On 12/06/2023 21:42, Sam Plusnet wrote:
>
Jumping on to this thread, our recent experiences have been:
Saga Insurance - great
Barclays - great
Santander - awful
Foreign Office - very quick response and I came home with a fetching
light blue temporary passport which apparently Border Force are seeing a
lot of.
The above were all reported on earlier.

Since then:
GiffGaff have been great too - forums in advising what to do, and agents
advising that I could only have a phone delivered at home and that the
£10 I had to buy with the replacement phone (because I no longer had a
contract for the cancelled phone) would be refunded and it has been.

Amazon have been great. The replacement laptop went into automatic
repair when I first booted it. Eventually it started but didn't feel
right - slow and clunky - and when I rebooted after installing security
software it went into automatic repair again. So it has gone back.
All that was handled in chats with very helpful call handlers - probably
foreign from their occasionally slightly odd English, but perfectly
understandable and there was no argument with them at all.
I was sent a return label and realised I had to pay postage myself, so I
queried that and it will be refunded also, again done by chat.

On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 23:23:30 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> a
gribouillé dans la poussière...
>In message <ugie8ip6m9aa40b3odc9pbti53ml950d4g@4ax.com> at Mon, 12 Jun
>2023 18:17:41, Penny <spam@labyrinth.freeuk.com> writes

>>I was very confused when Viji Alles joined the team of announcers on R4. I
>>still confuse him with Mr Nunes at times.
>
>There's one announcer I always think of as having a lovely
>chocolate-brown accent. (That's probably not PC these days, but I mean
>no harm by it.) Not sure if it is Jamaican? Always sounds so warm and
>friendly to me. Could be Mr. Nunes?

Or Viji Alles, whose voice is very similar, although I think he is East
rather than West Indian.

>>Many years ago, while staying with some Scots (in Scotland), Billy Connolly
>>cropped up in the conversation and the youngest of the family were amazed
>>to learn we could understand anything he said. We'd never had any problem
>>with him, but he may have adjusted his speech a bit before appearing on
>>national TV.
>
>Interesting that it was _Scots_ you were with who had difficulty
>understanding him.

They didn't, this lad was just surprised *we* could understand him.

Several Scottish (probably Glaswegian) comics have talked about the
difficulty of being understood by voice recognition (AI?) on the phone, or
in a lift.

>>Much more recently, the first responder who showed up to assess my before
>
>Always best to get your before assessed.

Doh, my typing (and spelling) has been badly affected by the pandemic (and
possibly lack of oxygen to the brain).

>>the ambiwlans appeared, had a strong accent. I asked where he was from and
>>he said Bolton. Most of the time I could understand everything he said. Now
>>and then he obviously slipped into his 'natural' accent, which might as
>>well have been Greek.
>>
>>
>My favourite memory of an incomprehensibility was a friendly older
>Geordie lady I met at the Haymarket 'bus station in Newcastle; she
>clearly wanted to chat, but I genuinely didn't understand a word she
>said. But I just made the appropriate grunt or yes at what seemed like
>the right points, and she seemed perfectly happy! I'm normally OK with
>Geordie: last time an American cousin was staying here doing genealogy,
>we met an old miner in Bedlington Station library, and he and I chatted
>away - and she told me afterwards she only got about a third of what
>he'd been saying. (I wish she'd said something, as I'd have been happy
>to clarify.) Maybe it has regionalities - I'm familiar with the
>Bedlington version. (I know further up into the wilds, it's softer, more
>like some versions of Scottish.)

Highlanders tend to be easier to understand than some lowlanders.
I've heard that the Aberdeen accent is favoured for call centres.
My paternal grandmother grew up in Paisley and Greenock, she had a very
soft accent. I guess class comes into it as well as location. One of her
sisters moved to Edinburgh when she married, and adopted a Morningside
accent to fit in.

A Sarf(1) Londoner of my acquaintance rapidly dropped her normal accent
when she went off to St Andrews University. She said she had to because no
one took her seriously.

