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I Know The English Accent Is Hard To Understand

In Some Parts Of The World ... OK ... Texas In Particular ... Lol

By: womaninbliss
Written on January 27th, 2013
About five years ago I took my daughter on a trip to the USA.

Amongst the places we visited, we stayed for a while in a small town in East Texas which is where my best girlfriend was born and raised. 

We went shopping on several occasions while we were there and on one particular shopping trip we visited a Walmart store.

I know Walmart stores are legendary ... but bear with me.

You have to keep in mind that my daughter and I have southern English accents.  Not like the Queen, not posh at all ... but I suppose proper enough with a fairly bland London type twang. 

Anyhow, we were shopping in Walmart and somehow my daughter and I got separated.  At the time she was around 13 years old.  I knew she wouldn't go far on her own without me, but I turned around and she was gone from my side. 

My Texan girlfriend and I went looking for her and we didn't have to look very far.  I noticed a little crowd of shop assistants had gathered around a customer.  The customer was my daughter who was looking quite bewildered. 

I asked her what was happening.  "All I wanted was a bottle of water" she said, somewhat bemused.  I looked around at the little gathering of shop assistants who were all looking blank.  One of them asked "What is it she wants?"

"A bottle of water" said my daughter again.

More blank looks. 

My Texan friend was giggling to herself. 

"I think she wants a bardle a warder" she repeated ... or at least that's what it sounded like to me. 

Eventually we managed to get our bottle of water. 

This is in a state which pronounces "pretty" as "purdy" ...

No surprises we had trouble making ourselves understood. 

My daughter and I still giggle about this to this day.

Separated by a common language indeed!
By: womaninbliss
Age: 51-55 , Female
237 people have read this story

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48 responses
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    ronanp
    ronanp

    Haa.. I can imagine WiB, the proper English lady in East Texas. I should talk though ... I feel the same way when I go home to Boston .... you mean I used to talk like that ????

    Apr 3
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      proper English lady ... I like it ronan ... you may kiss my hand ... :)

      Apr 3
      1 like
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      ronanp
      ronanp

      would you prefer I call you a proper English broad? And I'll take that hand ...

      Apr 3
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      no, no lady is fine ... :)

      Apr 3
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      ronanp
      ronanp

      Any day, m'lady

      Apr 3
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    JoeyPFoxx
    JoeyPFoxx

    Bardle of warder. lol

    Awesome.

    Apr 3
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      yeah ... they should learn to talk proper! :)

      Apr 3
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    Jones47
    Jones47

    Great story about Texans and the English language. Not only do Americans speak the language different, we spell words different as well. I have known a few nurses that had to go to a special school on the spelling differences, before working in England.
    Hope your trip was a good one, we Texans pride ourselves on being friendly.

    Apr 3
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      Thanks Jones. No complaints about Texas or the Texans - it's a place I enjoy very much, having been several times.

      Apr 3
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    bybybuster
    bybybuster

    My daughter is at university in the u/s. I tried to give her a grounding in how the "merkins" abuse our language but lucky for her, she has fallen in with a crowd from her home land, Sweden.

    Apr 3
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      it all makes for fun though, it wouldn't be nearly so interesting if we were all the same!

      Apr 3
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      bybybuster
      bybybuster

      Yes, but the "merkins" could be more like us if they had some bloody brain cells ! They were once a colony ! What happened ???

      Apr 3
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    Oldandgone
    Oldandgone

    Great story. To be fair, Texas actually has many different accents. I learned to speak in west Texas so my accent is softer - until I want to pull it out or I get a bit too much alcohol. ;) LOL!

    East Texas is a land within itself. It's language has roots in the deep south (both good and bad). That, mixed with the Cajun influence of Louisiana, creates an accent all its own in the state.

    At least they didn't shock you by using same words with different meanings.

    Feb 7
    2 likes
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      I do appreciate that accents are variable all over the USA ... but it's just funny to be completely misunderstood when we supposedly speak the same language!

      Feb 7
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      bybybuster
      bybybuster

      They do not speak the same language. What they think is english is a long way from.

      Apr 3
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      bybybuster
      bybybuster

      For them, an *** is what we would call a bottom, or even an arse. For us, an *** is a stubborn 4 legged beastie that we can ride, or at least hope that it will carry our burdens.

      Apr 3
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      Oldandgone
      Oldandgone

      And fanny is an entirely polite term for bottom, *** is a derogatory term for a homosexual, jumper is the guy to kills himself by jumping off a bridge or building,

      lots of differences.

      Apr 5
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      bybybuster
      bybybuster

      It is still incorrect. You can no longer say that the "merkins" speak English if they are going to change all the meanings.

      Apr 5
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      Oldandgone
      Oldandgone

      I don't speak English. I speak Texan which is a distant relative of English; Much like French and Spanish are distant relatives of Latin.

      Apr 5
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    Chagrinned
    Chagrinned

    Great story that made me laugh!

