Author Topic: Overheard today  (Read 120684 times)

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #75 on: 28 March, 2013, 11:00:55 am »
Half of a phone conversation about to disembark
"You get used to it, honestly"
....
"Really, you acclimatise. When I stayed in Bolivia there was ice on the inside of the windows, you just get used to it"

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #76 on: 28 March, 2013, 12:05:51 pm »
Overheard yesterday evening.

"Blimey, it's still light"

"Yes, it doesn't stay late so early after this week-end"

Ah that reminds me of a time I was in Peterborough  "he's a young old boy, him"  "old boy" being a general appellation.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Basil

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #77 on: 12 August, 2013, 06:57:39 pm »
It was either start a "Best Responses I've Ever Heard" thread, or come back here.

There was a small baby on the train from Carmarthen that howled constantly.  The poor mother, who was also having to deal with two other smalls, was seeming harrassed and apologetic, was getting understanding smiles of "It's OK, that's what babies do" from most of us fellow travellers.  Except one git woman who called out, "For heaven's sake, what is the matter with that baby?"
Quick as flash, mom responds, "He's probably dying for a fag!*
 ;D
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #78 on: 24 August, 2013, 03:05:05 pm »
"dung beetles follow the moon"

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #79 on: 24 August, 2013, 03:25:50 pm »
"dung beetles follow the moon"

Thats a cracking title for a Frank Zappa album.
Working my way up to inferior.

Jaded

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #80 on: 24 August, 2013, 03:45:54 pm »
Which moon though?
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #81 on: 24 August, 2013, 06:23:25 pm »
Which moon though?

Poo Moon, presumably. I think Rogers and Hart wrote a song about it...
If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #82 on: 27 August, 2013, 12:06:23 pm »
Overheard yesterday, a conversation in Scots Gaelic. At least, I assume it was Scots Gaelic as the person who was talking loudly outside my window had a Scottish accent and was talking about driving to/from Dundee (the conversation was partly in English, which was clearly this man's native language - the person he was talking to was on the end of a phone, presumably in Dundee). How common is Gaelic in Dundee?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Wowbagger

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #83 on: 27 August, 2013, 01:09:35 pm »
Half of a phone conversation about to disembark
"You get used to it, honestly"
....
"Really, you acclimatise. When I stayed in Bolivia there was ice on the inside of the windows, you just get used to it"

I would think that is quite possible, since La Paz is over 11,000 feet up.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

David Martin

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #84 on: 27 August, 2013, 01:18:32 pm »
How common is Gaelic in Dundee?
Not very. Are you sure he wasn't skipping into vernacular Dundonian (or Lochee)?
Gaelic and Dundonian sound quite disimilar.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

rogerzilla

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #85 on: 27 August, 2013, 03:46:45 pm »
"And this Italian gentleman came in and complained that we didn't have any information in Italian, but he spoke perfect English".
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #86 on: 27 August, 2013, 04:13:14 pm »
How common is Gaelic in Dundee?
Not very. Are you sure he wasn't skipping into vernacular Dundonian (or Lochee)?
Gaelic and Dundonian sound quite disimilar.
Possibly, but having googled that, I don't think so. It sounded like he was switching between two languages rather than dialects, and he wasn't entirely confident in the one that wasn't English. Of course, just cos he was going to or had come from Dundee, doesn't mean he or his interlocutor necessarily lived there, but even so, it was surprising.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #87 on: 29 August, 2013, 01:54:15 pm »
Grandparents walking with a 4 year old girl in Goyt Valley....
Grandma: "There are lots of different kinds of nuts like: peanuts and hazelnuts"
Grandpa:" Yes, walnuts, pecan nuts"
Girl (proudly):" And ginger nuts!"



Basil

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #88 on: 02 October, 2013, 07:10:23 pm »
Not quite Overheard, more Overseen Today.
I've spent the day at our six monthly Whole Team Meeting, hosted by my Great Grand Manager.
Of course at one point it included a Death By Powerpoint section.
During the lunch break GGM decides to check her e-mails.
Only, the projector's still on, isn't it?
Interesting reading.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

mattc

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #89 on: 02 October, 2013, 07:16:01 pm »
Ah that reminds me of a time I was in Peterborough  "he's a young old boy, him"  "old boy" being a general appellation.
.. which reminds me of a guy (from Oxon) I worked with in August. He called everyone an "old boy" or "old dear" in anecdotes. Took a while to get used to.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #90 on: 02 October, 2013, 07:49:15 pm »
"there are something's a boyfriend just shouldn't do, I mean, stealing my car, and my credit card and spending the night with an ex girl friend (even though he said nothing happened)....."

Here's hoping he was an ex boyfriend!
not so much a gravel grinder.... more of a gravel groveller


Re: Overheard today
« Reply #91 on: 02 October, 2013, 07:54:00 pm »
Here's hoping that she reported the taking of the car...