I think, like Nick, I'm RP, plus the Norf London(1) accent I picked up at
primary school (my parents gently told me which words/phrases were not to
be used in polite company). I think a lot of families had moved into our
expanding Hertfordshire village from the East End after the war. If I am
talking to a Londoner with similar accent I slip into it. My children, both
born and raised in north Kent, picked up Estuarine at primary school - I've
never heard either of them slip into it since.

(1) Norf Londoners call places south of the river 'Souf' rather than
'Sarf'.
--
Penny
Annoyed by The Archers since 1959

On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 23:08:48 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> a
gribouillé dans la poussière...

>Well before YouTube, there used to be a clip of someone - I'm pretty
>sure he was Glaswegian - that came up whenever the subject was
>discussed; he spoke volubly and rapidly, and most people could not
>understand him.

In my youth I worked with a couple of lads from Ulster who spoke very
rapidly and found people in England tended not to understand them. Their
solution was to say everything twice - still rapidly. I was reminded of
them when listening to Dara O'Brien was on Desert Island Discs recently. I
could not understand everything he said because he spoke so rapidly. I did
wonder why the BBC had not asked him to slow down and rerecord parts of it.
--
Penny
Annoyed by The Archers since 1959

On Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:27:09 +0100, Penny <spam@labyrinth.freeuk.com>
wrote:
>
>I think, like Nick, I'm RP, plus the Norf London(1) accent I picked up at
>primary school (my parents gently told me which words/phrases were not to
>be used in polite company). I think a lot of families had moved into our
>expanding Hertfordshire village from the East End after the war. If I am
>talking to a Londoner with similar accent I slip into it. My children, both
>born and raised in north Kent, picked up Estuarine at primary school - I've
>never heard either of them slip into it since.
>
>(1) Norf Londoners call places south of the river 'Souf' rather than
>'Sarf'.

As a child I had tap, ballet and elocution lessons and then belonged
to a children's drama group, where we took part in plays and entered
for LAMDA exams. The tap was so so, the ballet not really me, and
granddaughters take after me and daughters did too, but I loved the
drama group.

I checked local U3A groups last week. We've been doing bowling in the
last 3 weeks. I saw a play-reading U3A group and am considering it.
The bowling is enjoyable. B likes it too. Yeesterday though after two
rounds it began to rain and the green was suddenly a swimming pool.
Thunder, lightening and buckets of rain. We got really drenched
walking home.

I also had swimming lessons during half term :). I have been able to
swim since childhood and I can put my face int he water, but not
during strokes. They ran adult improvers classes, 4 single hours. An
hour is a bit much but we got started on swimming properly and I've
been practising since.

On 13/06/2023 10:35, Penny wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 23:08:48 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> a
> gribouillé dans la poussière...
>
>> Well before YouTube, there used to be a clip of someone - I'm pretty
>> sure he was Glaswegian - that came up whenever the subject was
>> discussed; he spoke volubly and rapidly, and most people could not
>> understand him.
>
> In my youth I worked with a couple of lads from Ulster who spoke very
> rapidly and found people in England tended not to understand them. Their
> solution was to say everything twice - still rapidly. I was reminded of
> them when listening to Dara O'Brien was on Desert Island Discs recently. I
> could not understand everything he said because he spoke so rapidly. I did
> wonder why the BBC had not asked him to slow down and rerecord parts of it.

Because the BBC is run by twelve-year-olds (E Reardon, passim)

john

In message <7r9g8iha1sn765ktg9iegv7opasrkai0mq@4ax.com> at Tue, 13 Jun
2023 10:27:09, Penny <spam@labyrinth.freeuk.com> writes
[]
>>>Much more recently, the first responder who showed up to assess my before
>>
>>Always best to get your before assessed.
>
>Doh, my typing (and spelling) has been badly affected by the pandemic (and
>possibly lack of oxygen to the brain).

Sorry, no harm intended; just this is UMRA, where no typo goes unmarked,
at least if it can be done with humour (above is a poor attempt; there
are, and have been, UMRAts who are far better at it than I am). I've
certainly had mine picked up on!
[]
>Highlanders tend to be easier to understand than some lowlanders.
>I've heard that the Aberdeen accent is favoured for call centres.

