January 11, 2006

• I reckon that spelling could get you killed Chyren.
• The most disturbing thing about the video is the announcer's pleasant smile as she reports that a zookeeper was set upon by lions. Her grim-news-delivered-soberly face needs some work.
• She's hawt indeed, Chy, but I'm incredibly partial to Melissa McDermott. *sighs. repeatedly*
• I was in Sydney once for a conference. I got to talking with someone, and was told that they didn't know I was a Kiwi because "I sounded Australian". I have never been so insulted in all my life. Besides, they were young and only playing. They didn't chew him up too badly...
• They'll get him next time.
• "I have never been so insulted in all my life." You just haven't stayed in Australia long enough. Come to Perth and I'll insult you. I'm really good at it.
• I was in Sydney once for a conference. I got to talking with someone, and was told that they didn't know I was a Kiwi because "I sounded Australian". I have never been so insulted in all my life. I mistook a Kiwi for an Aussie - once. He was so offended that now I'm paranoid about it. To Yank ears the difference is a bit subtle and I really have to listen for it. I don't think I'd mind being mistaken for a similar-sounding Canadian.
• We mind.
• We had a Kiwi temp working for us once. Eeevrythyng hee sid soundeed lik thees! We could tell he wasn't Australian cuz he didn't wear one of them funny hats.
• I don't think I'd mind being mistaken for a similar-sounding Canadian. Mind? Mind?! I should hope NOT! What Capt. Renault said.
• But seriously, they only toyed with him a bit. One of them pawed the guy's junk repeatedly, but hell -- maybe that's his bag.
• Chy and Flagpole: I'll see your two mildly attractive newsbabes, and raise you French hottie Melissa Theuriau.
• oh yeah, Theuriau is beyond captivating.
• Theriau isn't the only hottie on LCF. The blonde hosting the nightly business news is fairly spectacular as well, although my google-fu fails me.
• LCF = LCI
• Are we being sexist? I don't mind insulting Kiwis but sexism is beyond the pale.
• True. I'll keep my thoughts about outrageously hawt French newscastresses to myself from now on.
• There's something seriously fucked up about a society that makes you feel guilty about finding someone attractive.
• OH MY GOD! Did you see that?? Goddamn those accents were horrifying! Whoo! I couldn't close the browser window fast enough! Re: Newsbabes - bleah. They all deserve to be . . . woah! Okay Melissa Thorea. . Thureea . . Th . . okay she's attractive, I'll grant you that. But just remember - "No matter how good she looks, somebody somewhere is sick of putting up with her shit"
• I understand that the term in the news industry for the good looking, blow-dried, well made up news readers is "Twinkies". Then there is the thought of filling that Twinkie with a creamy substance. Bad Monkey.
• I fondly remember reports from Arthur Kent, the "Scud Stud."
• Double-bleah.
• Wow. Katie Couric ain't got shit on that!
• I have to admit the french chick is hotter than the average attractive newschick. also, she looks about 23. I once massively (incidentally) insulted a brit by thinking he was scottish. the guy was from fucking Durham...twit.
• oh, and GREAT vid Chyren. I love it when stupid humans are reminded that nature is dangerous and we dont control it. go kitties!
• Is it coincidence that the lions use the same moves as my Jack Russell Terrierist? I recognize that "Hey I'm not done chewing on you" move.
• Well, the Nova Scotian of it would run: Ut's no' fulm, ut's FIL-lum, Uh'm tellun' ye. Invidious truimph of the Schwa! Which in Strine seems often replaced by oy to my admittedly confounded ears.
• I thought it was kind of a cool sounding accent, personally. And the newschick wasn't too bad, either.
• "Invidious Truimph of the Schwa"??? too long for a band name? a song, perhaps. we need to find a use for this phrase, its too beautiful to go to waste!
• It's a secret society of monkeys who post to the long-running ████████████████████ thread.
• When I was in London, I pretended I was Canadian.
