The Glaswegian Patter

Many Glaswegians have a terrible accent. They call it "The Glaswegian Patter. " It is more abrasive than a Boston accent (sorry Boston), and they might as well be speaking outright German it is so difficult to understand sometimes.

So I thought I had been doing a pretty good job of developing an ear for understanding what people are saying. If I listen singlemindedly I can usually figure it out, plus they are pretty good about using hand gestures, which is an excellent bonus.

I'm taking a class called Journalism & Popular Culture because I was sure it would be a breeze, since I like both journalism and popular culture. As it turns out, popular culture is not universal (Dr. Mason would kill me for having been so ethnocentric...haha). The professor is fortunately very handsome but unfortunately has a very heavy accent. So I basically spend the whole class trying to translate the accent AND trying to scribble down the names of all these pop culture references the professor makes during class so I can look them up later.

ANYWAY-- Today in our discussion group we were talking about major prizes that they give out to musicians/artists/writers/whoever (Pulitzer, Booker, Oprah Book Club, Turner, Brit). Somehow they got on the topic of the United States. I knew they were talking about America but they were getting really excited and talking so fast and I eventually couldn't understand a word they were saying. The professor kept glancing at me like he was looking for some kind of a reaction. Finally he stops the discussion, turns to me, and says to me something that sounded like:

"Oogey em then yeh kin fel freah ta step en aht annie tayme. Do yeh ave summin teh say in defense eh yerself en yer contry?"

So I'm staring blankly at him trying desperately to process the words coming out of his mouth and I ended up saying, "Um I beg your pardon?" Then the whole class laughs hysterically and they moved on to the next topic.

...I still have no idea what they were saying

Reason to Love It: Handsome Scotsmen with nice accents
Reason to Leave It: Handsome Scotsmen with terrible accents


Cheayhs en Lov Yahs,
Jillian