We had a new young physics master - "Hammy" Keir (so called because some
thought he resembled a hamster) who had quite a soft accent. He once
referred to people - I think from the isles - with an even softer
accent, by saying "their alphabet went A, B, C, T".
[]
>A Sarf(1) Londoner of my acquaintance rapidly dropped her normal accent
>when she went off to St Andrews University. She said she had to because no
>one took her seriously.

Certain accents one has not grown up with do have connotations, often
from TV. When I moved into lodgings in South Shields (just south of the
mouth of the Tyne), one of the other lodgers was a Scouser, and at that
point (I think I must have been 18-20) I'd never encountered it other
than in The Liver Birds, so I always thought he was going to say or do
something funny, until I got used to it. Nice gentle lad, IIRR.
>
>I think, like Nick, I'm RP, plus the Norf London(1) accent I picked up at
>primary school (my parents gently told me which words/phrases were not to
>be used in polite company). I think a lot of families had moved into our

Swearing is an interesting subject! I _know_ all the words (at least I
think I do), but I have never been a swearer - and I'm _not_ saying that
to imply I think I'm superior because of that, as I don't. I feel
_slightly_ uncomfortable in the company of people who _do_ swear a lot,
even if I can tell they mean no harm by it. (I do remember - I think it
was at university - when I _did_ use one of the words, it was very
effective among those who knew me. Sort of - as in the film "SOB" -
"Mary Poppins says 'fuck'!")

>expanding Hertfordshire village from the East End after the war. If I am
>talking to a Londoner with similar accent I slip into it. My children, both
>born and raised in north Kent, picked up Estuarine at primary school - I've
>never heard either of them slip into it since.

I associate a certain accent - not sure if it's East London or
Estuarine, probably a mix - with con-men, like Del Boy in OF&H. (I've -
as I've mentioned here recently, and at least one other UMRAt agreed
with me - never accepted the concept of the "lovable rogue".) Probably
because I've never really got to know anyone of that accent.
>
>(1) Norf Londoners call places south of the river 'Souf' rather than
>'Sarf'.

Interesting (though I'll forget which is which).

P. S. - my 'checker wanted to change Keir to Kefir. We haven't heard
mention of that in TA for a while, have we? I presume it was written off
as a failure (I do still occasionally see it in the supermarkets, though
haven't actually tried it).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Does God believe in people?

In message <keqo9gFs4ikU1@mid.individual.net> at Tue, 13 Jun 2023
09:39:11, BrritSki <rtilburyTAKEAWAY@gmail.com> writes
[]
>All that was handled in chats with very helpful call handlers -
>probably foreign from their occasionally slightly odd English, but
>perfectly understandable and there was no argument with them at all.
[]
I've nothing against foreigners on help/customer desks, even with very
strong accents, if I can understand them and they know what they're
about; the best example has been when sorting out technical problems for
a friend with TalkTalk: the chap I was speaking to was clearly Indian
(or that part of the world [quite possibly physically too!], but really
knew what he was talking about, and also (I think) adjusted his level of
tech to match mine.

The ones who bug me are ones stuck to a script - if anything, they're
_more_ irritating if they _are_ native English speakers.

I have experienced at least one where I _did_ have difficulty
communicating - partly her accent, partly her genuinely poor grasp of
English, and partly that it was over obviously a very cheap telephone
line. I hope I withheld my frustration _from her_ at least, as I was
fairly sure she would have been being paid a pittance and probably in
poor conditions.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Does God believe in people?