• ya know... I have to tell you folks, that my generation of folks from the US can only picture a dumb looking bird on a can of shoe polish whenever we hear "Kiwi".. Just in case you wanted to be aware of the image you're invoking with that word. And, no, I don't want to know what you picture when someone says Yank. :)
• Gosh, I hope that poor guy's neek will be OK. Seriously, neek? That was the word that jumped out at me. All the rest was just fine, Kiwi not a problem, but neek? (If it makes you Kiwis feel any better I pronounce "coupon" "cyoo-pon" instead of "coo-pon". And everyone makes fun of the way I say "antenna".) While on my New Years trip I started talking to a couple of women, heard one of them say "We took a ride on a boot, hey?" and then asked them what part of Canada they were from. She was shocked that I could tell she was Canadian.
• *bans everyone who contributed to this thread* I saw that same article (with Carly Kirkwood) last night and particularly liked the part where the zoo employee was interviewed and said something like, "Well, that'll show them that these are wild animals." Yep. Also, I have to wonder whether police are trained to deal with zoo animals gone crazy. And Chy, I thought you were trying to pull off a South African accent for some weird reason. That's how they sound to me. And although I disagree with all the e's, I admit that we do say "fulm".
• 
• Sure, go ahead, ban us all, and then sit here by yourself with all the crazies that never post anything.. Gonna be a darn lonely life for ya, boss!
• darn...I read this and metafilter at work all the time, but, fish tick, your image is the very first time someone has looked at me and wondered what the hell I was laughing at..! Thanks!
• hull?
• cue pawn or coop on, that is the question we've all heard outlandishness in common words Sundy Mundy Chews D Wens D Thurs D Fry D and the dismal and dreary Sadder D the English language can be fun though 'tain't said the same by everypone
• Aw, from whence cometh this everypone?
• Everypone should always be prepared in a cast iron skillet. Though some people bake it, and some 'uns just grill it.
• I once mistook a Chechen for a Russian on the phone. Bad. Idea. He yelled, "I am Chechen you fuck bitch, you fuck bitch!" He was calling about a free trial at a dating service. Good times.
• All the rest was just fine, Kiwi not a problem, but neek? Look who's talking Mr I-come-from-the-country-that-can't-pronounce-the-letter-h. The word is "herb", motherfuckers. Not "erb."
• No, sorry, 'neek' is just totally unrelated to the thing that's holding up my head balloon right now.
• When I was going London, everyone told me I should claim to be Canadian. Nothing doing. I don't lie like that. Now, when someone would ask the whole group of people I was with where we were from and they would all say Canada ('cause they were), I wouldn't say anything at all. Just look all innocent and shit.
• Weezel - there's no need to pretend to be Canadian. Just say you're a democrat, and you should be okay :) Funny story for all the New Zealand accent mockers - my two brothers play a lot on XBox Live, and they have each encountered times where they had to be interpreters for Americans that couldn't understand eachother. It seems nobody had a problem understanding a Kiwi, but throw a Yank from the South in amongst ones from California, and suddenly they can't understand their own countrymen... Heh :) Oh, and half of all Americans on XBox Live apparently think that New Zealanders sound British. Go figure.
• *fumes at all the Yanks pretending to be Canadian, using up our goodwill because they spent all theirs*
• EEoowwwl 'ongry like!
• I am routinely mistaken for English. And I recently met a Welsh woman who kept getting asked if she was from Australia.
• Yeah Kiwis sound almost as bad as those knuckle dragging Aussies. har de har har
• "And I recently met a Welsh woman who kept getting asked if she was from Australia." ROFFLE. @ polycrome
• Oh wait, I read that as "and I recently met a Welsh woman who kept asking me if SHE WAS from Austrailia"
• Oh wait, I read that as "and I recently met a Welsh woman who kept asking me if SHE WAS from Austrailia"
• I grew up in a tiny town smack on Lake Ontario. I lived right on the lake, and I could see the CN tower from my bedroom window. We (all the kids in my town) watched Canadian TV almost exclusively, listend to Canadian bands, and followed Canadian politics more than our own. Can't I have a semi sorta Canadian citizenship?
• Sadder D, bees? in my ancestral home it's Sear D... so perhaps it's a burning sadness.
• I know an Aussie who insists that the letter that follows "G" is "Haitch". By the way it's Weddins D that falls in the middle of the week. /Sits back on the chesterfield, yawns.
• Haitch is wot hortches eat. *decides to throw wee louse on fire* The 26th letter of the alphabet is Zed. Zee is one of those wet Neatherlandish phenomena.
