Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for December 22, 2024

Blimey. Blind Freddie, she is

Watching the TV series The Outlanders, with a lot of Scottish and British accents, I would be lost without the Captions on.

Bit of the Gray Haired Lady she is. Though not as much as she was a few weeks back.

JOBBERS COGNOTS, YA MUCKA!

I now have closed caption on everything. All voices are muffled somewhat between my tinnitus and background noises.

Must be in Midsummer!

Original English language.

Arlo learned by listening. Try it, Janis.

What the heck is the British language? I beleive you mean English.

Have Janis’s jugs gone a bit mutt in Jeff?

Turn the captions on, for everything

Thank you Janis! I’m the same way.

Hubby and I go through this a lot. He doesn’t catch it and I have to “translate” and….his Mum was British! LoL

Ahhh the BBC on Public TV, use the CCTV for subtitles. Be careful how you talk Arlo she might have your “guts for garters”.

I’ve watched so many British show that I no longer have to turn the volume up.

We watch movies with the closed-caption feature on. It’s not just British speech issues, but American movies are just as bad. Everybody either slurs or whispers their dialogue. It’s not just our ears. We have NO trouble watching old black and white movies from the past.

Lots and lots of Monty Python.

It’s American that is a problem for me. The actors mumble and hearing loss is not making the problem better. British English on TV is quite easy, even with local accents as the actors are careful to be understandable. Real life is a bit different, Americans mumble less and some British accents are truly unintelligible.

I can’t understand English accents at all and being somewhat dyslexic can’t read closed captions fast enough to keep up. We don’t watch any programs with accents, too frustrating.

And then there’s Australian accents.

Just use the subtitles, like we do!

My wife is British and I have to explain to her sometimes…

Captions are the trick.

I like the Brit shows, but I have to have captions. But then again, I always use captions for anything I watch anymore.

I dislike reading the captions…but I’m going to start using it for the British shows and movies from now on. There is always one or two characters I have a hard time understanding.

Sounds like they are watching a BBC crime drama set in Scotland…. even the Brits have to turn on closed captioning to understand what they are saying.

She should try going to Ireland, where they mix Gaelic with their English, in many places that are not frequented by too many tourists.

Some Brits, I imagine, have difficulty understanding some of our more prominent dialects and accents. Think of someone from Brooklyn or the True South trying to converse with a Cockney.

The person who said the following is under debate, but I think it’s still accurate: “The United States and Great Britain are two countries divided by a common language.”

As I get older, it’s the background noise that keeps me from understanding what’s said. Even if the person is right next to me I can only understand about 50% of what’s said to me if there’s a noisy background. Walking in a park with a stiff breeze is background noise, or loud chirping crickets, or car traffic, or heaven forbid a bar or a restaurant…..especially if there’s music going on. The first time someone asks me a question, I politely tell them I cannot understand a word they’re saying with all the background conversation/noise going on and I’ll either need an interpreter or we’ll have to wait until later to have this conversation. I don’t think I’m going deaf, but truly don’t understand why the background noise is making such an impact on understand those who are close to me when they’re talking.

Brit Box teaches me new words…..like “Gobsmacked”.

I rarely go to a movie anymore because you can’t turn on the captions!

Britain and the US – two countries divided by common language

This comic leaves me gobsmacked

I find they all mumble far too much and now they lay on background music for no valid reason. And before you respond, I have a very good pair of hearing aids designed to adjust to many environments. I think they want you to turn up the volume so the louder adverts pin you to your couch disallowing you from reaching the remote to mute them.

Bit like ’merican, regional

Subtitles…use subtitles.

Somebody forgot to turn on the closed captions

Watch Coronation Street for a while, you’ll pick it up.

I have no problem but I know some people can’t manage it. A friend refused a free trip to Australia saying “I don’t speak the language”

We use captions on British accents and especially Australian ones.

Funny, I never had trouble with traditional British, Dad’s Army, Blake’s 7, Man about the House. Others like Guy Ritchie speak mumbling and need the CC

And Scottish is even worse. I’ve been using captions more and more lately. It also seems like actors mumble a lot anymore.

…and they mumble – Why I ALWAYS watch Brit stuff with subtitles

That’s what subtitles are for

Maybe Bob’s his uncle

I understand the British language. It’s some of the swallowed accents I have trouble with.

Makes me wonder just how thick Janis’ drawl is.

i love old Britcoms like Are You Being Served and the Vicar of Dibley, oh and Mock the Week…you start to pick it up, but even though they are speaking English, it is like another language at times…and the swearing on Mock is constant, but it’s all part of their language

This is why we use the closed caption. Makes it much easier.

“…Two Nations, divided by a common language.” -Winston Churchill

Turn on Closed Captioning

He said, “one of the cross beams has gone out askew on the treadle!”

The US and Great Britain two countries separated by a common language.

About 50% of the radio programs I listen to are from the UK. Their government supports quality programming and the BBC has many years of excellent “programmes” in its rotation. It does not take long to develop an “ear” and it is fascinating to gradually pick up the bits of slang and regional dialect. It’s sort of a parallel universe.

But, “in your own time”.

It isn’t THAT much of problem with the English ……. but the Scottish,Welsh, and Irish dialects can make one scratch one’s head a bit sometimes. That’s why I use the subtitles and occasional rewind and repeat. That said, the UK Crime dramas are the best!

Monty Python, Are You Being Served, Faulty Towers, Keeping Up Appearances, Chief, and of course tons of Doctor Who (along with other shows I can’t recall ATM).

I’m with Janis on this. I was watching one of the Harry Potter movies. I had to have subtitles on and had to rewind every once in awhile because some of it just didn’t make sense to me. Most of it I could understand, but sometimes I needed help.

The greatest British comedy series was: The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

Uhh, ok what you said.

I feel you, Janis.

I have to read a lot of student reports, and to reduce eyestrain I’ve been using a read-aloud extension in Chrome (there are several, I’ve got one called “Read Aloud”). The amusing part is the voice selection, particularly an option called the Piper library, that has a variety of American and British voices. Also some Aussies in there. At the moment, I’ve selected a rather chirpy British lady called “Poppy”. Try that to train your brain for lighter accents. So far I haven’t found voices for the more challenging American and British accents.

I wish they had a Monty Python voice library for reading tiresome administrative e-mails…

Found a website called QuoteInvestigators and lifted this:

In 1887 the Irish playwright and wit Oscar Wilde published a short story called “The Canterville Ghost”. He described one of the characters by writing

“Indeed, in many respects, she was quite English, and was an excellent example of the fact that we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.”

Fifty years later G. B. Shaw said something very similar and today gets all the credit.

For someone who invented the English language, the Brits are terrible at speaking it.

“England and America are two countries separated by the same language!” Usually attributed to George Bernard Shaw, but with dissent.

MY husband is British and he can’t understand what they’re saying very often.

Well, I’m sure there are some Brits who’d get equally flummoxed by the array of Southern drawls I (being from the great commonwealth of Virginia) hear from time to time.

The BBC World Service and Voice of America used to have special slow-speed English broadcasts on shortwave. It was like listening to Bob and Ray’s Slow Talkers of America.

We watch our British shows with the closed captioning turned on

No problem here. Last of the Summer Wine fan.

My wife and I love BBC programs, but we have to have close caption on, to not miss anything. Even then, we have to pause it to discuss some of the hilarious figures of speech the Brits use.