Posts
10 years ago
An old colleague Barrie was quite an interesting character. He was a product of the British public school system, and it clearly showed. Thirty years of working all around the world from America to Australia had never shifted his very correct 'Queens English' pronunciation one iota.
Funny that isn't it...
Because if you were to send a more common person like me to Australia for three weeks I'll probably come back talking like Joe Mangle from 'Neighbours'. But send someone who speaks 'proper' like Barrie, and it will have no impact whatsoever, no matter how long they're there.
Which is just as well really because if he had of been affected this way, I would have been forced to work with someone who 'suffers' from something which has recently become known as an ‘Antipodean Inflection’. And if that had ever happened, I may just have been forced to kill him!
You know what an Antipodean Inflection is... it's where every statement is made to sound like a question by a raise in pitch on the final word of the sentence...
Hi my name is Bruce? And I'll be your guide today?
And it's going to be really interesting?
It drives me crazy... I mean, isn't he sure his name is Bruce, or that he'll be my guide? Is he hoping I'll confirm this rather basic information to him before proceeding? I've no idea.
Now I’m not for one minute suggesting that all Aussies speak this way, not for one minute no. It's all mainly down to the imported Australian TV shows like 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away'.
But I swear that if I do nothing else in writing this very short piece, but bring this abomination to your attention, so that it irritates you just as much as it irritates me, then it will have been time well spent.
I really do see no good reason, why I should suffer alone.
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Some of my more popular posts
-
“So there I was standing in the shower, practically naked, kissing my best friend and secret crush and I couldn’t help but think it was th... -
I've just read yet another newspaper article about the threat of global warming. And last night on TV. Al Gore was warning that it'... -
He will dutifully return to his cell. The door will shut, his small cage will darken. He will lie down and try to rest, desperately tryi... -
She slid up close next to David, careful not to tear her silk skirt on the old park bench. It was a cold night and she knew that what she ... -
I’ve been quite busy recently... I think I mentioned my ever increasing to do lists, and that they have taken up a lot of time. And as a ... -
The day was ordinarily dull and grey, but into the grim world there came a new shining light... Yes it was my bald head. It... -
.jpg)
Inspired by a sign I have just read at the local hospital A and E department, I had to rush home (after my treatment of course) and write ... -
Back in the day when I was a fully fledged, cards in wage slave, I was actually sacked from my first job. And if the mentor in my new job ... -
I went to a funfair quite recently, and noticed that at most of the stalls there, it was quite difficult to win anything. The ‘games of sk... -
"Hello, good evening and bollocks." Many hundreds of years ago, when dinosaurs wandered the Earth and I was in my youth, I would...
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading this blog entry, feel free to leave your comments