• *fumes at all the Yanks pretending to be Canadian, using up our goodwill because they spent all theirs* Ditto. Amazing how arrogant that is...almost like the kind of arrogance that creates that very same lack of goodwill. Next time I'm abroad and spot an American claiming to be Canadian - and they'll joyfully tell you because they think it's cute)- or wearing a Canadian flag, I'm going to loudly announce I'm American and act like a total cunt. Goes around, comes around. When I was going London, everyone told me I should claim to be Canadian. Nothing doing. I don't lie like that. Thank you. Amazing how a little respect does wonders for US/Canadian relations. We already have enough to deal with, what with the Mossad routinely using Candian passports. Go Israel.
• Or even Canadian! Sneaky fuckers!
• Zed? oooh, I used to say that as a kid until I became too embarrassed at being taunted for my then, very Brit accent. Most confusing is that I look metis. /moneyjane knows...
• The word is "herb", motherfuckers. Not "erb." Pronouncing the 'h' is so nouveau riche. Ta!
• Thanks, MJ. We're not all assholes, ya' know. Just the ones in charge of the asylum. The inmates are weird, but OK. Ish. OK-ish. Hell, ya might even like some of us.
• ...but throw a Yank from the South... Call someone from the US South a "Yank" and you'll wish you were fending off lions. I understand that you're using "Yank" as a generic for USAmerican but as soon as you've identified someone as being from the South you have to stop calling them "Yank". I'm a Yank (i.e. from the North) and happy to be identified as such but there are millions of people in this country for whom it'd be very offensive.
• I still remember vividly the first time I met Mrs. Tool's parents. I, a native of the midwest, spent my first Sunday in a Southern church. After the service we lingered in the narthex and said hello to her parents' friends. One came up to say hello, and I introduced myself. "Where you from, son?" he asked. "Springfield, Missouri, sir," I answered. "Oh!" he perked up. "A YANKEE!" His grip tightened and his grin broadened. Never before had I heard an actual live human being who was not Colonel Sanders or Foghorn Leghorn say that. It was nothing short of delightful. I don't know about "very offensive," though. My experience with Southerners since living down here (a few years, now) is that they'd mostly take it with humor, though they'd cheerfully correct you on that point.
• I think my mom (as anti-racist as they come) would be truly offended at being called a Yank. But she wouldn't hold it against the person who made the mistake, since they obviously weren't lucky enough to be born Texan :) I've never claimed to be Canadian abroad -- as ya'll have said it's trading on goodwill I didn't earn. Also, I'm a lousy liar. Before G.W., I used to be able to tell people I was Texan and start up a pretty good conversation. Bush ruined that for me. I went from "Oh, she's probably pretty weird but friendly" to "She's Evil!" Bah. That said, we all know that coupon is prounounced coo-pin.
• Eastern Canada - broad Aussie accent constantly mistaken for English - had to learn to say G'Day properly in self defence! (Western Canada no probs - half the population of the Rockies is Aussie it seems)
• When you get down to it, I would say I'm a Texan before I'm an American. All y'all other paltry states can just deal with it.
• Oh and Yank is used as a generic word in Oz- if you don't live in the country then I guess you don't truly appreciate the meaning in terms of the history. But in rhyming slang it becomes septics (post WWII that is)which is preferable?
• I think using the generic "Yank" is fine. Saying "Yank from the South" isn't, because you've made it clear that you know the person to whom you're referring is Southern yet you call them "Yank" anyway. Some would take offense. Unfortunately it isn't always easy to tell the difference between a Southerner who's very offended and one who isn't. It's easier here in the North where people will politely point out that they're offended with a helpful "Go fuck yourself".
• When I was going London, everyone told me I should claim to be Canadian. Nothing doing. I don't lie like that. I dont get why anyone should ever consider being ashamed of where they're from, particularly in a country where something like 70% of the people voted for pro-war candidates (Blair or the guy who's even more conservative than Blair) If there had been another conservative candidate to split Bush's vote, not only would Kerry be president today, he would probably have carried every single state. If people are ignorant enough to judge me solely on my nationality, no questions asked, I'd just as soon avoid them anyway.
• they u this my shit cuz i ain't no Hola~ back girl i ain't no media con!