On 12.6.23 17:38, Vicky wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 09:00:01 -0700 (PDT), Nick Odell
> <nickodell@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>
>> On Monday, June 12, 2023 at 1:42:01?PM UTC, Jenny M Benson wrote:
>>> On 11/06/2023 20:52, Nick Odell wrote:
>>>> Couldn't the paper have employed a writer what understands English like what she is spoke?
>>> In a similar vein ...
>>>
>>> I had to contact Amazon Customer Support recently because I was told
>>> that a video order had failed but the debit appeared on my bank
>>> statement. I am sure the lady who spoke to me was utterly charming and
>>> she was extremely helpful in that she got the amount credited to me very
>>> quickly, BUT she was possibly of Chinese (or maybe other similar area)
>>> origin and her non-English accent was so strong it was almost impossible
>>> for me to understand a word she said. It was very embarrassing have to
>>> say repeatedly "I'm sorry, I didn't get that" or "can you repeat that,
>>> please". Surely one of the first essentials of Customer Service (1) is
>>> that the Customer and the Servicer can understand each other.
>>
>> I find the business of understanding English dialects fascinating and wondered if any studies have been done? Are people who speak with a certain dialect more likely to understand somebody who speaks with another? For instance, I more or less speak RP: does that give me a head start in understanding more other people from across the anglophone community? Or does it make it more likely that I'd understand certain dialects but have difficulties with others? Would an Indian speaker of English comprehend a wider range of English speakers, perhaps?
>>
>> Many years ago, I moved from the family home in coastal Essex (East-Enders-on-Sea) into digs in a deeply rural part of the county just thirty miles further inland. My landlord and landlady were lovely people and we stayed friends for many more years but I swear that for about two weeks after I moved in I just couldn't tune myself into their accent and understand what they were saying.
>>
>> Then there's Neil Nunes. I never had any trouble understanding what he says though I remember something of a kerfuffle when he first appeared as a continuity announcer on Radio 4. On the other hand, Victoria Coach Station used to employ a West Indian announcer and I could never understand a word that he said. But might that West Indian announcer have been intelligible to a wider range of English speakers from around the world and I'm just the minority who can't understand? Might the Chinese Amazon lady be intelligible to a wider range of their customers than somebody with a different dialect?
>>
>> Nick
>> nickodell49@yahoo.ca
>
> I have tropuble too understanding some customer service people. My
> hearing is deteriorating and I hate having to phone. I prefer email
> contact as then I have the solution in wroting but many places insist
> on a phone call instead. I tell them my hearing is bad and say please
> speak very slowly and clearly. Not all do.
>
> I, topo speak RP and as much of my early teaching was to speakers of
> second languages, teaching them English, am used to accents. I
> struggle more now. I was worried about Neil Nunes but he is fine to
> understand. Many, even R4 or WS presenters or news readers, are not.
> Some Scots are easy and some not. It might be Glaswegians are not.
> Some West coasters are.

Oh for the days of the newsreader who consistently told me he was called
Amanda Dell.

--
Kosmo Richard W
www.travelswmw.whitnet.uk
https://tinyurl.com/KRWpics

krw <krw@whitnet.uk> wrote:
> On 12.6.23 17:38, Vicky wrote:
>> On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 09:00:01 -0700 (PDT), Nick Odell
>> <nickodell@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Monday, June 12, 2023 at 1:42:01?PM UTC, Jenny M Benson wrote:
>>>> On 11/06/2023 20:52, Nick Odell wrote:
>>>>> Couldn't the paper have employed a writer what understands English
>>>>> like what she is spoke?
>>>> In a similar vein ...
>>>>
>>>> I had to contact Amazon Customer Support recently because I was told
>>>> that a video order had failed but the debit appeared on my bank
>>>> statement. I am sure the lady who spoke to me was utterly charming and
>>>> she was extremely helpful in that she got the amount credited to me very
>>>> quickly, BUT she was possibly of Chinese (or maybe other similar area)
>>>> origin and her non-English accent was so strong it was almost impossible
>>>> for me to understand a word she said. It was very embarrassing have to
>>>> say repeatedly "I'm sorry, I didn't get that" or "can you repeat that,
>>>> please". Surely one of the first essentials of Customer Service (1) is
>>>> that the Customer and the Servicer can understand each other.
>>>
>>> I find the business of understanding English dialects fascinating and
>>> wondered if any studies have been done? Are people who speak with a
>>> certain dialect more likely to understand somebody who speaks with
>>> another? For instance, I more or less speak RP: does that give me a
>>> head start in understanding more other people from across the
>>> anglophone community? Or does it make it more likely that I'd
>>> understand certain dialects but have difficulties with others? Would an
>>> Indian speaker of English comprehend a wider range of English speakers, perhaps?
>>>
>>> Many years ago, I moved from the family home in coastal Essex
>>> (East-Enders-on-Sea) into digs in a deeply rural part of the county
>>> just thirty miles further inland. My landlord and landlady were lovely
>>> people and we stayed friends for many more years but I swear that for
>>> about two weeks after I moved in I just couldn't tune myself into their
>>> accent and understand what they were saying.
>>>
>>> Then there's Neil Nunes. I never had any trouble understanding what he
>>> says though I remember something of a kerfuffle when he first appeared
>>> as a continuity announcer on Radio 4. On the other hand, Victoria Coach
>>> Station used to employ a West Indian announcer and I could never
>>> understand a word that he said. But might that West Indian announcer
>>> have been intelligible to a wider range of English speakers from around
>>> the world and I'm just the minority who can't understand? Might the
>>> Chinese Amazon lady be intelligible to a wider range of their customers
>>> than somebody with a different dialect?
>>>
>>> Nick
>>> nickodell49@yahoo.ca
>>
>> I have tropuble too understanding some customer service people. My
>> hearing is deteriorating and I hate having to phone. I prefer email
>> contact as then I have the solution in wroting but many places insist
>> on a phone call instead. I tell them my hearing is bad and say please
>> speak very slowly and clearly. Not all do.
>>
>> I, topo speak RP and as much of my early teaching was to speakers of
>> second languages, teaching them English, am used to accents. I
>> struggle more now. I was worried about Neil Nunes but he is fine to
>> understand. Many, even R4 or WS presenters or news readers, are not.
>> Some Scots are easy and some not. It might be Glaswegians are not.
>> Some West coasters are.
>
> Oh for the days of the newsreader who consistently told me he was called
> Amanda Dell.
>

