Things you often Wonder

[Rds1983]

7 hours ago, il_serpente said:

My older Norwegian relatives always did quite well with English despite, in some cases, never having any formal classes.  But I was floored a dozen years ago when I was visiting and a 15 year-old cousin not only didn't have a Scandinavian accent but sounded much closer to American than British and had never been to the US in her life.   She even had the idiom down.   If people spoke with her and my dad, who has lived in the US for ~55 years, they would think she was the one who had been living over here for most of her life and he was visiting.

I'm sure it has to do with the bombardment by US culture since the advent of cable/satellite TV and the internet.   My dad's generation could easily carry on a conversation, but some of their word/phrase choices could induce a chuckle.   i remember the word "clever" did a lot of heavy lifting for my aunt.   If she was saying something nice about someone, chances are she'd call them clever.   Smart, talented, resourceful, creative, skillful, knowledgeable?   Don't need all those words.   Clever will do.

Echoes what I found when I lived in Sweden for a year about 15 years ago. Everyone spoke excellent English but they all had American accents. They explained it was from practicing whilst watching TV and everything was a US programme. 

It was a bit strange as my Uni friends from Europe or the US would be pushed to try and speak Swedish, but as soon as people realised where I was from they wanted me to speak English so that they could practice their accent.

I worked in a bar out there and even after several pints they all spoke prefect English which was very impressive. 

[Follyfoot]

Our houses were Bader, Darwin and Addison and Garrick But I believe they dropped Bader some years ago due to its war connection 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Follyfoot

[mjmooney]

As I remember it, all our loyalties (if any) were with the other kids in our class (or 'form' - is that still used?), not to the nebulous concept of the 'house'. I assume the idea was to get you to mingle a bit outside your form and year group. If so, it didn't really work, with me at any rate. Getting house points for Glover in the long jump? Meh. Thinking about it, we even had a sort of house system at primary school - except that were called 'teams', and were rather prosaically named Reds, Greens, Yellows and Blues. I was in Yellows - my least favourite colour, but at least it wasn't Blues, which as a Villa fan would have been anathema. Again, I couldn't really see the point of it all, although maybe that was because I was shit at sport. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by mjmooney

[sidcow]

10 hours ago, Genie said:

I’ve said this before to friends but in my experience a lot of Scandinavians speak better English than many English people.

Know won forrin could talk British as good as what I can. 

I was brung up hear.  LOL. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by sidcow

[El Zen]

6 hours ago, Rds1983 said:

Echoes what I found when I lived in Sweden for a year about 15 years ago. Everyone spoke excellent English but they all had American accents. They explained it was from practicing whilst watching TV and everything was a US programme. 

It was a bit strange as my Uni friends from Europe or the US would be pushed to try and speak Swedish, but as soon as people realised where I was from they wanted me to speak English so that they could practice their accent.

I worked in a bar out there and even after several pints they all spoke prefect English which was very impressive.

From my experience, this is a very real problem for English speakers who move to Norway and want to learn the language. Many never really achieve fluency, even after living here for decades. That, and our phonological system really f***s with you.

And to your final point, I find that a few pints only improves my English, but that could be a load of drunken bollocks. 

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by El Zen

[Rds1983]

1 hour ago, El Zen said:

From my experience, this is a very real problem for English speakers who move to Norway and want to learn the language. Many never really achieve fluency, even after living here for decades. That, and our phonological system really f***s with you.

And to your final point, I find that a few pints only improves my English, but that coule be a load of drunken bollocks. 

 

I find that 15 years later my Swedish vocabulary improves when drunk. However it is all random words that sound rude in English. 

[mjmooney]

6 hours ago, Rds1983 said:

I worked in a bar out there and even after several pints they all spoke prefect English

Must have gone to a good school. 

[mjmooney]

1 hour ago, Rds1983 said:

I find that 15 years later my Swedish vocabulary improves when drunk. However it is all random words that sound rude in English. 

You mean you just recite the IKEA catalogue? 

