tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post2626292356478281866..comments2024-02-06T16:17:25.826+00:00Comments on THE GRØNMARK BLOG: One of the mysteries of the new TV series, True Detective: do Americans understand each other’s accents?Scott Gronmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-27283175111400168702014-03-01T16:44:36.779+00:002014-03-01T16:44:36.779+00:00Interesting point about where Amnerican actors com...Interesting point about where Amnerican actors come from - never thought of it before. (I expect California was more of a frontier state when Slim first moseyed onto the scene, dangbladdit.)<br /><br />Nebraska accents - not a clue, but another interesting point. I suspect it's where they learned their acting trade that influenced their accents, but I don't really know.Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-76814636912202179482014-03-01T16:38:48.325+00:002014-03-01T16:38:48.325+00:00You're well ahead of us - second episode airs ...You're well ahead of us - second episode airs here this weekend, so I'll listen out for the victim's husband.<br /><br />I hope the places you visit regularly are more upbeat than they appear in TV crime series!Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-22991620105881948752014-02-21T13:16:19.518+00:002014-02-21T13:16:19.518+00:00Very interesting subject, post and comments. Thank...Very interesting subject, post and comments. Thanks. Really enjoyed .<br /><br />On reflection, I suddenly realized how much I enjoy films set in post-war Texas [some of them unsung masterpieces like "The Killer Inside Me" and "The Getaway"] and the number of excellent actors that come from that State [Joe Don Baker, Tommy Lee Jones, Powers Boothe, Randy Quaid, Bill Paxton, Thomas Haden Church, Forest Whitaker...I was disappointed to discover that Slim Pickens hailed from California.] Also, we should not forget Joan Crawford and Sissy Spaceck]. And Harrelson and McConaughy, of course I have no idea wether American regional accents are genuine or not or what they are saying half the time, but as long as they sound authentic and you get the drift who cares.<br /><br />McConaughy. Took a long time to warm to him [was upset about factual travesties of "U-571"], but he is now a major player. "Killer Joe". Oh Yes!<br /><br />The other thing I started musing over - why would three of America's greatest film actors [Fonda, Brando, Clift] all come from Omaha, Nebraska and yet be so completely different? Is Nebraska accentless?<br /><br />"Bernie" is another wonderful film - Jack Black started his rehabilitation in "Tropic Thunder".SDGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-19306885653377666652014-02-20T23:26:20.567+00:002014-02-20T23:26:20.567+00:00I have to say the victims husband, in lock up is o...I have to say the victims husband, in lock up is outstanding. If he's not local he's done an outstanding job...and sheriff tate. It's funny...I see half if these places all the time. Erik Bartlamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05401279267556576137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-66645408985180426402014-02-20T18:18:01.835+00:002014-02-20T18:18:01.835+00:00We are and we aren't. People outside of the ar...We are and we aren't. People outside of the area who often have no idea what it means are offended to the point of distraction. In the general area coonass (if it's ok for me to say such a thing on a UK website) is used to distinguish south Louisiana gooduns from rednecks. For instance selling food in gas stations requires knowing the market. Hence questions like what do you get in here coonasses or red necks. This morning I was selling fried green tomatoes...the lady was from ten miles away in Louisiana. She had to depend on the girls in the kitchen to tell her if they were good because she didn't grow up eating them. For a redneck they are a staple. In this case it's someone who may not be Cajun but is of the s Louisiana culture. Then there are cajun Cajuns. <br />Coonass is like redneck. You could use it in a way that would be made to regret but it's common usage in these parts. <br />Erik Bartlamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05401279267556576137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-71997326856272097432014-02-20T17:22:09.697+00:002014-02-20T17:22:09.697+00:00The problem with the Hollywood southern accent is ...The problem with the Hollywood southern accent is that it only exists in the mind of non-Southerners. Of course that is sufficient to make it the real Southern accent. <br />It would be like having robin Williams doing his golf joke play every Scottish character. <br /><br />Rectify proves that this is a delusion and not an actual mishearing...two of the main actors are Australian and