And there was someone called summat like Conrad Vos Sparke, but that may
not be how it is spelt or pronounced - he was usually heard at the other
end of a very poor quality phone line from some out of the way forgotten
hole in the globe.

--
Toodle Pip, Mike McMillan

krw <krw@whitnet.uk> wrote:
> On 12.6.23 17:38, Vicky wrote:
>> On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 09:00:01 -0700 (PDT), Nick Odell
>> <nickodell@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Monday, June 12, 2023 at 1:42:01?PM UTC, Jenny M Benson wrote:
>>>> On 11/06/2023 20:52, Nick Odell wrote:
>>>>> Couldn't the paper have employed a writer what understands English
>>>>> like what she is spoke?
>>>> In a similar vein ...
>>>>
>>>> I had to contact Amazon Customer Support recently because I was told
>>>> that a video order had failed but the debit appeared on my bank
>>>> statement. I am sure the lady who spoke to me was utterly charming and
>>>> she was extremely helpful in that she got the amount credited to me very
>>>> quickly, BUT she was possibly of Chinese (or maybe other similar area)
>>>> origin and her non-English accent was so strong it was almost impossible
>>>> for me to understand a word she said. It was very embarrassing have to
>>>> say repeatedly "I'm sorry, I didn't get that" or "can you repeat that,
>>>> please". Surely one of the first essentials of Customer Service (1) is
>>>> that the Customer and the Servicer can understand each other.
>>>
>>> I find the business of understanding English dialects fascinating and
>>> wondered if any studies have been done? Are people who speak with a
>>> certain dialect more likely to understand somebody who speaks with
>>> another? For instance, I more or less speak RP: does that give me a
>>> head start in understanding more other people from across the
>>> anglophone community? Or does it make it more likely that I'd
>>> understand certain dialects but have difficulties with others? Would an
>>> Indian speaker of English comprehend a wider range of English speakers, perhaps?
>>>
>>> Many years ago, I moved from the family home in coastal Essex
>>> (East-Enders-on-Sea) into digs in a deeply rural part of the county
>>> just thirty miles further inland. My landlord and landlady were lovely
>>> people and we stayed friends for many more years but I swear that for
>>> about two weeks after I moved in I just couldn't tune myself into their
>>> accent and understand what they were saying.
>>>
>>> Then there's Neil Nunes. I never had any trouble understanding what he
>>> says though I remember something of a kerfuffle when he first appeared
>>> as a continuity announcer on Radio 4. On the other hand, Victoria Coach
>>> Station used to employ a West Indian announcer and I could never
>>> understand a word that he said. But might that West Indian announcer
>>> have been intelligible to a wider range of English speakers from around
>>> the world and I'm just the minority who can't understand? Might the
>>> Chinese Amazon lady be intelligible to a wider range of their customers
>>> than somebody with a different dialect?
>>>
>>> Nick
>>> nickodell49@yahoo.ca
>>
>> I have tropuble too understanding some customer service people. My
>> hearing is deteriorating and I hate having to phone. I prefer email
>> contact as then I have the solution in wroting but many places insist
>> on a phone call instead. I tell them my hearing is bad and say please
>> speak very slowly and clearly. Not all do.
>>
>> I, topo speak RP and as much of my early teaching was to speakers of
>> second languages, teaching them English, am used to accents. I
>> struggle more now. I was worried about Neil Nunes but he is fine to
>> understand. Many, even R4 or WS presenters or news readers, are not.
>> Some Scots are easy and some not. It might be Glaswegians are not.
>> Some West coasters are.
>
> Oh for the days of the newsreader who consistently told me he was called
> Amanda Dell.
>

