldn't wait until Gary got there to tell me if she was indeed a slutty kitten. :-)
I have that happen a lot! Sometimes I'll just tell them mine so I can get theirs.
Julie- i had to ask for address 4 times. Not just her email. It was painful for us both 🙂
We stream Acorn and Britbox, so yes, we definitely need closed caption (and my dad was from London!!). And I have a dear friend from Taiwan and when we talk on the phone, I'm always having her repeat... so yes, it would be nice to have accent apps.
Well, I say thank goodness for closed captioning! (my brother "made" cc, but that's another story... Thanks, bro!)
I would feel funny giving someone my email address over the phone without spelling it. wholegraincorn - HA! Glad you don't need a helmet in the house :D
Abby - your brother invented closed captions? I love your brother!!! You said that's another story - and it's one I'd like to hear. Yes, wholegrain.corn@whatever.com
The sing-songy lilt to the accent only made this worse. But I've mastered it and have been saying it to Rick all night last night and he would just crack up. Poor woman I know she thought I was a major numbnut.
About 80% of the time I am watching TV, I have CC engaged. (I find people from Australia have the hardest-to-understand English accent to my ear.) I get the giggles sometimes in comparing what I hear with the mish-mash that can come out of CC. It's a wonder that those with hearing problems have any idea what's going on in the world. On fictional stuff, who cares? On news stuff, it can make a huge difference.
Cop Car, I agree with the Australian accent being a tough one for me too. My husband and I always laugh when we see the CC are nowhere near what was actually said and he always says how sorry he feels for the deaf who actually need that service. Most often than not it makes no sense!
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