[sidcow]

Is Thomas Tuchel full Elf of half Elf?

Edited May 29, 2021 by sidcow

[villa4europe]

Why is the top level of darts dominated by the brits and the Dutch when at a base non "sport" level it's far more global 

Without wanting to drag out a debate on the "sport" element 

[bannedfromHandV]

7 hours ago, sidcow said:

Is Thomas Tuchel full Elf of half Elf?

I’d say he’s full dark elf

[HanoiVillan]

20 hours ago, villa4europe said:

Why is the top level of darts dominated by the brits and the Dutch when at a base non "sport" level it's far more global 

Without wanting to drag out a debate on the "sport" element 

I suspect you can't answer the first part without the second; ie, if people don't consider it a sport, don't know that it's a sport, don't know they could earn a living playing it for a sport, then they won't play it as a sport no matter how good they are at it.

[sidcow]

Why are "quality" burgers sold in shops for bbqs etc so thick? I don't want or like really thick burgers, I think they're actually quite unpleasant.  Most of the time I reckon half the thickness would be ideal but you can't seem to buy anything between those 5mm thick birds eye frozen and golf ball thickness don't seem to exist. 

I would say the absolute ideal thickness is the McDonalds quarter pounder with cheese burger. 

Edited May 30, 2021 by sidcow

[Rugeley Villa]

26 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Why are "quality" burgers sold in shops for bbqs etc so thick? I don't want or like really thick burgers, I think they're actually quite unpleasant.  Most of the time I reckon half the thickness would be ideal but you can't seem to but anything between those 5mm thick birds eye frozen and golf ball thickness don't seem to exist. 

I would say the absolute ideal thickness is the McDonalds quarter pounder with cheese burger. 

1/10 for manliness 

[mjmooney]

31 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Why are "quality" burgers sold in shops for bbqs etc so thick? I don't want or like really thick burgers, I think they're actually quite unpleasant.  Most of the time I reckon half the thickness would be ideal but you can't seem to but anything between those 5mm thick birds eye frozen and golf ball thickness don't seem to exist. 

I would say the absolute ideal thickness is the McDonalds quarter pounder with cheese burger. 

I agree. Mrs M makes good homemade burgers, but too thick. Not good tactics to complain, though. 

[sidcow]

Just now, mjmooney said:

I agree. Mrs M makes good homemade burgers, but too thick. Not good tactics to complain, though. 

Haha.  You would get this. 

[sidcow]

8 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

1/10 for manliness 

[KenjiOgiwara]

I guess "often wonder" is a stretch. But whenever it is summer I always wonder why sunscreen is so bloody expensive. 

Just bought two bottles under orders from the girlfriend, one for body and one for face (genuinly didn't know people differentiated, but I digress). I got 3 for 2, and despite getting one for free and 10% off the other two, it still set me back £ 45 for some mayonnaise with heavy metals.  

[bickster]

5 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I guess "often wonder" is a stretch. But whenever it is summer I always wonder why sunscreen is so bloody expensive. 

Just bought two bottles under orders from the girlfriend, one for body and one for face (genuinly didn't know people differentiated, but I digress). I got 3 for 2, and despite getting one for free and 10% off the other two, it still set me back £ 45 for some mayonnaise with heavy metals.  

thats approximately 4 times the price it is here. £6 a bottle is about the norm I think

EDIT: I still find sitting in the shade is cheaper

[Paddywhack]

4 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I guess "often wonder" is a stretch. But whenever it is summer I always wonder why sunscreen is so bloody expensive. 

Just bought two bottles under orders from the girlfriend, one for body and one for face (genuinly didn't know people differentiated, but I digress). I got 3 for 2, and despite getting one for free and 10% off the other two, it still set me back £ 45 for some mayonnaise with heavy metals.  

I once forgot to take sun cream to Turkey, so went to buy some over there. I could only find it for sale in the local chemist and they wanted 60 euros for a small bottle.

I decided to burn instead.