And there was someone called summat like Conrad Vos Sparke, but that may
not be how it is spelt or pronounced - he was usually heard at the other
end of a very poor quality phone line from some out of the way forgotten
hole in the globe.

--
Toodle Pip, Mike McMillan

Mike McMillan <toodle.pip1@virginmedia.com> wrote:
> krw <krw@whitnet.uk> wrote:
>> On 12.6.23 17:38, Vicky wrote:
>>> On Mon, 12 Jun 2023 09:00:01 -0700 (PDT), Nick Odell
>>> <nickodell@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Monday, June 12, 2023 at 1:42:01?PM UTC, Jenny M Benson wrote:
>>>>> On 11/06/2023 20:52, Nick Odell wrote:
>>>>>> Couldn't the paper have employed a writer what understands English
>>>>>> like what she is spoke?
>>>>> In a similar vein ...
>>>>>
>>>>> I had to contact Amazon Customer Support recently because I was told
>>>>> that a video order had failed but the debit appeared on my bank
>>>>> statement. I am sure the lady who spoke to me was utterly charming and
>>>>> she was extremely helpful in that she got the amount credited to me very
>>>>> quickly, BUT she was possibly of Chinese (or maybe other similar area)
>>>>> origin and her non-English accent was so strong it was almost impossible
>>>>> for me to understand a word she said. It was very embarrassing have to
>>>>> say repeatedly "I'm sorry, I didn't get that" or "can you repeat that,
>>>>> please". Surely one of the first essentials of Customer Service (1) is
>>>>> that the Customer and the Servicer can understand each other.
>>>>
>>>> I find the business of understanding English dialects fascinating and
>>>> wondered if any studies have been done? Are people who speak with a
>>>> certain dialect more likely to understand somebody who speaks with
>>>> another? For instance, I more or less speak RP: does that give me a
>>>> head start in understanding more other people from across the
>>>> anglophone community? Or does it make it more likely that I'd
>>>> understand certain dialects but have difficulties with others? Would an
>>>> Indian speaker of English comprehend a wider range of English speakers, perhaps?
>>>>
>>>> Many years ago, I moved from the family home in coastal Essex
>>>> (East-Enders-on-Sea) into digs in a deeply rural part of the county
>>>> just thirty miles further inland. My landlord and landlady were lovely
>>>> people and we stayed friends for many more years but I swear that for
>>>> about two weeks after I moved in I just couldn't tune myself into their
>>>> accent and understand what they were saying.
>>>>
>>>> Then there's Neil Nunes. I never had any trouble understanding what he
>>>> says though I remember something of a kerfuffle when he first appeared
>>>> as a continuity announcer on Radio 4. On the other hand, Victoria Coach
>>>> Station used to employ a West Indian announcer and I could never
>>>> understand a word that he said. But might that West Indian announcer
>>>> have been intelligible to a wider range of English speakers from around
>>>> the world and I'm just the minority who can't understand? Might the
>>>> Chinese Amazon lady be intelligible to a wider range of their customers
>>>> than somebody with a different dialect?
>>>>
>>>> Nick
>>>> nickodell49@yahoo.ca
>>>
>>> I have tropuble too understanding some customer service people. My
>>> hearing is deteriorating and I hate having to phone. I prefer email
>>> contact as then I have the solution in wroting but many places insist
>>> on a phone call instead. I tell them my hearing is bad and say please
>>> speak very slowly and clearly. Not all do.
>>>
>>> I, topo speak RP and as much of my early teaching was to speakers of
>>> second languages, teaching them English, am used to accents. I
>>> struggle more now. I was worried about Neil Nunes but he is fine to
>>> understand. Many, even R4 or WS presenters or news readers, are not.
>>> Some Scots are easy and some not. It might be Glaswegians are not.
>>> Some West coasters are.
>>
>> Oh for the days of the newsreader who consistently told me he was called
>> Amanda Dell.
>>
>
> And there was someone called summat like Conrad Vos Sparke, but that may
> not be how it is spelt or pronounced - he was usually heard at the other
> end of a very poor quality phone line from some out of the way forgotten
> hole in the globe.
>

