Episode 77 : Coming Out Across the Pond

Posted on August 30, 2012 by themagicaltalkinghat

Language and homosexuality. And AMC. And a little sports. But mostly language and homosexuality.

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31 Responses to Episode 77 : Coming Out Across the Pond

  1. Stuart says:
    August 30, 2012 at 9:15 pm

    Speaking of post apocalyptic type stuff, anyone looking forward to Revolution on NBC? I hope it’s going to be gritty, but we’ll see. Bows and arrows are a bit Hunger Games these days, but I like the concept of losing all electrical technology.

    I think people only watch Mad Men for Ms Hendricks.

    You know, I think there’s a few bugs going around at the moment, whole family have had it on and off.

    I can get away with saying football!

    Reply
    • Mark says:
      August 31, 2012 at 8:33 am

      I started watching Mad Men for Ms Hendricks, but stayed for the first season because it was kind of interesting. I stopped watching as the “drama” turned out to just be how many ways can the main character screw up his own life.

      Reply
    • The Producer says:
      August 31, 2012 at 3:29 pm

      re: Revolution – You know, at this point I kind of consider JJ Abrams a mark against a show, and I’m *still* pissed at NBC about “Persons Unknown” but the commercials look interesting, so we’ll probably record it and watch at least the first couple of episodes.

      Reply
  2. Stuart says:
    August 31, 2012 at 7:55 am

    OK, doing this from memory now as I went to bed for the remainder, rather than typing as I listened.

    Really interesting discussions. I have a reverse question for the one about pronouncing stuff incorrectly – does it bother folk when non-native English speakers don’t get English words or names correct? That’s my take on English speakers getting non-English words all mixed up. Of course, I can’t think of any words off the top of my head that other languages have assimilated from English, but I’m sure they exist. A lot of modern Welsh words are exceedingly close to their English counterparts, they’ve just been subtly altered such that correct pronunciation “sounds Welsh”, if you see what I mean. For example, Bus is Bws. I’m struggling to think how to articulate the difference in how it sounds, probably makes more sense to hear it.

    As for other words, I’m not too fussed. Whatever language you speak, it’s always your accent that seems to drive how you pronounce stuff, a lot of the time. The fact that people, apparently educated, struggle with basic language concepts is more of an annoyance to me. Seriously, adults that can’t do their, they’re and there? Your and you’re? Although, you can come through the education system without having even learned to read apparently, so I guess society and our unwillingness to ensure everyone gets a good education cops the blame for that one.

    To the last discussion, it blows my mind that homosexuality is still an issue, and I’m going to take the potentially unpopular viewpoint that religion is wholly to blame for starting that, as well as continuing to perpetuate it through society. I was surprised to learn (after reading the Percy Jackson series, actually) that homosexuality was the done thing in ancient Greece, and presumably Rome? I’m assuming the rise of Christianity wanted to put to bed frolicking and all that nonsense, and we’ve just taken it from there, with varying degrees of ill acceptance since. I’m massively frustrated by policy driven by religion, ostensibly under the guise of what society wants. I’m sure most of society couldn’t care less (the limiting point of the care continuum as care tends to zero!) what people do in their own time, but it’s not “people” who make policy, it’s those with money (and the church is hardly short of a bob or two).

    Sorry, feeling odd today, that was a bit ranty. It’s probably all these political adds being rammed down my throat. Yay for swing states.

    Reply
  3. Mark says:
    August 31, 2012 at 9:51 am

    This podcast is known as the dead blue? That seems a might odd.

    As far as alter egos go William, you could do a lot worse than an angry billioinarie.

    Speaking of watching cancelled shows, I have to thank Tony for lending him his Firefly DVDs back in the day. Thanks to Fox’s brilliant absurd scheduling of that show, I only ever got to see one episode when it aired and then kind of forgot about it. Once the DVDs were out, Tony lent them to me and I’ve been a big fan of it ever since.

    I’ve heard how good Breaking Bad as well and started trying to watch it once, but couldn’t get through it. I’ve still got it in my Netflix queue, but I haven’t been able to build up any interest in trying to watch it again.

    Sick? That’s terrible; now I don’t get my weekly Dresden Files fix!

    Audio Problem(?): Not sure if it’s just me but when the discussion turned to roller derby; I suddenly started hearing loud static (or maybe something frying or fizzing) in the background of the show (up until Tony started talking about his happy ending massage therapy.

    Soccer/Football: I don’t remember what I was thinking when I submitted that. Probably I wrote that just to see where you’d go with it (much like the iPhone/Android thing).

    Misprouncing names like that isn’t all that uncommon. I’ve had many, many people randomly replace the K in my last name with Gs, Ds and even once an F. Surely the dog’s name is Poirot! Also, I never realized Gert wasn’t pronounced Gurt but whatever it was that Tony tried to do.