the girl who plays Tawny does an especially good job. <br />It's not just the accents...which other than the two Aussies are actual Southerners...it's the use of language. Much more is to be understood by what is not said than by what is. The essence of it is Southern.,,which is very exciting to witness. It's not about the south...it's Southern. <br /><br />It's in South Georgia ...where people say pea-can...not puh-kahn...little things like that. And best of all the mid day meal is actually referred to as Dinner... Which is what any sensible person calls it. :)<br />Bernie is a very good...very funny movie that succeeds for the same reason. Most of the people in it are actual residents of the town. Erik Bartlamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05401279267556576137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-39946083827841225892014-02-20T16:49:29.971+00:002014-02-20T16:49:29.971+00:00Are you allowed to use coonass for Cajun? Isn'...Are you allowed to use coonass for Cajun? Isn't that like a hate crime or something? (Over here, the police seem to spend most of their time looking for this sort of thing on Facebook and Twitter so they can go out and arrest people.)<br /><br />I think I understood just about ever¥thing said to me in the South, but i suspect they were making allowances for a foreigner. Oddly (well odd to me) were the one or two Southerners utterly foxed by my accent. One lady in a diner in North Florida got quite angry, apparently convinced I was deliberately talking nonsense, and I was once issued a Greyhound ticket for Knoxville instead of Nashville, even though by that stage I was E-NUN-CIA-TING very carefully because of the blank stares I often received in Greyhound offices (where you'd think they'd be well used to strange accents). Apart from the angry diner lady, everyone else was charming, especially when I'd answered the oft-repeated question, "Where you from?" <br /><br />My wife and I were astounded when we took a boat tour of the swamps in Lousiana that the guide spoke with one of those classic Cajun French accents. For the first five minutes we suspected he was having us on - when we realised he wasn't, we just sat back and enjoyed the experience. I don't know why we should have been surprised, but it was just like stepping into a movie. Laissez les bons temps rouler and all that.Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-83240690819874964142014-02-20T16:33:35.530+00:002014-02-20T16:33:35.530+00:00Watched some YouTube clips from Bernie and Rectify...Watched some YouTube clips from Bernie and Rectify and everything was as clear as a bell (Rectify looks good). <br /><br />Anyway, glad to hear it's not entirely my cloth ears at fault with True Detective. I was going to say it's surprising that Americans don't complain about inauthentic accents, but here we still occasionally have non-Scots playing Scots as if the accent doesn't really matter and as if that isn't insulting to the Scottish peopleand most "country" characters sound exactly the same, whether they're supposed to be from Cornwall or Norfolk or wherever. I suppose I'm surprised that everyone doesn't make more a fuss. (Mind you, very few young actors can do period upper class accents either.)Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-37104388321641200872014-02-20T15:55:30.039+00:002014-02-20T15:55:30.039+00:00I'm looking at the Louisiana border...just the...I'm looking at the Louisiana border...just the other side of kentwood and Liverpool exit. <br /><br />The fella I'm working with just told the coonass lady who runs a kitchen that he plays dumb sometimes ...<br /><br />"Yoo done hav ta twy too haw hawny"<br /><br />Ha...imagine trying to decipher that for an hour. Erik Bartlamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05401279267556576137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-58890656259782764012014-02-20T12:23:01.486+00:002014-02-20T12:23:01.486+00:00You are partially off the hook here. I watched it ...You are partially off the hook here. I watched it last night...the sound is terrible. <br />You are partially deeper on the hook because no one is speaking with anything like a Louisiana accent. Mc is speaking with his own Texas drawl ( slightly slurred and way down in the mix), harrelson has added some odd growl to his nondescript voice. <br /><br />They are definitely shooting in the area around New Orleans but nobody (halfway through) actually had a south Louisiana (north Louisiana sounds like me ) accent. <br /><br />One of the best movies for Southern accents and southerners speaking the way Southerners speak is Bernie. Mat mc is in that one too. The best tv show is Rectify. Erik Bartlamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05401279267556576137noreply@blogger.com