Netflix and Education
You can learn a lot from Netflix. It has a number of good documentaries and fine films.
However, it was pushing a show called Still Game and I took a look. I had a flashback.
In 1997 I went to Scotland for a couple of days during a longer trip to the UK. My traveling companions were going to Paris; I went north, and we would meet back up in London. (I'm surprised it all worked out as it did.) After getting off the train, I haled a cab and jumped into one of those cute little black sedans, very Bentley like. The driver spoke to me and my response was "WHAT?!"
It was so odd--I knew he was speaking English, but I didn't understand a word of it. (I was in Edinburgh, by the way). He detected my American accent and adjusted his dialect to something understandable, and we got on quite well, as he had been to the states to, well, play golf.
That was my experience watching that show. At first I thought maybe the joke was that their accents were so thick no one could understand them. But of course that would not sustain a TV show. After a while I understood one sentence out of four. They were just silly old men, but apparently people love the show, those who can understand it. Actually, there were some funny (re: bawdy) moments, so I imagine that's the point; Scottish Bennie Hill.
However, it was pushing a show called Still Game and I took a look. I had a flashback.
In 1997 I went to Scotland for a couple of days during a longer trip to the UK. My traveling companions were going to Paris; I went north, and we would meet back up in London. (I'm surprised it all worked out as it did.) After getting off the train, I haled a cab and jumped into one of those cute little black sedans, very Bentley like. The driver spoke to me and my response was "WHAT?!"
It was so odd--I knew he was speaking English, but I didn't understand a word of it. (I was in Edinburgh, by the way). He detected my American accent and adjusted his dialect to something understandable, and we got on quite well, as he had been to the states to, well, play golf.
That was my experience watching that show. At first I thought maybe the joke was that their accents were so thick no one could understand them. But of course that would not sustain a TV show. After a while I understood one sentence out of four. They were just silly old men, but apparently people love the show, those who can understand it. Actually, there were some funny (re: bawdy) moments, so I imagine that's the point; Scottish Bennie Hill.
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