• a lite on the Verizon? no more angie, dudes one more big ping and i'm so outtie
• Hell, ya might even like some of us. Monkey citizenship supercedes all earthly associations. *leaps back into bunker, slams door, narrowly missing tail*
• I humbly apologise to all USA Southerners for using the term "Yank from the South". After seeing the comments (thanks timefactor!), and checking Wikipedia, I will never again make such a potentially offensive error. Unless, you know, I just don't like them :) Monkey citizenship supercedes all earthly associations. And only 4471 members at present. So exclusive!
• Fuckity shit-bags.
• I've known a Texan or two who preferred being called "Texan" to "American!" Must date back to that whole "Lone Star Republic" thingamajigger.
• Uh... we seemed to have drifted off-topic here. Could we please get back to dicussing hot newschicks please?
• Zeinab Badawi, anyone?
• ooo forbidden fruit! When God made me born a Yankee He was teasin' --Indigo Girls
• *Messes with Texas*
• Aah, yes, Zeinab. She's right up there with Mishal Husain (or as I like to call her, the next Mrs. Renault.) Mish -- please come back to PBS. Mike Embley isn't doing it for us. I can overlook the fact that you're married and have a kid with someone who isn't me. Please. We need you. We need your dainty accent. I want ya and I need ya and love makes the world go round baby.
• I would say I'm a Texan before I'm an American. Pretty much every Texan I have ever known would say that. That ad campaign they ran years ago -- "It's like a whole other country" -- wasn't really that far from a literal description of the truth.
• I would say I'm a Texan before I'm an American. I actually have said that a couple of times when someone asks me what country I'm from. "I'm Texan." just sort of slips out. Go fig.

• Theriau isn't the only hottie on LCF. The blonde hosting the nightly business news is fairly spectacular as well, although my google-fu fails me.

  there's laurence ferrari on tf1, hélène devnyck on lci (not blonde). actually, that second site is the motherlode
• Duly bookmarked, roryk. Merci.
• Dammit! Can't find her! She was hosting the economics/business report when I was in Paris in November -- but it was on the headline news channel rather than LCI proper, I believe. Made my hotel room a little less lonely... Oh well. I will find her again. This I vow!
• *theme music for a man on a mission*
• And Chy, I thought you were trying to pull off a South African accent for some weird reason. That's how they sound to me. And although I disagree with all the e's, I admit that we do say "fulm". posted by tracicle at 06:32PM UTC on January 11, 2006 New Zealand accents sound halfway between Australian and South Africa (or Zimbabweian) to me. But I fully admit to not being able to tell apart many of the Non-Canadian Commonwealth accents, unless they are very stereotypical. I even thought an East Anglian woman was Australian (it was really like a classic Australian - makes you think she might have been from the English area that was the basis of their accent). Some Americans sound very American to me (Southern of course, but also some Mid-Western and Californian, etc), but others could easily pass for Canadian to me. I think it's because urban Canadian is like the American prestige accent (educated, older broadcast, etc). And it's Sith Ahfrica.
• I admit that after a couple of years in the US, if I heard and Australasian accent I couldn't distinguish Australian from kiwi. I was having lunch at a British-style pub with a friend and our waitress was not only a NZer, but from the same town as me. But I had to ask her at first which country she was from. It's probably a cardinal sin to not instantly know you're talking to a fellow countryman, so I was pretty embarrassed about it for a while. I think we've had a discussion about it before, but when I was overseas I was asked if I was Irish, Canadian, Australian, South African, English and kiwi in about that order of frequency.
• OK, I've known this woman at work for over a year (she works in another department, so I don't talk with her that often). I always thought she was a Kiwi, but I found out today she's from South Africa. So tracicle and jb, you're absolutely right! She has a very Dutch-sounding name, so maybe I should have guessed...
• somewhat related ramble: i can't help but take people with northern irish accents very very seriously. it's too deeply rooted in my psyche that whenever a northern irish accented voice came over the radio or the television, the subject matter was heavy. this makes it difficult for me to appreciate northern irish comedians, of which there are some (but not many). i've known some complete fools from the north - fools in both senses - but it was physically impossible for me to avoid paying them my utmost attention because their accents simply commanded it.