[Magdalen] Enjoying a colleague's accent

[H Angus]

I remember many years ago, my first trip to Scotland to visit my Scottish grandfather's relatives, I spent the first night in Glasgow. I took a bus downtown, and was close to tears of frustration when a bus conductor came around making incomprehensible sounds. I deduced he wanted money, and I held out all the change I had, but he kept making those sounds. Finally an English person took pity on me and translated: he wanted to know where I was going so he would know how much to charge me. I got out a city map and pointed, still holding out the change, and he took what he needed, with smiles all around.

Welcome to my (sort of) native land, indeed.

Up in the Highlands, around Inverness, I had no problem with the accents, nor they with mine.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cantor03--- via Magdalen" <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
Cc: Cantor03 at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 12:52:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Enjoying a colleague's accent

In a message dated 6/17/2015 9:21:59 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
scottknitter at gmail.com writes:

I'm  currently working with a group that includes a colleague with an
accent I  originally thought was Scottish, but quickly it became
obvious it's a  northern English one. I'm thinking Geordie? He's  from
Chester-le-Street.>>>>>
 
The accents of the north of England can be strong and difficult for
a non-native.  I can recall staying in a bed-and-breakfast in New  Castle
upon Tyne,   We were assigned tables for breakfast, and the  couple
at our table and on honeymoon were nearly unintelligible.  There  were
a lot of smiles and nodding of heads that week from both sides.
 
I gather this was Geordie, and it's supposed to be infused with a
lot of Scandinavian words.  I can recall the local couple  referring to
their "hjem", which is exactly the same word for "home" in Norwegian.
The paternal ancestral home was "Nordhjem" which is literally  "North 
Home." 
When the immigration officials got through with it, however, it  became
"Northam".
 
 
David Strang who finds it much more fun to decipher regional accents  where
English is spoken as a native language, than dealing with English,  overlain
with an accent, as a second language.