    Feb 7
    2 likes
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      thank you!

      Feb 7
      1 like
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    RickiChickie
    RickiChickie

    A cute story! Same in Germany, the different dialects make it difficult to communicate at times. German isn't German. lol
    The Bavarian is the hardest!

    Jan 31
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      I know, accents and dialects make things difficult!! Patience required!

      Jan 31
      1 like
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    affinityterra
    affinityterra

    Being in the restaurant business I dealt with people from Europe vacationing quite a bit in the Summers. I never had an issue with any English accents, but there were some Irish accents that were really difficult to understand. I'm not sure from which part of Ireland they come from, but they talk really fast and slur their words a bit while leaving out a lot of letter sounds. I remember this Irishman with his wife coming in. His wife was easy to understand, but his wife had to interpret a lot of things for me. Do you have any idea what part of Ireland people talk like that? I was trying to remember, but forgot.

    Jan 28
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      There are quite a few Irish accents which others might find difficult, so it could have been one of many. Could have been from the North (Belfast or Derry) or it might have been from the West (Galway or Mayo) or it might have been from the South (Cork or Kerry) ... or maybe even Dublin ...

      Some of the accents of people who are native Gaelic speakers can be quite tricky ... as their first language isn't English they speak it with a particular lilt ... it's quite interesting to hear! They speak Gaelic in many parts including in the West and on the islands off the coast.

      Jan 29
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      affinityterra
      affinityterra

      Maybe that was the case that English was the second language, because very little of it made sense to me.

      Jan 29
      1 like
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    affinityterra
    affinityterra

    Funny. Texas is so big that the accent thing depends on where you go. I live near Mexico, so there is more Spanish influence and less of that twang.

    Jan 28
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      nudistguyny
      nudistguyny

      I moved to the NY state area roughly 10 years ago ( NY state not the city) I have met a person from the Dallas area and we talked on the phone a few times ( this is going back a fews years back) She was shocked by my lack of accent. "You sound like your from Texas. You don't have that accent like we hear on TV." Well if I ever lived in the Bronx or in Brooklyn I might have had that accent that she was talking about. lol

      Jan 28
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      Oh I know it's huge ... and diverse ... the purdy thing really cracked us up ... seeing it on billboards and the like ...

      Jan 28
      1 like
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    sparklingdiamonds
    sparklingdiamonds

    Remember that old TV show "Dallas" with old JR, Swellin' & Bawby ? LOL

    Jan 28
    2 likes
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      Oh yes I do remember it well! Or was it all a dream? haha

      Jan 28
      1 like
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    sierra33
    sierra33

    Aww Bliss this was a total HOOT to read!! I've seen stuff like this happen too!! :D

    Jan 28
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      :D

      Jan 28
      1 like
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    DEGBEME
    DEGBEME

    Well come to Canada WIB we still put the letter u in our words. ;o)

    Jan 27
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      yes, I heard a lot of good things about the Canadians eh?!

      Jan 28
      1 like
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      DEGBEME
      DEGBEME

      Back bacon and beer. *mwah*

      Jan 28
      1 like
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    goodlittlegirl
    goodlittlegirl

    This is a Dandy lil story. My folks are from South Africa and I remember being a little girl and having to translate..."strawberries she want strawberries!"

    Jan 27
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      aw that's cute!!

      Jan 28
      1 like
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    hlpflwthat
    hlpflwthat

    LOL ... 'shop assistant' is prolly the nicest thing a WalMart associate has ever been called.

    Other than purdy. Funny story.

    Jan 27
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      ya reckon? Walmart was quite an experience for me I have to say ... and my daughter was permanently traumatised by the experience ... lol!

      Jan 28
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      destry
      destry

      lol

      Feb 7
      1 like
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    Quintesse
    Quintesse

    Where were you? Sorry. Some of us are still trying to pretend that Texas is not part of the United States.

    Jan 27
    2 likes
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      haha ... well yes, that's what I heard ... I was in East Texas ... not far from Longview. I don't think they'd met English people before!

      Jan 27
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      CrazyWaterSpring
      CrazyWaterSpring

      Longview? Your daughter was exotic. The only foreigners they're used to are Mexicans. And the occasional "Yankee."

      Jan 27
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      haha ... yes, I think we probably were exotic ... **struts around feeling exotic**

      Jan 28
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      Quintesse
      Quintesse

      I could be exotic. I could be an exotic Yankee from New Jersey spearheading the campaign to have Texas become part of Mexico. I even come up with a name for this new nation: Texaco.

      Jan 28
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    nudistguyny
    nudistguyny

    Ahh yes. Language is a funny thing. Even locally there are minor changes in the way things are said. Add a few thousand miles and simple things can be changed greatly. Loved this story.

    Jan 27
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      womaninbliss
      womaninbliss

      Oh I know ... this story is meant in fun and with a lot of affection ... I loved where we stayed and met some great people.

      Jan 27
      1 like