Little D

Me three!!

AmyDavid

My OH is called David and someone asked him
"So, how do you spell David in England then?" lol My Daughter's name is pronounced Kiddy here and I really hate that!

Oakvillian

I had the good fortune to spend some time at university in Loughborough. Best comment I've heard here so far on seeing it written down has been "What in the hell's that say there? Looga-barooga? Come on, you're not trying to tell me that's a real place?"

rob28

I completely understand the 'Earl' one as that's my last name.

Conversations usually go as follows....

Canadian: Last name please?
Me: Earl.
Canadian: No, your last name.....
Me: That is my last name.
Canadian: Okayyy. How do you spell that.
Me: E A R L.
Canadian: A I R L?

Cue a few more attempts at getting them to understand me before I get to the stage of breaking out some form of ID for them to look at.

jamesmc

well working for a french canadian firm and being from rural scotland the 2 way radio conversations sometimes get very strange wi base passing a message to someone to pass to me and vice versa
Was a intresting night in our local bar on friday....wi me..a newly arrived dutchman.....one o the french drivers plus the locals

dont think half the people knew what the other half was saying at the begining never mind 1am.
jimmy

CanadaJimmy

On Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the food network, they always have trouble with saying Worcestershire Sauce, something me and girlfriend often remark on.

The one big difference that often gets me is the harder consonant sounds, Tuesday become Twos-day here instead of Tyews-day, Due & Dew are Doo not Dyuu, etc.

One of the good things about Canada compared to the US is you're allowed to use the British or American pronunciation for words like Status or Tomato.

MillieF

Lucky you! You only went to Uni there..I was born there ....AND it's in Leicestershire! Double whammy! It's haunted me ever since...nobody anywhere I've lived in the last 30 years can say it, and they all get a bit defensive!

I don't eat fast food in Canada because every time I open my mouth they look just like rabbits in the headlights, but it's probably good for my waistline.

scrubbedexpat133

Im a trucker so get sent to lots of places my dispatch cant pronounce....

Sheshire - Cheshire

Lee caster - Leicester

War wick - Warwick

Nor folk - Norfolk

My personal favorite my perfectly bilingual dispatcher pronounces Calais as Cal iss

I have to repeat myself all the time and have had to put a lot of effort into slowing down and speaking as plainly as possible. Very frustrating.

Novocastrian

We had a giggle last summer changing the language of the french rental car's GPS from french to english. It told us to proceed towards Rowen (Rouen) along the E14 towards Keen (Caen).

I couldn't take it anymore after that.

Aberdeen_Loon

Even though I speak with a Canadian accent, I tend to use British pronunciations for certain words. The following grate on my nerves:

"Logger" instead of lager
"Uven" instead of oven
As someone else mentioned, "Edinborrow" instead of Edinburgh
Berwick (pronouned phoenetically) instead of "Ber'ick"

On the other hand, I can't stand the habit some English people have of adding r's to the end of words ("lawr," "sawr," "Canadar," etc.). Likewise, when my Scottish uncle says "Canajin" instead of Canadian, it's annoying.

There, I've offended just about everyone - Canadians, Scots and the English! Don't get me started on Americans ("ruff" instead of roof, "rowt" instead of route, "mobil" instead of mobile, etc.).

wesbray

This may have already been posted (i'm too lazy to go through them) but the way they say "erb" instead of herb is rather amusing.

Dave n Ailsa

is it not "Urbs" rather than Erbs?

Love the Looga-barooga by the way, that made me laugh

The problem we all have in the UK, is the HUGE differences in accents in one small country.

I even speak differently from my neighbours, lol. I was brought up in a slightly posher area of Glasgow, so I pronounce my "T"'s, like in butter. I don't say "bu-(small cough sound)-urr". I have "Grass" in my garden, the neighbour has "gress".

I would call the area 80 miles south of Glasgow the "Borders", but my pals in Edinburgh call it the "Boarders".

My name is pronounced "Day-vid", but some of you english guys will say "Die-vid", and "Dive" instead of "Dayve".


So, we not only have UK to Canada issues, we have uk to uk issues

ultrarunner

Someone had to follow them lot

ultrarunner

That is the only problem we have in the UK? Also posher areas in Glasgow....really? I am one of the "Die-Vid" crew

lf1

OMG! That must drive you nuts. I know of someone who has the surname Jardine (ending pronounced as in garden) the locals always said Jardeen so eventually she just used the name Jardeen.