Any Ideas?

[Black Diamond]

That's sweet of you, Perianne. Thank you !



You are, of course, referring to Welsh ... ... which definitely qualifies as a foreign language (and then some). That's beside the fact that I've been living in Wales for several years, now, and tried to learn it. I failed miserably ...

Not that it matters - Welsh is a dying language, and only a fairly small percentage of even the Welsh can speak it !

I can manage 'Bore Da' (Welsh greeting, meaning 'Good Morning' .. the 'e' in 'Bore' is accented). Just. I've been told I have a talent for pronouncing Welsh (though that's probably with a trace of a Cockney accent, as I'm from north London, originally) .. just not understanding any of it ...



Basically 'no'. The type of accent normally associated with 'hillbilly-speak', maybe, otherwise, I'd have to say no, and I think that's true of Brits generally. An American accent is easier on the ears than many British ones are, even to me. I struggle with the Geordie accent, for example (North-east England, around Newcastle, Tyne & Wear), or maybe the more impenetrable Scottish variations.

I've seen both the British and American versions of the Jeremy Kyle show. I can honestly say that the American version is easier on the ears than the Brit one !

I used to spend the night at Nain and Taid's house as a kid.

[Drummond]

Was he going somewhere?

I cleared off for a while, fully intending not to return .. my plan was to concentrate on posting to a British forum for a while instead. That I returned again is largely due to Perianne's efforts to persuade me to rejoin.

The Brit forum is the same one that Perianne joined, only to suffer some bad treatment from some ignorant types there (I apologise for my countrymen, Peri -- all totally uncalled for, from beginning to end). It's also the one that closed down recently, after the person running it apparently started getting letters from solicitors about its content.

[Black Diamond]

Noir has to be right about that. I watched Clockwork Orange a couple of years ago ... shown by the BBC. Maybe it was edited down .. but it was definitely shown.

An old favourite of mine was & is Omega Man. In fact, I can't think of any Charlton Heston film I've ever watched that hasn't been good (the original Planet of the Apes, for example).

V for Vendetta is another favourite. Actually an American film, though set entirely in a dystopian future Britain. I'd challenge anyone to recognise it as American .. even so, the Wachowski Brothers (Matrix trilogy) were behind its action scenes.

Or, Vincent Price movies ... the Dr Phibes ones are great (tongue-in-cheek humour).

How about the Quatermass ones ? The BBC has just shown Quatermass & The Pit.

For sheer, priceless comedy, I'd recommend 'I'm All Right Jack' to anyone. Made by the Boulting Brothers, it was an anti-Union film - the Boulting Bros felt the need to speak out, even then (late Fifties) against British Trade Union lunacy. A Peter Sellers comedy.

Currently, I like any / all Hunger Games movies ...

Peter Sellers was great in Dr Strangelove. I should check out his other stuff. As far as A Clockwork Orange goes, I watched all these documentaries about the film talking about them banning the film in Britain. But they didn't talk about unbanning it.

[Perianne]

Do you Brits struggle to understand American English?

Basically 'no'. The type of accent normally associated with 'hillbilly-speak', maybe, otherwise, I'd have to say no, and I think that's true of Brits generally. An American accent is easier on the ears than many British ones are, even to me.

I also struggle with some folks' language around here. I don't know what I would have done had I been born in the hills or been born black.

Anyway, I have often wondered if Brits can understand us better than I can understand you guys. I think most Americans understand - and even like - the British accent. I might if I could understand it. When I watch a British program, it is like a beginner in a new language, where I have to translate it before processing what is said. If that makes any sense.

[Black Diamond]

I cleared off for a while, fully intending not to return .. my plan was to concentrate on posting to a British forum for a while instead. That I returned again is largely due to Perianne's efforts to persuade me to rejoin.

The Brit forum is the same one that Perianne joined, only to suffer some bad treatment from some ignorant types there (I apologise for my countrymen, Peri -- all totally uncalled for, from beginning to end). It's also the one that closed down recently, after the person running it apparently started getting letters from solicitors about its content.

What sort of content?

[Drummond]

I used to spend the night at Nain and Taid's house as a kid.

Your grandparents' house ?

[Perianne]

I used to spend the night at Nain and Taid's house as a kid.

Who are Nain and Taid? Are they famous British people?

[Black Diamond]

Your grandparents' house ?

Yessir. My grandfather's parents came from Wales. On the Lusitania no less.

[Black Diamond]

Who are Nain and Taid? Are they famous British people?

Lol. No Nain means Grandma. Taid means Grandpa. Taids parents came from Wales.

[Perianne]

I cleared off for a while, fully intending not to return .. my plan was to concentrate on posting to a British forum for a while instead. That I returned again is largely due to Perianne's efforts to persuade me to rejoin.

I think you came back just to shut me up!!! lol

The Brit forum is the same one that Perianne joined, only to suffer some bad treatment from some ignorant types there (I apologise for my countrymen, Peri -- all totally uncalled for, from beginning to end). It's also the one that closed down recently, after the person running it apparently started getting letters from solicitors about its content.

You have no need to apologize to me, sir. Some people don't get me. It's a thing I will never understand, but it's mostly homosexuals and jealous women who don't like me. And I try to be so nice and sweet to everyone. Gets me!!!!

[Gunny]

I also struggle with some folks' language around here. I don't know what I would have done had I been born in the hills or been born black.

Anyway, I have often wondered if Brits can understand us better than I can understand you guys. I think most Americans understand - and even like - the British accent. I might if I could understand it. When I watch a British program, it is like a beginner in a new language, where I have to translate it before processing what is said. If that makes any sense.

I can tell you about the language: consider the source.

