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[smjjames]

Made a temporary containment thread: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=162538.0

[Rolan7]

I would love to know what insanity non-native English speakers see in the English Language.

Note: I don't mean this in terms of "Ha ha! Silly foreigners" I mean... There is definitely insanity (Knife and Nife, Gnife... or... Mouth and Mouth which are completely different words that sound completely different) but I bet non-native speakers would more easily pick up on it.

Though there is this English Claus thing I keep hearing taught in school (Indefinite clause?) but I don't think I learned it in school.

People have said it sounds "hissy", like a snake.
There's also that famous video you've probably already seen, but just in case:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY
Which, sorta WTF, I feel like I keep hearing real words which make sense in context.  But with focus, it's clear most of the words are fake...  And the few I thought I understood, are probably fake too.

Also I have trouble watching that video.  Trigger warning, unhappy marriages I guess.

[muldrake]

Also I have trouble watching that video.  Trigger warning, unhappy marriages I guess.

There's also this famous Italian video by Adriano Celentano, "Prisencolinensinainciusol." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g6YxkSqL20

Other than the words "all right," it's nonsense noises made to sound like English, specifically American English.  So I'd imagine this is how English sounds to Italians.  It actually sounds pretty much like English to me, too.  If you didn't listen to it closely, it would pass.

[redwallzyl]

There's also this famous Italian video by Adriano Celentano, "Prisencolinensinainciusol." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g6YxkSqL20

That's just...weird.

[Tiruin]

There's also this famous Italian video by Adriano Celentano, "Prisencolinensinainciusol." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g6YxkSqL20

Other than the words "all right," it's nonsense noises made to sound like English, specifically American English.  So I'd imagine this is how English sounds to Italians.  It actually sounds pretty much like English to me, too.  If you didn't listen to it closely, it would pass.

Hee~ Y'all got to hear how American English accent goes over to us who have it as a second or third language [Yes I get 'American' is very general, but the term is more for impression]
It's in the familiarity in first hearing the language--connected to what language is imprinted first, and while this may be a pertinent point, it's not the only one present in influencing folks. Moreso familiarity however, alongside the importance of exposure.

...Also wow that sounded a lot like the quick-spoken English mesh I hear at times. Which reminds me...of a very nice thing I've seen on imgur and such--how people are benefiting a TON from lyrics and subtitles (I wish the importance of these would be more prominent though >_>), given how many comments mentioning their 'right' understanding of the words. Like the Secret Asian Man and a ton of songs being played in the radio here a long time before the internet. (Which somehow got a lot of popularity recently in lyrics vs memory)

Also on an unrelated tangent I'm still curious if this is something sensory or such given the details involved. x_x

[Eric Blank]

When I hear fluent Spanish speakers I cant make out any of the syllables or breaks between words. It's like tongue salad to me, even the words I do recognize cease to exist.

[Rolan7]

The Prisencolinensinainciusol has a distinct "Elvis" sound to it - mostly southern inflection, yet faster than us Southerners usually talk.
...And ending with that harmonica, lol.  Not actually American, but heavily associated with our Bluegrass music.  Very South.
And that's what I say as a Southerner- I bet the difference is much more pronounced to an American of a different dialect.

When I hear fluent Spanish speakers I cant make out any of the syllables or breaks between words. It's like tongue salad to me, even the words I do recognize cease to exist.

Same.  I've been told it's just because I don't know the words, but it really sounds like they talk in an unbroken stream.
But, then, I'm Southern.  Northerners talk quickly.
Nationwide broadcasting has a good middle ground.  No drawl, but definite pauses between words.  Thus people of all dialects can understand it easily.

[muldrake]

...Also wow that sounded a lot like the quick-spoken English mesh I hear at times. Which reminds me...of a very nice thing I've seen on imgur and such--how people are benefiting a TON from lyrics and subtitles (I wish the importance of these would be more prominent though >_>), given how many comments mentioning their 'right' understanding of the words. Like the Secret Asian Man and a ton of songs being played in the radio here a long time before the internet. (Which somehow got a lot of popularity recently in lyrics vs memory)

That kind of misheard lyric is called a "mondegreen" after one specific mishearing.  My favorite, though, would be the lyric in Purple Haze, "excuse me while I kiss the sky," which was often misheard as "excuse me while I kiss this guy."

Jimi Hendrix himself was so amused by this that he would often sing it that way on purpose.

Another one I like, and that I heard that way for years, is in Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann, where a line sounds totally like "wrapped up like a douche," even though it's really "revved up like a deuce," which doesn't really make much more sense.  The "deuce" refers to an engine, although in the original Springsteen version, it was "cut loose like a deuce," i.e. a piece of shit.  Or possibly just a really shitty card in poker.

[Frumple]

ELO for the win, yes. I actually never bothered to figure out what the word that came after "like a" was. Always sounded closest to douche, but that made even less sense than the rest of the song.

Now I know, and am going to willfully forget as quickly as possible.

[overseer05-15]

...Also wow that sounded a lot like the quick-spoken English mesh I hear at times. Which reminds me...of a very nice thing I've seen on imgur and such--how people are benefiting a TON from lyrics and subtitles (I wish the importance of these would be more prominent though >_>), given how many comments mentioning their 'right' understanding of the words. Like the Secret Asian Man and a ton of songs being played in the radio here a long time before the internet. (Which somehow got a lot of popularity recently in lyrics vs memory)

That kind of misheard lyric is called a "mondegreen" after one specific mishearing.  My favorite, though, would be the lyric in Purple Haze, "excuse me while I kiss the sky," which was often misheard as "excuse me while I kiss this guy."

Jimi Hendrix himself was so amused by this that he would often sing it that way on purpose.

Another one I like, and that I heard that way for years, is in Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann, where a line sounds totally like "wrapped up like a douche," even though it's really "revved up like a deuce," which doesn't really make much more sense.  The "deuce" refers to an engine, although in the original Springsteen version, it was "cut loose like a deuce," i.e. a piece of shit.  Or possibly just a really shitty card in poker.

I always heard it 'ripped up like a douche'

[MaximumZero]

I've heard a lot of explanations for the deuce lyric. My gearhead family insists that it's about a classic car hyped up on racing parts. The 32(? I'm not a grease monkey.) Chevy coupe got turned into the Deuce Coupe with an engine overhaul and a two barrel carburetor, hence the name Deuce. You could absolutely be revved up like a race car.

[Reelya]

the lyric in Purple Haze, "excuse me while I kiss the sky," which was often misheard as "excuse me while I kiss this guy."

That's also appropriately known as a homophone.

[Frumple]

... pun aside, please don't confuse the non-natives >_>

[TheBiggerFish]

Not quite a homophone, no.

Only when sufficiently muddled by backing.

(for ye aforementioned non-natives: Homophones sound alike but mean different things.  Like read (as in 'I read a book yesterday', not read as in 'I am reading') and red the color.)

[TD1]

Not quite a homophone, no.

Only when sufficiently muddled by backing.

(for ye aforementioned non-natives: Homophones sound alike but mean different things.  Like read (as in 'I read a book yesterday', not read as in 'I am reading') and red the color.)

I read homophobe