There’s something wrong with my ears.
“Yew shoulda seed gordin puffinuntin thuther day.”
What?!
This has been going on for a while now, this need to say “huh?” in response to questions. I blame affordable concert prices in my youth, although in all fairness I have to admit that in addition to the intermittent ringing in my ears since Purple Rain, we now have the slurring with which to contend.
Oh, not my slurring: it’s everyone else’s slurring that is messing me up.
But I’ve noticed this slurring of one word into another primarily in men.
Like a recent conversation in which the sentence “yew shoulda seed gordin puffinuntin thuther day” popped up.
Again: What?!
Sure, it looks easy now; but at the time, there had been no hint of anything Gordon-Ramsey related in the conversation.
How it came up, I’ll never know.
And who talks about puffin hunting?
I guess I had never considered puffins a sport bird.
I don’t know. Maybe it’s my ears.
And maybe it’s the close-lipped speech of some people.
All I know is that guy better stop making fun of my bewilderment over “puffinuntin”.
After all, I laugh at his jokes.
I figgeree yoze me.
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29 comments:
The "huhs?" seem to increase in frequency in direct proportion to the number of years we live. At least that is so around these parts.
My mother used to sing
Cowseedotes and doeseedotes and littley lamseedivy. A kiddledivy too. Wouldn't you?
Is that a children's rhyme in America too?
(If not, will return with 'translation'.
The world has been mumbling lately. Glad someone else noticed.
When I was in Iceland, there were restaurants that had puffin on the menu. I don't know who would hunt those darling little birds!
I accused one of my sons of mumbling the other day; he said my hearing is going! You have convinced me otherwise!
:) They hunt those birds..poor things. Huh ..that is a right to passage as you get older:)
I've got teens in my house--talk about one-word sentences! sheesh. The words are all jumbled, slurred, and mumbled into one long sentence--all of which I have no understanding.
It's not me...it's them.
Lucy--I know that song!
Wadaferry funnepost
Pearl and Lin - I got it a bit wrong. The first word should have been marezeedotes.
I'm78&forsometimenowI'vehaddifficultyseparatingsentewncesaintoindividualwords!!
That was supposed to end with "intowords."
I hear ya. ;)
Gotta run...there's puffins out there that need a-huntin'
Ee duhzohyu, ee duz!
I find that as my other half gets deafer, he talks lower too, and then I get accused of poor hearing!
Well, I couldn't hear that and I have lovely hearing aids. Thank goodness I have glasses.
Pair mumbling with hearing loss and...well, silence is golden.
My grandson used to slur his words together and we called him, "Mumbles", but not to his face. Yes, I think it is men who need to enunciate.
The men in my life (that sounds so much better than it is.. I meant Frank, my sons and his sons) tend to do that mumbling thing too, these days. This aging thing is not for the weak of heart.. or ears.
The many-thousand-dollar hearing aides I got last summer have revolutionized my life, as in, I no long have to say "I beg your pardon, could you say that again, what did you say, again please????" every two minutes.
Rosemary
Lucy! I had NO idea there were real words to that nursery rhyme..I just went and looked it up
"Cows eat oats and
Does eat oats and Little Lambs eat ivy!
This is such an educational blog right here!
Hey Pearl
"Ast oow roight yung youth? Good in teet dewk?"
Translation of local northern English language from the above sentence. "Are you all right young youth? Good isn't it duck?" Duck is an endearment word. I think it's a 'fowl' expression....
Gosh, speaking of good old Gordon Ramsay, keep him there! And you can keep Jeremy Kyle.
It sounds like you are listening to the dude and practising for when you come and visit jolly old England, Pearl.
You are very welcome for my comment. I know how much you eagerly await my comments.
Y'all take care, ya hear!
Gary
It's the Neanderthal coming out in the male genes.. Theyre there you know... hundreds of thousands of years Modern Humans co-evolving with Neanderthals and there was no interbreeding? Come on now...
You see it on the news sometimes. People (men) will pretty much have sex with anything. (some men)
About 6 years ago a Carnie got caught doing the deed with (wait for it) a Camel after hours at our once a year Show.
Anyway, some of the slack jaw, half witted, low brows I see at the skate park are NO WAY fully Modern Human in origin...
One time a male friend said to me, "my balls really can hurt when they hit you."
I was contemplating it when I saw him hold out a handful of MARBLES. He was actually saying marbles really hurt when they hit you, but his slight accent and slurring a bit made it sound differently.
My daughter talks a mile a minute and when I ask her to slow down she tells me I need to listen faster.
Most of Australia mumbles like that, so be prepared if you come downunder.
Yousa talkin' 'bout me?
And not only this lazy slurring of words, but people seem to positively race in the pace of their talking these days, at the same time when I prefer to listen much more slowly. I'm constantly telling people to both speak up and slow down.
Alas, the disadvantages of 58 year-old ears and neurostructure.
Trust me, some things may improve with age, but hearing ain't one of them. Worse, when the ears can't discern the words, the brain has a natural tendency to "fill in the blanks." A big pain at times.
This reminds me of the "Rain in Spain" lyrics from My Fair Lady. :-D
Yeah I get ya, if I don't have my hearing aids in I will often pretend I know what someone says I will hear bits and pieces and guess the rest........lol
My dad is forever complaining that my sister mumbles........lol
It's getting terrible how fast people are talking these days, and running together their words. I wrote a blog about it, too.
http://joycepitronehawkinswrinklesdonthurt.blogspot.com/2011/11/slow-downyoure-movin-too-fast.html
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