PaulF

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #92 on: 27 November, 2013, 06:44:47 am »
"Where are you going"

"Milan"

"Hey I'm going to Milan too!"

So what you may ask.

This was on the plane this morning.

To Milan! :facepalm:

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #93 on: 02 December, 2013, 02:32:27 pm »
Half of a phone conversation about to disembark
"You get used to it, honestly"
....
"Really, you acclimatise. When I stayed in Bolivia there was ice on the inside of the windows, you just get used to it"
I remember that from Aylesbury in the 1960s.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

tiermat

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #94 on: 02 December, 2013, 03:37:26 pm »
"Where are you going"

"Milan"

"Hey I'm going to Milan too!"

So what you may ask.

This was on the plane this morning.

To Milan! :facepalm:

What is it about planes that brings out the dumbz in people?

<scene:aeroplane interior> Me, sat next to a couple going to Barcelona for the first time.  Several minutes of chat and advice (to them) is followed by the guy saying "What are you going to Barcelona for?"

Take a guess, I am sat here in cycling gear head to toe, you saw me put my hand luggage in the overhead locker, with my bike helmet on the outside of it, go on, take a guess...
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

clarion

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #95 on: 02 December, 2013, 03:40:03 pm »
Could have been a seriously kinky weekend.
Getting there...

contango

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #96 on: 02 December, 2013, 04:10:54 pm »
More seriously though a lot of hearies hate the BSL terps or closed subtitles which is why there isn't more provision cos they grink the broadcasters who use it as an excuse not to provide the service. >:(

I've often wondered how hard it would be to have the signing as an option, just like subtitled used to be. That way those who need/want it could have it larger and those who don't, don't have to have it there. Maybe it could even allow for options depending on whether people use BSL, Manaton (sp?) or some other system.

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Kim

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Re: Overheard today
« Reply #97 on: 02 December, 2013, 07:27:40 pm »
More seriously though a lot of hearies hate the BSL terps or closed subtitles which is why there isn't more provision cos they grink the broadcasters who use it as an excuse not to provide the service. >:(

I've often wondered how hard it would be to have the signing as an option, just like subtitled used to be. That way those who need/want it could have it larger and those who don't, don't have to have it there.

On DVB it would need an entirely separate stream, unfortunately (and bits mean money).  The ability to do video overlay would have made the decoder prohibitively expensive when the standards were set.  Maybe next time?


Quote
Maybe it could even allow for options depending on whether people use BSL, Manaton (sp?) or some other system.

Makaton.  It's a system of a few hundred signs (many of which are frustratingly unrelated to their BSL equivalents) and symbols with no grammar.  Useful enough for its intended purpose, but not a language that you can translate things into.




To clarify, I suspect barakta meant "open subtitles" (ie. those that are part of the video stream) in the post above.  Closed subtitles (captions in leftpondian) are an overlay that can be turned on and off in the viewer's equipment, and while they're just as good at annoying hearing people, it's not a fight the broadcaster has to get involved in.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: Overheard today
« Reply #98 on: 08 January, 2014, 02:30:54 pm »
I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room on Tuesday and couldn’t avoid hearing a conversation between the receptionist and a patient who was trying to inform her of a change of address.

Receptionist:  “So, what’s your new address, Mrs. X?”

Mrs. X:  “You know the [Name of Pub], well if you turn right just after there..”

Receptionist:  “No, what is your actual address?”

Mrs. X:  “It’s near the [I didn’t catch what that was],  if you go down the Pershore Road….

Receptionist:  (Still remarkably professionally)  “No.  I don’t need directions, I just need the address.”

Mrs X.  “Well, if you come out of the surgery………..”

Receptionist:  Can you fill in this form and bring it back with you next time?  Thank you.  Next?”
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Re: Overheard today
« Reply #99 on: 08 January, 2014, 06:44:57 pm »
I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room on Tuesday and couldn’t avoid hearing a conversation between the receptionist and a patient who was trying to inform her of a change of address.

Receptionist:  “So, what’s your new address, Mrs. X?”

Mrs. X:  “You know the [Name of Pub], well if you turn right just after there..”

Receptionist:  “No, what is your actual address?”

Mrs. X:  “It’s near the [I didn’t catch what that was],  if you go down the Pershore Road….

Receptionist:  (Still remarkably professionally)  “No.  I don’t need directions, I just need the address.”

Mrs X.  “Well, if you come out of the surgery………..”

Receptionist:  Can you fill in this form and bring it back with you next time?  Thank you.  Next?”


I once moved to a town in California just after the town government had put in signs with street names for the first time. The post office didn't deliver mail to homes, so there wasn't much incentive to learn the name of the street one lived on. 5 years after the street signs were put in, I was still encountering people who didn't know the name of the street they lived on, they just called it "the road that such a and such a restaurant is on", etc. Drove the delivery people nuts...