    The Bill/William thing definitely threw me the first time I ran into it, back in the day. Why on earth would anyone call William “Dairy Queen”? He’s totally “Root Beer Man”.

    Reply
    • Stuart says:
      August 31, 2012 at 10:36 am

      I’ve missed the last 15 episodes or so, probably just as well I missed the iPhone/Android thing. I need to be helicoptered up onto my soap box for that one.

      Reply
    • The Producer says:
      August 31, 2012 at 10:43 am

      That’s more than likely my fault (audio issue). I had a bunch of veg I needed to preserve before we left for the weekend and it was good for nothing but compost, so I was running water in the kitchen. Was hoping it wouldn’t come through on the audio. 🙁

      Reply
  4. Stuart says:
    August 31, 2012 at 10:35 am

    Speaking of names, I’m getting increasingly frustrated with enunciating mine over here. Back in the UK, it’s common to have a brief ‘ch’ sound between S and T, so that it’s more like Schtoo-art. Kinda softening the T, as it were. In the US, it’s a hard T. Combine that with the accent and people literally have no idea what I just said, I can see it in their eyes. One woman on the phone thought I said Jesus (the hey-zeus way)! So now I’ve developed a complex about introducing myself, because I know I have to hit that hard T. For a hopelessly mundane British name. Sigh.

    Reply
  5. Beth says:
    September 4, 2012 at 9:42 am

    Tony – I agree with you, when people call me “Elizabeth” I automatically know how little they know me. There is nothing wrong with the name and I have gone by it in the past (not since 3rd grade), but it seems like a lack of effort on people’s part to not pay attention when I introduce myself. Also, really bothers me when people see “Elizabeth” somewhere and assume I go by “Liz” then they really really don’t know me. (I’m actually somewhat entertained by people assuming my name is “Bethany” though, not sure why that is amusing and Elizabeth and Liz are annoying.) I chose to go by Beth because it’s shorter. I don’t particularly like “Beth” because it seems homey and unimpressive. My boyfriend always introduces himself with “Hi, I’m David” – having stood near him when he is introduced, it happens almost 100% of the time that the next sentence out of people’s mouths is along the lines of “Hey Dave, nice to meet you” he particularly hates that assumption that the name shift is ok. Now, my brother Dave introduces himself as “David” and notices, but doesn’t really mind that people assume his name is “Dave.” (Tony – I do understand the need for therapy for the Sara(h) issue)

    What I meant with the coming out question is what do you say in response that is supportive of their lifestyle that does not sound sarcastic or impolite. Similar to when you are told by someone that they or their significant other is pregnant. It’s polite to say “congratulations” whether they had planned the pregnancy or not, it’s a new life being formed and the pregnant couple deserves to have enthusiasm for this life change, even if this wasn’t what they thought would have happen in their life. No, it’s not often a problem for me, I just thought based on a previous podcast that you would have an interesting perspective on this question. It seems to me like saying “I knew all along” wouldn’t be comforting to the person, it would be alarming that it was apparently so obvious to you (likely via stereotypes) and feel like they are more exposed to the world than they are necessarily prepared to be. I don’t know, I assume you guys are basically like my very own Miss Manners so I try to ask questions before they become a problem so I am prepared should they come up.

    Reply
    • themagicaltalkinghat says:
      September 5, 2012 at 6:20 am

      WE’RE your source for manners and etiquette? Oh, honey… you’re going to do really poorly in the real world! William and I barely qualify as functional in society at large!

      Reply
    • Stuart says:
      September 5, 2012 at 3:15 pm

      “(Tony – I do understand the need for therapy for the Sara(h) issue)”

      Not sure if it’s the same thing, but Sara is the Welsh derivative of Sarah, but has a different pronunciation. It completely threw me when I moved to the US and discovered Sara and Sarah are interchangeable.

      And then just to throw me off balance even more (a hobby of Americans, I’ve found), I see that Tara is pronounced like Sarah, but it keeps coming out of my mouth as Sara.

      But I suppose that’s a colloquial thing (or “The Welsh Are Clowns”, as Tony might put it).

      Reply
  6. Beth says:
    September 5, 2012 at 9:15 am

    Well, one of many sources. Plus, if you guys debate the issue for a while, one of you usually comes up with an idea or two can be useful.

