November 20, 2003

• ... and have beaten Australia in their previous four encounters.
• False sense of security, old boy... false sense of security. We want them nice and overconfident when they turn up for their hiding on Saturday.....
• Agreed.
• Personally I'm going for anyone that can beat Australia. (I was wondering how long it would be before the World Cup would turn up here...)
• So who are you barracking for, Tracy? Your ambiguity is teasing yet opaque!
• It's like the old joke (which you've probably heard too): I'm cheering for New Zealand or anyone that can beat Australia. It usually applies to Canterbury, being that I'm from that region. Oh, and by here, I meant mofi, not New Zealand. I'm resigned to the fact that we lost when it mattered the most. *sighs* You know, I think you're the mofi Miguel.
• Did I mention this delectable cocktail? What is your favourite cat? Here in Portugal, we stay up late with the sardines (grilled, and served with a white oporto).
• I remember an old ditty that Andrew Denton (Australian comedian) sang once, after Australia had been gipped in some fashion in a game: "It's not fair. But I don't care. So long as we beat New Zealand." So frankly, I think we've already won. And, of course, following fifty years of tradition, England'll choke. The cup's as good's ours!
• Old gag, but if Mamma Cass and Karen Carpenter had shared that sandwich, they might both be alive today.
• OiK, misspelld "mama". Cpar. Msut sue pervwie.
• As Jim Henson once said... "has anybody got any asprin? I think I have a cold here..."
• Reminds me of one of my favorite psychological maladies (doesn't everyone have a favorite?) Jerusalem syndrome. I've always wanted to write a character who has it.
• "Foreign-accent syndrome"?? They're making that up. When I studied linguistics in college, I heard a story about a guy who spoke 7 or 8 different languages who suffered from severe brain damage from a car crash. The only language he could speak was Japanese because Asian languages are centered in a different part of the brain than Western languages. So I don't doubt that brain trauma can do weird things to language, but it's not like she was speaking with a British accent in her every day life. Completely wacky. This cracked me up: "She became a recluse and even contemplated moving to England until she read about the disorder last spring and contacted experts." *GASP* She contemplated moving to England?! For the love of god, help this woman!
• Now that she's out of the coma and speaking with a British accent, I wonder if she misspells words like "color" and "honor."
• Surely you meant to say, has lost the "U" impediment which afflicts 99% of the American population?
• This article got a mention on the radio here yesterday. Not that they had anything useful to add except to say, "Foreign accent syndrome? But that's crazy!" Bad luck on the footy, guys.
• The silliest thing I heard about this was that they briefly considered naming it 'The Madonna Syndrome.'
• What about the Gwyneth Paltrow syndrome?
• (in a hapless lame-ass attempt to re-rail the discussion, have any Monkey-types gone abroad for a week's holiday or so and then come back home with a trace of the accent from the land you'd visited? I spent a delightful 10 days in Scotland last August and when I returned my friends said I BREATHED differently than I used to--- despite some of the more apparent open vowel sound displacements and standard dipthongs--- I actually took in air and expelled it more heavily. Or were they just yanking my chain?) oh--Excellent Post coriolisdave!
• I had a friend in California who claimed that just speaking to someone with an accent caused her to acquire that accent for herself. Didn't believe it in the slightest, though, except as an attention-getter. I lived in California for 3.5 years, came back to NZ with a definite West Coast accent (including the "like, you know" thing) and I lost it completely within three months of my return. I was a little sad at its demise, too - it was like a souvenir, in a way.
• I've worked in offices with Brits and, invariably, people would come up and talk in bad Monty Python-speak to these people. I caught myself doing it once and asked and, yep, sure enough: they found it amusing and somewhat annoying. Now I save my Monty Python remarks for my lovely live-in girlfriend. And my shower singing.
• Actually, trace, I find that if I'm talking to someone with a broad accent, particularly a British accent, I start to acquire that accent myself. I put it down to years of singing/musical training - I can't help but mimic cool accents. Starts to become somewhat of an issue when providing tech support to a grouch Scot, who is convinced that you're taking the piss....
• I've done voice training and always had problems with learning accents. I suppose it does come naturally more so than to others. (Mind you, I can do a mean fake American accent when I need to.)
• A former coworker of mine told me that when her father had a stroke, he forgot how to speak his first language and could only speak English. (He had moved to the United States many years earlier, and only spoke Arabic with his family.) Her mother, however, had to adjust to speaking English with her father, after 40+ years of marriage. I do find it interesting how some actors can nail an accent that is not their own (Minnie Driver and Cate Blanchett are examples) while others can't (Ewan MacGregor, for example.) Mind you, I'm only speaking of American accents, the only one that is fair for me to judge. When I was a teenager, I went to Venezuela as an exchange student, and lived with a Venezuelan family, and imitated them, naturally, as my Spanish improved. It got to the point that when I answered the telephone, my host father (the caller) would think his wife had answered instead.
• Beat you to it, nick!
• PWNED!
• Blast! How dare you! And look at the mess you've made!!!
• You people a) are TWELVE and b) have way, WAY too much time on your hands. Which is why I love you all. Kisses!
• I'm wondering why this hasn't been made into a movie yet.
• This thread? I can see it all now. Nickdanger starring as...tracicle in the motion picture of the year. The thread that shocked a generation is now the motion picture that will make your heart sing. With Space Kitty as the_bone and the_bone as the_beav. This time...it's personal.
• Okay, here we go, back to the marathon.
• sorry but I have to express doubts re nickdanger's odyssey as an art form
• I'm not sure I'd call it an art form. More of a personal odyssey.
• Will you people STOP TALKING!!! I'm trying to lay down a commentary track!
• "Oh yeah, Lara was really great to work with. She's just a great... just a great poster, you know? Really natural, just whatever she says tends to... tends to... Okay, this one time Lara and BearGuy were, I think this is in the 'cock' thread up ahead, actually so maybe I'll just save the story for one. BearGuy, by the way, a real craftsman, you know? Like, I've rarely worked with someone who is so professional, like everything he does he does %110 percent. At least. I've seen get up to %115 once, but that was because the A/C was malfunctioning..."
• Sucks to your ass-mar!