kar-kier

My boys are called Matty and Shay - not MaRty and She!!!!!

Please tell me I'm not the only one that nobody can understand. Every time i spell out the letter 'A' they seem to think it's an 'E' - I've now taken to saying 'A' with an Austalian accent . . . a dodgey one at that!!

Kareena

Petals

Try Lager and lime, my oh geordie accent still has trouble with the bar staff with that one.

spartacus

Same same.

Must be a north-east thing.

My boy's called Alfie not Elfie. My surname leaves them utterly bemused. And I want diet coke with my BigMac not diet cork.

ukecadet

When you pronounce it to them say "Maddie" which translates to Matty in Australian.
Don't know about the other one

Dreamy

Ahh.. I have a NE accent (sometimes.. its stronger when I've been talking to me Mam).. I have a terrible job making myself understood at MaccyDs Drive-Thru.. they insist on giving me Triple Quarterpounders instead of Double Quarterpounders.

Perhaps I should a) be a fatter cow and eat the triple quarterpounders or b ) be a less fat cow and stop eating MaccyDs or c) stop being a lazy cow and go inside or d) learn to talk proper, like.

(Disclaimer.. the burgers are really for the teenagers.. but I'm sure no one will really believe that)

jmh

Wait till your kids start talking like that!!

As a newly arrived kiwi in London many years ago I had to change the way I pronounced my name. Works both ways I'm afraid.

kar-kier

See, that's the thing, I understand everything they say, that is what confuses me more - I understand them, but they can't understand me!

kar-kier

Don't get me started on Drive thrus!! My hubby refuses point blank to go through them anymore!

Broad Shoulders

The thing that really annoys me is the inability of Aussies to pronounce "eu" properly, in that nearly all of them pronounce it "i". I'll give you some examples. MacDonalds is pronounced "Mick Donalds", Dymocks is pronounced "Dymicks". It would bother me so much if Aussies weren't so hypocritical and didn't take the piss out of the Kiwis for their inability to pronounce vowels.

Broad Shoulders

For my first year in this country when I had to introduce myself on the phone people thought my name was "Sum", I even used to spell it for them "S A M", "Hello Simon how can I help you". Used to drive me up the f#$king wall, so just to be understood I now HAVE to announce myself as "Saaaaaaaaaam"

kar-kier

I can just imagine someone shouting SAAAAAAM down the phone! And I bet half of them still don't get it!

JR230898

Sorry, can't agree...Dymocks is pronounced, in Australia, as "Dimicks"...not...
"Diemocks".

I am continually trying to explain the eccentricities of english language pronunciation to my wife.....'she wound the bandage around the wound'.

Why is English a difficult language to learn? There are so many exceptions to rules and then, the pronunciations between England (between each village), Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Canada, US, NZ, SA et al makes the broth even richer.

Broad Shoulders

I never said it should be "Diemocks" it should be "dimooks". My point is that it seems no Aussie can pronounce the "euc" or "ooc/k" sound "Mc" is either prounounced "mac" (which is totally different) or "mick".

JR230898

There in lies an indication of the different perspectives we all have of just the pronunciation of English...phonetically...Dymocks...to me...should be pronounced 'Diemox'..it is difficult for me to understand how the 'mocks' part would be elongated to sound like 'moocks'.

Now...when you are using "euc"...how would you pronounce eucalyptus? To me, and to the vast majority of people in Australia, we try to produce a sound like "you calip tus"...interested to hear your take on this.

moneypenny20

No Aussie? Come on, various people in various countries would have issues but it's hardly a 'country' problem. A friend of mine used to work in the USA. His name is Ian but most of the people in worked with insisted on pronouncing it Eye an. Different areas of the UK pronounce words differently, as do areas of Australia.