    Reply
  7. SirGuido says:
    September 7, 2012 at 11:30 am

    I can’t STAND it when newcasters, show hosts, etc take a word from their native language and spin it up in a way that says “by the way… I’m ethnic.” But other words from other languages are said with a normal everyday American accent. That irritates me to no end. By the same token I can’t stand it when everyday Americans can’t say ethnic names even REMOTELY correct. I used to work as a debt collector in a call center and I don’t think I ever say next to someone who could say Hindi names even close to correct. I had one guy who sat next to me who would balk at damn near anything that was more complex than Jones or Smith. Rodriguez would pop up and he would say “Can I speak to Mr…..” big pause as he works it out in his head “Rod Rye Guy Ez?” Or “Is Miss Un Guy Yen home?”My favorite by far, without even blinking I will refer to this as my favorite because I will never forget it. “Fat Ima The Doody.” The name was Fatima Daoudy. There are also the people who add in letters that don’t actually exist in the name. My last name is Richards, and I get Richardson quite often. A good amount of people here in the Ohio area are fond of adding an extra “s” onto names that don’t require them. “Walmarts” “Rite Aids” “Smiths” etc.

    My name here is basically the weird nickname I was given in high school that has stuck to me to this very day. In spanish class my sophomore year of high school when we had to pick a name Miguel was taken. Teacher wouldn’t let us both be Miguel even though MY name is Mike and the other kid’s name was like… Shawn. So I chose Guido thinking of the X-Factor character Strong Guy. Well the teacher IMMEDIATELY corrected me and informed me that its not gweedo, but rather gi like the karate outfit, dough. gi-dough. I hated it. So my friends ran with it. Here we are 16 years later and its still there.

    Reply
  8. Bloodsparrow says:
    September 11, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    Sorry, I’m late commenting. I was at Dragon*Con at the time.

    Reply
    • Bloodsparrow says:
      September 11, 2012 at 1:13 pm

      Jerico is as close as we ever got to a Fallout TV show. (Without the wacky comedy.)

      It’s a good show.

      Reply
      • Bloodsparrow says:
        September 11, 2012 at 1:20 pm

        The first season of Walking Dead was great. I haven’t seen the second season and the third is nigh.

        I think Walking Dead is more popular then Jerico because it has Zombies. I agree with what Tony said about it being a different time and a different network… BUT I think the killer app was zombies. Also Walking Dead is a very good (I’m told) comic book series, so it had built in buzz as opposed to Jerico which was starting fresh.

        Regarding the Scandinavian version of The Killing, the hosts of the Podcast “The Indoor Kids” (which is about video games) and they discovered it while on a trip to Scotland and they say it’s AMAZING, and that season 2 was EVEN MORE AMAZING.

        So, I’m thinking of getting a region-less DVD player and ordering it from Amazon UK.

        Pan-Am was very meh, speaking of AMC shows.

        Reply
        • Bloodsparrow says:
          September 11, 2012 at 1:24 pm

          Also on the subject of Persons Unknown… I stuck with that show and… Oh gawd, I wanted to throw things at the TV the last two episodes…

          Reply
      • Bloodsparrow says:
        September 11, 2012 at 1:26 pm

        The Closer – I think it’s less weird the he’s there without her being there.

        Reply
    • Bloodsparrow says:
      September 11, 2012 at 1:30 pm

      I’m also interested to hear about the DF game. Particularly since I’ve joined Varamond in his G+ Dresden Files game.

      Reply
    • Bloodsparrow says:
      September 11, 2012 at 1:38 pm

      I get a therapeutic massage every time I come back from a Con. (Work or fun) and it makes it a lot easier to get back into the swing of normal life.

      Particularly now that I’m working out more regularly, my legs are super tight and my IT Bands are SO tense. I got a special “membership” at my local day spa, so I can get the knots in my legs worked out.

      It’s good stuff but painful

      Reply
    • Bloodsparrow says:
      September 11, 2012 at 1:41 pm

      I’ve also known not-Americans to call it “Footie”. So when I’m talking about Soccer to a not-American, I called it “Footie Ball”.

      And that makes me sound adorable.

      Which I am.

      … I also say “Accoutrements” like the way Tony describes. Though I say it that way because it’s just so much fun to say that way.

      Reply
      • Bloodsparrow says:
        September 11, 2012 at 1:45 pm

        It’s not the BBC News’ fault.

        Having grown up in Southern California, my life was filled with news reporters of any and all ethnicity, who normally talk like everybody else “without an accent” and they hit the name of a street or city that’s Spanish (of which there are many) and for a MOMENT the accent is so thick you couldn’t cut it with a knife, you would need a f’ing chainsaw.

        Reply
    • Bloodsparrow says:
      September 11, 2012 at 1:59 pm

      It is not at all surprising that Tony calls William “Dairy Queen”.

      Reply
    • Bloodsparrow says:
      September 11, 2012 at 2:06 pm

      My interpretation of Beth’s question is that if you should react with congratulations, or if you should be very serious about it, or what.

      Because while it might not mean anything to you personally because you don’t care, it means a lot to the person telling it…

      And I can hear Tony is explaining this in the episode as I’m typing this.

      Reply

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