The first board I posted on was a European board with a bunch of leftwingers and about 5 of us conservatives. I NEVER back down from battle and I held my own. But you have to be as accepting of others as you expect them to be of you.

I disagree with a few people here and their opinions, but I always respect the right they have to those opinions and the fact that they ARE people.

If you think we don't have to process what YOU say, think again. Same with Drummond. We don't speak proper English. We speak the American version of English.

And isn't THAT one of the biggest problems in this world? We spend more time not understanding differences than we do hating them. Anyone that thinks I dislike them on a personal level aside from a select few who don't post here usually, think again. Disagree and dislike are two very different things.

[Drummond]

What sort of content?

It so happened that I'd not posted there for a few days, only to suddenly discover that it had closed when I tried to return. There might be others here who have more knowledge than me on that subject.

I first joined that forum back in 2009. Then, it was quite a sedate place, no real contention there. When I returned more recently, I found that there was a hard-core of troll types posting there. Their contributions seemed centred around a basic form of nationalism ... which translated into enmity against non-Brits. Some were pro-BNP .. and the BNP (or 'British National Party') is about as fringe as it gets in British politics. They're 'Britain for the British' types, which to them has been known to translate into hatred of non-whites and a desire to deport them if they ever gained power. Its former leader, Nick Griffin, was a Holocaust denier, and he wanted Jews deported as well.

That may have been part of it. I also believe that there was an account about libellous accusations made against people .. which, in British law at least, could provide a solid basis for legal action through the courts, and no doubt the site owner thought it wiser to distance himself from all that while he could, by closing the site down.

Again ... there was also an anti-Christian element amongst the posters, and a willingness to reflect that. Additionally, anti-Muslim sentiments expressed.

But as I say .. it so happened that I was not active there in the days when all this blew up, and so I couldn't usefully research it. Maybe someone else can give a better account of the true reason(s) than I can.

[Drummond]

I can tell you about the language: consider the source.

The first board I posted on was a European board with a bunch of leftwingers and about 5 of us conservatives. I NEVER back down from battle and I held my own. But you have to be as accepting of others as you expect them to be of you.

I disagree with a few people here and their opinions, but I always respect the right they have to those opinions and the fact that they ARE people.

If you think we don't have to process what YOU say, think again. Same with Drummond. We don't speak proper English. We speak the American version of English.

And isn't THAT one of the biggest problems in this world? We spend more time not understanding differences than we do hating them. Anyone that thinks I dislike them on a personal level aside from a select few who don't post here usually, think again. Disagree and dislike are two very different things.

The American version of English, IS the proper version of it, in your part of the world. I've no problem in deferring to it .. my use of 'liberal', for example, is different from the common American usage. It doesn't matter, though - 'when in Rome' & all that.

You were lucky to survive on that board for any real length of time, Gunny. In my experience, if you disagree strongly with Leftie-oriented boards, you'll be subject to abuse, or being thrown out of the forum, and probably both. Left-wingers from my part of the world are anything BUT 'liberal' in their attitudes and actions, much though they'd claim otherwise.

I joined one such forum. I was banned from there after six weeks. Worse, though .. one of its Admin staff then followed me to the American forum I was a member of at that time, then started propagandising there. 'Marxist Nutter' was his monicker, and it was definitely accurate. He, too, lasted six weeks there .. but not by being banned. His argumentation got him nowhere, of course, so after a few weeks he just quit the place to rejoin the cozy environment he'd temporarily vacated.

I'm sure nobody missed him .. least of all, me.

[Drummond]

Peter Sellers was great in Dr Strangelove. I should check out his other stuff. As far as A Clockwork Orange goes, I watched all these documentaries about the film talking about them banning the film in Britain. But they didn't talk about unbanning it.

Definitely check out 'I'm All Right Jack'. Sellers is brilliant in it .. he plays a Marxist-admiring Union official, thoroughly pompous and self-opinionated, complete with Hitler moustache.

[Gunny]

The American version of English, IS the proper version of it, in your part of the world. I've no problem in deferring to it .. my use of 'liberal', for example, is different from the common American usage. It doesn't matter, though - 'when in Rome' & all that.

You were lucky to survive on that board for any real length of time, Gunny. In my experience, if you disagree strongly with Leftie-oriented boards, you'll be subject to abuse, or being thrown out of the forum, and probably both. Left-wingers from my part of the world are anything BUT 'liberal' in their attitudes and actions, much though they'd claim otherwise.

I joined one such forum. I was banned from there after six weeks. Worse, though .. one of its Admin staff then followed me to the American forum I was a member of at that time, then started propagandising there. 'Marxist Nutter' was his monicker, and it was definitely accurate. He, too, lasted six weeks there .. but not by being banned. His argumentation got him nowhere, of course, so after a few weeks he just quit the place to rejoin the cozy environment he'd temporarily vacated.

I'm sure nobody missed him .. least of all, me.

Dude, I have in the past 6 years been on a certain board I ran for 5 years for about 3 months a year and a half ago and people STILL are talking shit about me. Now, I can go over there and raise some damned Hell (my forte) or I can just ignore it. How lame is someone's life to talk shit about someone who has really not been around long enough to have 3 grandkids born?

Why do you think I always come back to Jim's board? I know the people here. And you weren't around when Jim, DMP and I have gotten into some drop down, drag out fights. Long as you aren't acting like a d*ick, which I was, you get to say what you want. Me, a bottle of Jack and a message board are NOT a good combination.

I stayed away from boards for several years. And the crap I learned that was going on behind my and everyone else's back startled me once I started posting again. I had no idea. I've always been up front, and on the board. If you find a board more tolerant than this one, fill us in.