And it seems there was often an echo on his voice ;-)))

--
Toodle Pip, Mike McMillan

On Sun, 18 Jun 2023 16:08:16 +0000, Mike McMillan wrote:

> Mike McMillan <toodle.pip1@virginmedia.com> wrote:
>> krw <krw@whitnet.uk> wrote:

>>> Oh for the days of the newsreader who consistently told me he was called
>>> Amanda Dell.
>>>
>>
>> And there was someone called summat like Conrad Vos Sparke, but that may
>> not be how it is spelt or pronounced - he was usually heard at the other
>> end of a very poor quality phone line from some out of the way forgotten
>> hole in the globe.
>>
>
> And it seems there was often an echo on his voice ;-)))

ITYM Conrad Voss Bark.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/nov/29/guardianobituaries1

My memory also has him tagged as a foreign correspondent back then, though maybe
that's unduly influenced by the quality of the phone lines he was using.

In message <u6na3k$1mpf9$1@dont-email.me> at Sun, 18 Jun 2023 16:07:16,
Mike McMillan <toodle.pip1@virginmedia.com> writes
>krw <krw@whitnet.uk> wrote:
[]
>> Oh for the days of the newsreader who consistently told me he was called
>> Amanda Dell.
>>
>
>And there was someone called summat like Conrad Vos Sparke, but that may
>not be how it is spelt or pronounced - he was usually heard at the other
>end of a very poor quality phone line from some out of the way forgotten
>hole in the globe.
>
Then there was Gav Nessler, the Washington correspondent. When he was
posted back, he started to pronounce his name as it was shown on screen,
i. e. Gavin Essler.

(And Cleb Alding, who used to like doing walks - I think still does.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

That's the key to wisdom: being delighted when you're wrong because
you've learn something. - (Professor) Brian Cox, RT 2019/5/25-31

On Sunday, June 18, 2023 at 7:32:11 PM UTC, Iain Archer wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Jun 2023 16:08:16 +0000, Mike McMillan wrote:
>
> > Mike McMillan <toodl...@virginmedia.com> wrote:
> >> krw <k...@whitnet.uk> wrote:
>
> >>> Oh for the days of the newsreader who consistently told me he was called
> >>> Amanda Dell.
> >>>
> >>
> >> And there was someone called summat like Conrad Vos Sparke, but that may
> >> not be how it is spelt or pronounced - he was usually heard at the other
> >> end of a very poor quality phone line from some out of the way forgotten
> >> hole in the globe.
> >>
> >
> > And it seems there was often an echo on his voice ;-)))
> ITYM Conrad Voss Bark.
> https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/nov/29/guardianobituaries1
>
> My memory also has him tagged as a foreign correspondent back then, though maybe
> that's unduly influenced by the quality of the phone lines he was using.

Yes. But at least in those POTS days there was a reasonable likelihood that the correspondent - despite the crackles and distortion - would manage to complete the
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I'm sorry but we seem to have lost our connection with Nick Odell: we'll try and get him back again before the end of the programme.

Nick
nickodell49@yahoo.ca