Learning to speak 'merican

The News of the (old and new) World

Jul 102011

It’ll be interesting to see what ramifications the British phone hacking scandals have on this side of the pond. Amongst the thousands of media holdings in the Murdoch Empire there’s the Wall Street Journal (run by Les Hinton) and, probably most disturbingly, the Fox News Channel.

Via an article in the Huffington Post I came across a 2003 study relating to Fox
News. It looked at 3 misperceptions that were highly related to support for the Iraq war.

48% of Americans incorrectly believed that evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda had been found
22% incorrectly believed that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq
25% incorrectly believed that world public opinion favored the US going to war with Iraq.

It got really interesting when they looked at where people were sourcing their news:

: By: Surian Soosay

But back to the News of the World. Paul McMullan was features editor at the paper and you have probably seen Steve Hogan and Hugh Grant tearing into him on UK TV panel discussions.

But the most interesting interview I’ve seen was one he did for Australian television in which we get glimpses of how a corporate culture goes bad – “It all started out as fun” – and insights into the moral judgements that were being applied – or not in this case. Basically celebrities were fair game for hacking and then the practice spread to just about anyone who might help sell papers – “Did we get lazy? Possibly we did”. (He also tells a story about Rupert Murdoch’s reaction to the Hugh Grant hooker story.)

I found this quote from Paul interesting:

Very few people have sympathy for people like Kylie [Minogue] or Hugh Grant who earns five million quid a picture and who’s bleeting on “Oooo, someone listened to my messages.” Well, come on. Get over it. Most people in Britain earn 200 quid a week for a hard week’s work and would willingly swap places.

It seems Paul’s justification is falling on deaf ears with the British public at the moment, but a few weeks ago, I think many might have agreed. And I think there might be a difference between the UK and US on this. Am I right in thinking that Americans might think more kindly of folks who earn a lot of money or have celebrity – a little less envy perhaps? I’m not sure, and I’d love to hear your thoughts (on this and the rest of the hacking scandals).

The Curse of Willie Penn

American Life 6 Responses »

Jul 072011

Can’t believe I haven’t told you this story yet, because I love it.

If you’d stopped by in Philly on the night of October 30th in 2008, you’d have thought the inhabitants were nuts. Tens of thousands of Philadelphians all wearing red poured onto the streets, blocking traffic, closing highways, cheering and letting off fireworks.Folks who’d made it to their cars, were driving round hooting their horns and whooping. And why? They believed they’d broken the curse of the city’s founder – William Penn.

Willie Penn was a Quaker which didn’t enamour him with the British crown in the 17th century. In fact he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a while after writing religious pamphlets. Then along with some other folks he came up with the idea of a mass Quaker exodus to the colonies. They bought a bit of land where New Jersey is now, and then later, somewhat astonishingly, the future King James II gave him a huge wad of land that became Pennsylvania. Quite why, I’ve never heard, but my guess is James thought a mass exodous of Quakers was a jolly good idea too.

Then we fast forward to 1901. That’s when Willie’s statue was stuck on top of the Philadelphia town hall – a very impressive building in its day and for about 7 years, the tallest building in the world. As time passed, while other American cities put up their skyscrapers, Philadelphia always held off. There was a gentlemen’s agreement amongst developers that no building should rise above the hat on Willie Penn’s head. Come 1987 though the agreement was broken and Philly started growing some very beautiful, but ungentlemanly, skyscrapers. And coincidentally (or as a result in many Philadelphians’ view) Philly sports teams started losing.

Baseball – football – ice hockey – basketball –no team could win a championship. They’d often get through to the final but for nearly three decades they could never quite pull it off. It was like they were jinxed. Local lore had it that it was the curse of Willie Penn.

So in 2007, when a whopping skyscraper (the Comcast Tower) was finished, they hit upon the idea of hanging a figurine of Willie Penn on the top. So once more he stood above the city and many reckoned it broke the curse. The very next year the Phillies baseball team won the World Series, and that’s when the city turned into the sea of red (Phillies colour). What a night! And what a parade a few days later too. Literally, millions of people showed up to cheer the team as they rode through the city. Below are some shots I took of the event.

And that is the story of the curse of Willie Penn. Does your city have a similar tale?

Philly on the fourth

American Life No Responses »

Jul 052011

By: Ben Yanis

In the past some readers have said they wished they could be in Philly for the fourth of July. It’s not the same of course, but for any slightly homesick ‘mericans I thought I’d capture what was going down on the parkway this afternoon. Enjoy!

And please don’t forget to try to answer one or some of my July the fourth quiz questions!

Happy fourth quiz!

American Life 6 Responses »

Jul 042011

It’s the fourth of July, and tonight Philadelphia will celebrate with fireworks. Wehey!

The fourth is very special here because in many ways Philly was the nation’s birthplace. Obviously I am an alien, but I think Philly is actually a splendid city to live in on any day of the year. For example – we have this. (What’s that building in the centre?):

And we have these. (What are these guys doing?)

We have this, of course (and what’s across the hallway?)

And we also have this. (It’s the largest in the world, but the largest what?) Oh, and there’s a bonus question attached to this one. What’s its connection to the Globe Theatre in London?

So here’s your puzzle: Can you name any of these places and things? Answers on a postcard. Oh no, that’s too slow. Just leave any answers in the comments, and the one I like the most (for whatever reason – truse/false or just tickles my fancy) will win a prize. Yay, a prize!!!

So what is it? Well, hold onto you seats, folks, because here’s your chance to win a genuine alienware baseball cap that I will personally post/snail mail to the lucky winner, no matter where they are in the world. So not only is it very sporty and cool, but it will come from a genuine alien (me)! We like to celebrate the fourth in style at Learning to speak ‘merican! Looking forward to hearing from you.

A double edged sword

Pronunciation 3 Responses »

Jul 022011

My British accent is an asset in the US, or so people tell me. My ‘merican husband swears it lets me get away with things I shouldn’t. I think that most folks here are curious and friendly and I think my accent might inspire more of that. But isn’t curiosity and friendliness the human condition anyway?

What’s rarely understood is a British accent is a barrier in some contexts here. I maintain that it can stop communication dead. Try going into the Philadelphia Parking Authority to buy a residents’ parking permit with a British accent and you’ll see eyes glaze over as soon as you open your mouth. You can almost hear the clerk thinking: ‘I’m not going to understand you – I need to stall you and send you away’. So when they tell you to go home to get more documents that you know you don’t need, you ask, ‘But do you understand?’. They shake their head.

Something that happened today: I’m applying for medical insurance from a company called Blue Cross and they wanted my last three blood pressure readings. As a patient, I’m entitled to this information but Blue Cross is not. So I needed to contact my doctor’s surgery. I filled in a consent form. I sent them a cheque. I called (many times) and waited on the phone (often being cut off). I needed to come into the surgery, they couldn’t tell me over the phone, they didn’t have the records, it would take two weeks, they’d mail me (sometime) …

Today Betsy from Blue Cross kindly agreed to conference call them with me. She had no right to the information but Betsy has a lovely midwest accent. She only got cut off once before we got put through. And then she just had to ask for the readings and they told her right away. Ha! I couldn’t believe my ears!

I think there might have been an element of collegiality operating here – one health care professional talking to another. But I also think her accent was crucial. Betsy sounded familiar and trustworthy. I want an accent like Betsy’s!

And all this has been a rather long introduction to a video on Americans’ views of British accents. (Thanks for passing it along Sabrina – So glad to see your excellent blog ) expanding. More! more!

So any thoughts on what British accents mean to Americans – or vice versa?

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